Second, Patterson gives us all a gift, The Lesson of the Five Balls:

Imagine that life is a game in which you are juggling five balls. The five balls are: family, friends, health, integrity, and work. And you are keeping all of them in the air. But one day you finally come to understand that "work" is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. The other four---family, friends, health, and integrity---are made of glass. And if you drop them, they will crack, chip, or shatter. Once you truly understand the lesson of the five balls, you will discover balance in your life ---James Patterson

For the business owner, this lesson is even more important.  It's sometimes simply impossible to drop the "work ball" and let it stay dropped-even for a short time.  I don't think it's just a rubber ball, I think it's a super ball!  BOING, BOING, BOING, BOING!  Balancing the building and growing of a business with the other parts of your life is a real feat.  In fact, I've found it to be like having a baby.  All consuming at first but eventually, if you raise it right, it blends into the balance of your family.

Maybe that's the trick: blending the balance.  Instead of juggling all five balls (I might also argue for a 6th-spirituality) separately, how about placing them all together on a platter and then just having to negotiate the platter like a waiter does?  Smaller the platter, easier to keep all the balls in place.  This method of balancing the balls of life would give us a bit more flexibility to deal with the realities of a complex schedule.  It it's

• crowded- lift the platter (holding the balls) high overhead
• chaotic-hold on with both hands
• calm- set it down for a while (and give yourself a rest)
• busy-hold on with one hand while using the other for another task
• earth-shattering-move the balls to a cushioned box with a lid
• overwhelming-pass a ball to a friend

Are you ready to shift the balance of your life?  Is your business ready for that shift?

Say YES!

To YOUR success,

Peg

Last month our Teaching Moment was focused on the purpose of innovation.  To summarize, sustainable growth of your business depends largely on your ability to innovate within your business.  The purpose of innovation is to keep your business growing!

How do you BECOME innovative?  Practice, practice, PRACTICE!

Start with what you know-your customers!

• Ask them, “What is your greatest challenge around_______________ .” (fill in the blank with something related to what you do or can/want to do).
• Record the responses.
• Look over the responses.  Do you see any common “needs” or “wants”?
• Are these needs/wants things that you can fill?
• Ask yourself, “How would I fill this need/want?”
• Ask yourself, “What if…….?”
• Ask yourself, “Can I/we…..?”

When you identify a customer’s need or want and can provide a solution, you’ll have your first innovation!  Then continue to practice.  Pay attention to what your customers are saying.  Is there opportunity there?

As I mentioned last month, be careful not to be pulled off focus.  BALANCING opportunity seeking with focus is an art and a skill of the entrepreneur.  Again, it takes practice!

BONUS!  Are you seeing the opportunity that I am?  While you might start asking your customers important questions to help you innovate, you’re also engaging in a very important customer retention practice.  Watch and see what happens.

• Were you able to fix any problems?
• Did you sell something?
• Did you get a referral?
• Are you confident that your customer will return?
• Were you able to help anyone?

To your success,

Peg

(This post was originally written for and published in the Northeast Cincinnati Chamber Navigator.)

In my last “Teaching Moments” post I referenced the fact that Growth will not continue unless Innovation happens. While this is certainly true and probably obvious, I think we should explore “why?” or, the purpose of Innovation.

Innovation to the small business (or any business for that matter) is like a piston to an engine.  It takes the raw ideas (fuel) of the innovator and, through a process of creativity, assessment and application, drives new opportunity.  This is the “R&D” department of your business.

The problem for most of us is that we’re the R&D, marketing, finance, legal, operations, HR and more departments all in one!  That’s probably why Innovation gets put to the back burner.  Here’s the problem though (remember last month I talked about the importance of AWARENESS?  Here’s a chance to become more aware….).  If you don’t establish Innovation as part of your routine, you don’t acknowledge it in your cycle of entrepreneurial development, you don’t pay attention to it, and you don’t cultivate a culture of innovation; your business will stagnate.  Notice that I didn’t say that it might stagnate, it will!  You might be able to ride a wave of good fortune but the minute the economy changes, the traffic pattern changes, your customer’s needs/wants change, or your competition catches up to you you’re sunk!

This has happened to many companies in our current economic situation.  All was well, business was coming in and then…..crash!  Companies that were already seeking new opportunity had a leg up and were able to shift gears faster to create new opportunity.  Don’t misunderstand me, the economy has thrown a lot of good companies for a loop and there are many economic forces, not just Innovation or lack of, that have lead to disaster or even in some cases, massive growth.

