Success is achieved through a plan that is 80 percent psychological and 20 percent strategic. First and foremost, your mind has to be set. – Tony Robbins
The ONE Secret to Being a Confident Entrepreneur
Are you in the helping and healing professions and just not feeling all that confident as a business owner?
Are you hoping to ditch the 9-5 and do what you love full time?
Do you want to be of service but don’t know where to start?
Well, Tony Robbins is right in the above quote. It’s been my experience with over twenty-five years running a service-based business first as a psychotherapist and now as a Life Coach that 80% of my success has come from my psychology, meaning my purposeful mindset, good habits and daily routines.
In contrast, my lack of sustainable success in my earlier music career also came from my psychology, only it was my wishy-washy mindset, bad habits and absolutely no daily routines.
In all this, I have realized there is ONE secret to a success mindset. And here it is…
Success is less about the “HOW TO,” and much more about the “WHY TO.”
It’s not about the How To – It’s about the Why To
The more I reflect on my ups and downs in life, the more I realize this fact: Whether it was about my health and fitness, money, business or personal growth, my level of commitment and my sense of purpose was the differentiating factor.
And so ask yourself: Why do you want to be a yoga teacher, life coach, business coach, or wellness practitioner? Why do you want to be a makeup artist, social media consultant and be self-employed?
And once you know those reasons, ask yourself how committed you are to them.
In this blog, we’ll look at what it means to have a powerful why, and frankly, why we need a why? We’ll also learn how to build enough commitment to be able to fulfill our powerful why.
Ready? Let’s go.
✨ What it means to have a powerful WHY.
It means you have more reasons to do it than not to do it.
We all have limitations in our lives. Kids, job, time demands are all pulling at us. But so did all the successful people you know. Still, they succeeded anyway which means it wasn’t the circumstances. It was because they had more reasons to do what needed to be done than not to do it.
It means you are willing to do whatever it takes.
When I was sixteen years old, I quit school to become a singer. I worked at it for sixteen years with various levels of success but decided to give it up when I was in my mid thirties.
I really wondered why I wasn’t more successful when I knew I had talent and ability.
I enrolled in university at that time, and seven years later, I emerged with two degrees, a Bachelor’s in Science (majoring in Religious Studies and Psychology) and a Master’s in Education (specializing in counselling psychology). I was now a fully trained psychotherapist.
I was a success in University. I won scholarships, got top grades and caught the eye of several professors.
How come?
I mean, I didn’t have any more talent as a student than I did as a musician. In fact, I went into university with barely a grade 10 education.
What was the difference? What was the secret of my success?
It was my why, my reason for being in university and my determination to fulfill that reason.
My most compelling reason to go to university was to “find myself.”
I had come out of the music business lost and frankly, broken. I really wanted to find myself and heal myself. My inner wisdom told me to go back to school. It was a place where I could explore and discover myself.
Along with that compelling why, was the commitment that would help me achieve it. I decided, based on my poor results as a musician, that I would do whatever it took to be successful at school.
I never had that kind of commitment in my musical career. And I didn’t have much of a compelling reason or “why” either.
Having a compelling reason or powerful why means you are in alignment with your core values and your true inner self.
I did have some reasons for being a musician. I was a really good singer. I loved music. I could become famous. I liked the freedom. I could build a special life. I had a fear of the ordinary. Trouble was, none of those reasons resonated with my soul.
No wonder I didn’t have the psychology or mind set to make it.
It wasn’t for me. Not really.
Having a powerful why means we are living in alignment with our deepest self. It could be our core values, or our sense of mission in life. And with that brings power. As long as we stay connected to what feels like what we were meant to be doing, we can ride the cosmic waves like a surfer on the North Shore.
The universe seems to support us when we are aligned with it. Roses may strive and struggle to be tulips, but nature will not help them out. Having a powerful why puts us on course for the universe to support our desires.
✨ Why we need a powerful why.
Because it takes hard work to be successful.
If you’ve already started your business, or even if you’re trying to achieve any goal, you know it takes hard work. It may be super enjoyable work at times, but it’s hard either way.
Covid has me shifting from coaching clients sent from a training company to building a brand and business for myself online. It’s a big learning curve for me and it is a lot of work. Oh my goodness.
I am learning things about the online world that I never thought I’d be dealing with.
It’s fun for sure. But man, it’s hard. Things that come naturally to those who grew up in the social media world are in a foreign language to me.
But…
I have a powerful why. I have many reasons for why I do the work I do. The rewards are meaningful. Working on people’s personal growth is what I live for. It’s about as core as core can get. I believe in human potential. I see it as the expression of our source. I’m in love with it.
And so, away I go taking this course and that course on how to build an online business. I’m amazing 🤣.
Without my powerful and compelling reasons, I’m pretty sure I would give up.
Because it’s not about can I, it’s about will I.
Success as a service-based entrepreneur is not about whether you can do it. Of course you can. You have all the ability in the world most likely.
The question is, will you?
That’s the 80% psychology that Tony Robbins talks about. Will you do it can only be determined by how connected you are to your reasons to do it.
You will do it, if you really really want it. You have to want it badly enough to do what it takes and connect with that motivation by being super clear about all the reasons why you want it.
Because you will face adversity and resistance.
Resistance is real.
Just like when an airplane takes off, as you rise in your achievements, there will be an equal force that will try to pull you down.
Don’t fret. It’s natural. It is your reasons why you are doing it that will pull you through the negative forces.
First of all, just making a decision to be self-employed and build yourself a business goes against most of what you have learned in your life, seen in your family, and are surrounded by culturally.
You are going against the status-quo here as a service based entrepreneur,
You need thrust, a lot of thrust to get yourself off the ground. And your amazingly powerful why will give that to you.
Away we go! ✈️
✨ Building a powerful commitment to go with your why
Forget the front door. Shut the back door
One of my favourite authors on relationships writes that the only way marriage counselling will work is if each participant “shuts the back door.” Getting The Love You Want
In other words, by closing all other options, a counselling client will do the work needed to get the job done and improve their relationship.
One of the classic stories that illustrates the commitment generated by shutting the back door is about a marauding army who set their boats on fire when they landed on the island they were planning to conquer.
With the boats burned, and all hope of returning home gone, you can only imagine the commitment that the army had to win the battle.
You can see from above, all your reasons have to be bigger than your fears if you want to achieve your goal of being a successful service based entrepreneur.
Think of yourself as burning the boats every day when you work on growing your business. I know you’ve chosen this kind of work, being of service so you can help the world and the people in it. I know it’s likely the way you are able to shine your light. Take your powerful why and go conquer the world. I believe in you. And the world needs you, and your light.
You can be the person you need to be to build a business that will not only sustain you, it will inspire you all while helping others.
If you want some help, reach out to me at the CONTACT button above to arrange a 30-minute Discovery call. I have a new program starting this year that’s all about the personal growth work needed to go from stuck to confident as an entrepreneur. We can see if it’s a good fit.
Thank you for reading.
Much love,
Lisa 
