It is your Attitude, Not your Aptitude, That Determines your Altitude

How does your attitude affect your business?

President Obama frequently reminds us that we are facing the worst recession since the Great Depression. That might be so. But it is our collective attitudes that got us here.

Paradoxically, people now have more information, are better educated, and are more informed than before, but our negative attitudes brought us to this crisis, and it is a change in attitude that will get us out of the hole.
I browsed through a book about starting your own business and it specifically mentioned people in their adventurous twenties. The author said that most people over the age of twenty-one dream of starting their own business and probably most who take the plunge never turn back.

Not true.

Traditionally, most businesses fail within two years or so. Some might seem to be “successful” but struggle to get ahead and soon fold. Some are, in fact, subsidized by their owners.

The reasons for this struggle are many and varied, but make no mistake: a business takes on its own personality and requires an approach to its life and livelihood similar to any other notable pursuit of progress and success. But do the statistics have to be so grim?

I have formed a number of businesses, including a couple that did not succeed beyond a few months. One has been around for over twelve years. I intend to start others and am very prepared for the odds. I want to share the challenges I have encountered, plus the observations of others, to help make life easier for those who have the guts to start their own businesses.

I have sought to do so by way of a book, The Small Business Survival Guide – Insights into the First Two Years. The ideas presented in this book are not “new” in the sense that they are unheard of. They are the products of common sense and experience. My willingness to observe and learn from failures and successes allowed these ideas to fall into place and provide some valuable lessons. The right attitude, when applied to challenging situations, will improve one’s chances of success significantly.

This “attitude” is about how you think, how you respond to the world around you, how you perceive life affects you and your response to external circumstances. Your attitude will be improved with awareness: awareness of the possible options and outcomes; awareness of resources that are available; awareness of the many things and the balancing acts that make for harmonious co-existence and so on. Not least of all is awareness of the effect of negative attitude on your prospects for health, wealth, success and overall satisfaction.