Back to purpose….in short, the purpose of Innovation is to create new opportunity for the business.  Opportunity has many faces though:

• A new product line
• A new service
• A new relationship
• A second business
• A strategic alliance
• Greater efficiency
• Expansion
• Reorganization
• Etc.

As the entrepreneur, I believe that one of your primary roles is as that of innovator.  Yes, another hat that you have to wear!  Next month we’ll talk more about how to adopt innovative mindset but before we close here, let’s do a check on your overall vision and strategy.  One thing that innovation should NOT do is pull you off focus.  For some, like me, it can easily do that.  I LOVE to be creative and work on problem solving!  If you’re anything like me, you’ll want to impose a little discipline.  I like to have a journal that I can “deposit” my ideas in.  It can be a dedicated journal or maybe just the back section of one.  This way, you record your ideas so you don’t lose them but you also don’t have to feel like you need to act on them right away.

We’re just over half-way through the year.  Let’s pause for a check-up before we even think of starting something new!

Vision check: Are your actions and performance of the past months keeping you/your business in line with your overall vision (you have defined that, right?)

Strategy check: Review your goals.  Are you on track?  If not, what needs to change to get you back on track?  Is it a slight tweak or do you need a major innovation?

To your success!

Peg

(This post is a portion of one that was originally written for and published in the NEC Chamber Navigator.)

I hope you’ve having a very prosperous spring! Last month I introduced you to the Legacy ACCESS system of accelerated entrepreneurial development, our cyclical development model and the concept of Growth Purpose.  Today, I’d like to dive into the Strategy of Growth in more depth.

Once you’re able to see the vision and articulate your purpose you need to strategize the growth of your company (or a new project, opportunity, etc) to reflect and manifest that purpose.  In other words, you want to create a strategy that will get you to the end game.  Strategy will change depending on what the goal is but in general you will

• Articulate a goal(s)
• SWOT analysis
• Outline a plan
• Decide on measurements
• Following this you will begin to implement and measure (next month’s Teaching Moment).

Let’s talk a little more about the above steps.

1. In articulating a goal you’ll want it to be:
   1. Relevant-In line with vision & purpose
   2. Stated in REAL time
   3. Accompanied by a deadline-long or short-term?
   4. Realistic-can it be accomplished
   5. Measurable-how will you know if it succeeds?
2. SWOT Analysis
   1. What STRENGTHS do you and does your company bring to the goal?
   2. What WEAKNESSES do you need to address?
   3. What OPPORTUNITIES do you see?
   4. What THREATS do you foresee?
3. When outlining your plan you’ll want to
   1. Be specific and detailed
   2. Assign tasks-who will do what?
   3. Create a timeline-by when will what be done, in what order?
4. Measure
   1. What will you measure?
   2. How will you measure?
   3. How will you report the measurements?
   4. What will you do with the measurements?

1. i.      Continue with, revise, or dump the plan?

How does this really work?  Let’s look at a personal example.  I’m trying to build my organization so that we can help more business owners achieve sustainable (lasting) success.  One goal that I have is to work with organizations such as the NEC Chamber to .provide additional benefit to their members.  Now that the initial goal of making the relationship has been met, we can look at the strategy of growing this program as our example.

Collaborative Partner Strategy

Overall Legacy Vision: To accelerate the growth of the Legacy Community to 500,000+ members. (Is this strategy in line with vision? YES!)

Purpose: To help business owners build & grow successful, sustainable businesses. (Does this strategy serve our purpose?  YES!)

Strategy: To partner with other business organizations to create win-win-win collaborations, benefiting their members and their organizations.

Now that the initial relationship has been forged we need to have specific goals to maximize the collaboration. For the sake of space I’ll only address the first step of creating the goal.  In order to be complete, I do have planning and measurement in place!

Step 1: Articulate the goal for the NEC Chamber (a partnering organization) Collaboration:  We have 50 NEC Chamber members participating in the Legacy ACCESS Development Program by June 30, 2010. Let’s put it to the above test: Is it

• Relevant?-Yes, accomplishing this goal will help us toward our overall vision and stay in line with our purpose
• In REAL time?-Yes.  Stating it in present tense helps the mind believe in the possibility and, more importantly, FOCUS on the positive outcome, not the roadblocks.
• Accompanied by a deadline?-Yes, a short term one.
• Realistic? Although aggressive, I believe it to realistic especially given the dedication of the Chamber leadership to the program.
• Measurable? Yes-we have an affiliate program that will help track referrals, leads, inquiries, etc. so that we credit the Chamber with originating the lead.

Now, to complete the strategic process I will want to (and have done) a SWOT analysis, outline the plan and measure along the way.  See how simple that is!!

Simple-yes, easy-not necessarily.  It takes discipline and commitment to build and grow a successful business.  I hope that this strategy outline will be one more tool to help you accelerate your success!

To your success,

Peg

Becoming an entrepreneurial leader is an evolutionary process.  No question about it.  You can greatly speed up the Darwinian process of entrepreneurial evolution by listening-to your customers, your employees, your collaborators,  your peers, your advisers, your competition, and even your friends and family.

I didn't originate this easy reminder but I like to use it whenever possible-we have 2 ears for listening and one mouth for talking. If we do those two things in proportion we will listen twice as much as we talk!  This is a great sales strategy and an even more important relationship-building strategy.

To begin "listening" more proactively and purposefully, you may want to build an arsenal of great questions to have at your disposal.

• A universal opener is, "What do you do?"
• To learn more, "What are your challenges?"
• If you want to steer the discussion in a certain direction, "What are your major challenges around........?"
• Utilizing A Small Group conversations, we have learned that asking, "Why is that important?", helps to probe deeper and create curiosity rather than certainty.
• I personally like, "Tell me more." (This isn't really a question but it serves the same purpose!)
• Finally, leaving a conversation with, "What can I do for you?" creates the invitation for more meaningful interaction.

Asking good questions is only one part of the process.  The much more difficult practice is to then be quiet, pay attention, and truly listen to the responses. You know it's not that easy, though, right?!  Our tendency is to be thinking about what we'll say next.  Maybe it's a follow-up question or a bit of advice or a story that comes to mind.  That's where "Why is that important?" and  "Tell me more." come into play.  If you make a habit of asking more probing questions you won't be tempted to cut the conversation short or to shift to your agenda.

The benefits of listening are many and most should be fairly obvious:

• You leave an impression of being selfless and interested in the person you're communicating with
• You learn more about the person (and can then use that knowledge for further follow-up)
• You help the person articulate their needs so that you can follow with the right solution (especially important in sales)

How about a less obvious benefit of listening: Soliciting FEEDBACK?

OOPS-I just slipped into the uncomfortable zone, didn't I?  Previously I've mentioned my "Code of Armor".  This is a combination of code of ethics that I operate under and a coat of armor that I wear.  Part of my code is to be as transparent as possible.  The armor protects me from the vulnerability that transparency brings!  No one likes criticism yet, again, when we open ourselves to feedback it's one of the tools that can be used to accelerate our progress.  NOTE: Feedback doesn't just lead to criticism.  I've received many great ideas for new and improved versions of our programs through feedback!

When soliciting feedback you will want to listen to

• your customers
• your advisers
• your employees/collaborators
• and even your competition!
• OH! How about yourself?  Can you be honest enough to gain feedback from yourself?

These are some questions to ponder and as you do I hope you'll

Say YES!

To YOUR success,

Peg

Walt, though, was a believer on another level.  He had belief in himself,  in his vision, in the people around him, in his company and in his characters.  I think one of his most important beliefs was in his "customers".  Something struck me early in the museum tour.  In 1923, Walt began to market his cartooning.  He met with numerous obstacles including the fact that Felix the Cat was so popular at the time.  In frustration he said something like, "I've come on the scene of cartooning 6 years too late.".

Think about that for a minute. What if Walt's early questioning of himself and the marketplace had deterred him?  NO Mickey Mouse.  NO Snow White.  NO Disneyland.  NO Walt Disney World.  NO millions of hours of entertaining for all of us. What would life be like for you without any influence from Disney?  Recently my daughter and I saw the play, Mary Poppins.  That wouldn't have happened. My instant messaging handle is a derivation of "Disney Girl".  I'd have to have a different handle!  (LOL!)  2 weeks ago I bought a baby gift with Disney characters on it. Not happening without Walt's early fortitude.

Walt's story of belief doesn't end with overcoming doubt about competing with Felix the Cat.  He and his brother, who was his business partner, laid it all on the line time and again.  If Snow White hadn't been a success they would have been bankrupt.  If Disneyland hadn't hit a home run they would have been stuck with a bunch of worthless land.

Belief in what we do, what we make, what we provide is the core of being an entrepreneur.  It's what drives us to risk, to begin, to begin again, to beat the odds, to improve, to innovate, to recreate, to discover and very simply, to keep going despite the many obstacles that we face.

Speaking of obstacles-while on our trip to California we visited the Railroad Museum in Sacramento.  Talk about belief!  Four men came together to build a rail system from the Pacific, across the mountains to join with the railroad that was being built across the plains.  This was accomplished in less than 50 years.  That totally boggles my mind.  It can take many years of simple politicking to get something of that magnitude done now. Do you know what they credit this major accomplishment to?  Our country's need to be connected!

I'm going to close with this "teaching moment": Take this time to dig into what you really believe in.  What drives you like no other?  Once you have a feeling for it, HOLD ON TIGHT!  Don't let anyone take it from you.  MANY thought Walt Disney was crazy.  Thank goodness he didn't BELIEVE them!

Are you driven by what you BELIEVE in?

Say YES!

To YOUR success,

Peg

Let me 'splain!  Do you have an idea?  If so, you OWN it.  Have you invented something?  You OWN it.  Have you started a business?  Then you're an owner.  Have you bought a franchise?  Owner.  Have you made a relationship?  You own that too.   Have you ever made a decision?  OWNER!  Have you hit a home run? Great job-own it!   Have you made a mistake?  OWNER!

Oops, I slipped that last one in on you, didn't I?

Yup, as entrepreneurs, we OWN our ideas, businesses, relationships, decisions, triumphs and even our mistakes.  It's part of being accountable.  Part of being a leader.  Part of becoming better.  In short, by owning our decisions, including our mistakes, we continue to evolve, to become better, to gain more experience and to build on that experience for future success.

What does it take to truly OWN your decisions?  First, there's a level of self-awareness that is required.  This type of awareness isn't easy at first.  Turning our eyes inward is not a favorite practice but it is a practice that you can perfect.  Simply get in the habit of examining your decisions, asking:

• What was my role in the outcome, good or bad?
• What would others say?
• What did I learn from this experience?
• What can I change next time?

Second, I've found that adopting transparency and authenticity are critical to owning my decisions.  If others see what and why I do things then it's easy for me to take responsibility.  Let me warn you: this is hard.  It's probably the most difficult part of leadership for me and for many others that I know.  I've written before about my "code of armor".  Transparency and authenticity are part of that code.  It's both what makes me vulnerable and protects me at the same time.  Ask yourself

• What's important?
• What are you willing to reveal?
• What needs to stay hidden at all costs?
• Who are you?  Really.

Finally, have an accountability system in place.  You'll  find this an easy practice in a community.  Surrounding yourself with people that will not only support you but also question you, expect things from you, and....return the favor is a well documented success practice.  Need more convincing-read Community, the Structure of Belonging by Peter Block, Tribes by Seth Godin or Making Ideas Happen by Scott Belsky for starters!

Becoming an owner is a responsibility and a privilege.  It doesn't matter whether it's a house, a business or an idea.  As you develop your entrepreneurial approach think about your responsibilities as owner and ENJOY the privilege!

Are you ready to step up to ownership?

Say YES!

To your success,

Peg Stookey

If you've seen or heard me talking lately you've likely noticed something about a book study program that we're starting.  I'm really passionate about this opportunity and thought I'd share a little more about why.  Before I forget, it's not too late to order the book (at either Peg's Place or Legacy Connection).  It's a quick read and the video book study is archived at Peg's Place!

So, why a community book study?  This is actually something I've wanted to do for a long time.  The benefits of learning together are well documented.  Being guided through the book AND coming together, in person, to continue the learning is a very powerful combination.   If you need more reason than that, a couple of blog posts ago I shared a post from Bill Glazer that talked about the 3 habits that all successful entrepreneurs have

1. They READ
2. They CONTINUE their EDUCATION by attending LIVE learning events
3. They create and use S.M.A.R.T. goals

I also mentioned that I'm a life long learner and that the above 3 practices are things that I not only do but that we model and offer as opportunity for our members.  Through our Peg's Place book study of Creating Competitive Advantage by Jaynie Smith we're taking the learning from this book to the next level.  We're modeling the best practices of READING and attending LIVE learning events.  Very simply, I would not be where I am or able to go where I'm headed without the learning that I've engaged in.  I want to share that practice with our community.  I've been answering many questions about this program as I've been networking and talking about it.  You might have some of these same questions!

Q: Do you have to be a Legacy Connection member to participate?

A: NO!  The Peg's Place video book study is open to all!  The iConnection session is free to members and first time visitors.  Others pay just $10 at the door to join us!

Q: Why Creating Competitive Advantage?

A: Larry Watson is in an ACCEL group that I facilitate.  He's talked about the impact of this book MANY times.  I finally bought it and understood his excitement.  Jaynie Smith, the author, correctly states that most business owners DO NOT understand their competitive advantages and CANNOT communicate them.  Doing so can change the course of your business. THAT'S WHY!  What have you spent $15 (or less) on that you can say has changed the course of your business?

Q: Do you know the author?

A: No, I don't know the author but Larry Watson, our study facilitator, has participated in one of her trainings and has been strategizing with her to faciliate similar studies for her clients.

Q: I don't like to or have time to read, is there an audio?

A: On Amazon, it says that the audio is out of print.  With a little more searching it might be possible to find one.  I know that everyone learns differently but most learning requires some form of reading.  Here's what I do that might help you too!  MOST business development books have the most important information in the beginning and at the end.  So, I read the beginning, skim the middle (if I think it's important I dive in deeper) and then be sure to read the last chapter for the summary/recap/conclusions.  Having said that, Creating Competitive Advantage is a book that I read cover to cover-twice!

Q: Why the book study AND the in-person session?

A: I recently read Know Can Do by Ken Blanchard, etal.  It's a great book for both learners and educators/trainers because it talks about how to turn what you learn into what you do.  I'll save you some time and share the "secret":  practice (if you're the learner) or offer (if you're the educator) spaced repetition of the learning.  Spaced repetition practices could include

• skimming the book and highlighting points of interest (this is why I like to have the book rather than an audio of a book that I believe will be impactful)
• re-reading it and making notes of the important points
• Tell someone about what you learned-if you can "teach" it, even better!
• Discuss it with a group that has also read the book
• Practice what you've learned!

If you follow our book study (and this is the first of several we have planned!) you will be practicing spaced repetition:

• Read the book (highlighting optional)
• Take notes on the book (optional)
• View the video guides at the Peg's Place website
• Take more notes!
• Check out our newsletter success tips (many will be about the reading) (Not on our newsletter list?-sign up at the Legacy Connection website!)
• Attend the iConnection, in-person, session on August 18th!

Q: What will the iConnection session be about?

A: iConnection is always about Interactively Igniting Innovation.  For this session we'll be brainstorming the question, " What did you get out of the book and what did others learn that you can use in your business?" NOTE: While I REALLY hope you'll read the book, you'll still get a lot  from this session if you didn't read it!

Please let me know if you have questions or comments.  Will you be joining our book study?

Say YES!

To YOUR success,

Peg Stookey

But, I digress!  What is an auto-responder, why use one and how do you do it correctly?

First, if you're reading this it's very likely that you receive our Legacy Connects weekly eblast/newsletter.  A regular newsletter is a very important community tool for us.  We use it to inform our readers of upcoming events (saving them from having to go to our website to find the details); I share "teaching moments" as does my right hand gal, Hilairy; we do some marketing, we highlight community members and speakers, and, in general, we keep our community informed.

I've had people join our community membership after receiving the newsletter for 4 years and never come to a meeting!  That's a pretty powerful communication tool!  In fact, I've recently read that electronic newsletters were surpassing blogs in effectiveness.  As I'm writing a blog about newsletters I have to say that I think both are necessary and each has its place!

Anyway, I've also been learning about the importance of auto-responders. An auto-responder is a series of emails that you write, choose the frequency of and schedule the delivery.  This can all be automated in a newsletter system such as iContact, which is what I use.  In my case, I wanted to use an auto-responder to share more information about our weekly eBlast and Legacy Connection in general.  I chose to send an initial, brief welcome to the new subscriber and then 5 informative emails after that.

This is where it gets tricky and also where I have another opportunity to share my hard won learning with you! When I initially set up the auto-responder last May, I guess I failed to complete the process.  It turns out that I needed to "enable" it for it to work.  Here's the "my bad":  I didn't check on it! For some reason I assumed that it was being deployed and that I just hadn't received any feedback.  I really should know better.  People send me feedback ALL THE TIME!  (This is a good thing though!)

So....today, I realized my mistake and "enabled" the long forgotten auto-responder.  YIKES, OOPS, MY BAD, I'M SORRY, and I'M SOOOOOOOOOOOOO VERY SORRY is how I've started numerous emails since!  You see, the system thought it would make up for lost time and send all 6 emails at once.  To make matters worse, I had scheduled a weekly email to go out as well so these poor subscribers received 6-7 emails from me today!  Now, I know that people hang on my every word but really, 6 eblast type emails is WAY too many!

Here's an interesting thing though.  It wasn't all bad!

• I've had the chance to communicate with people that I wouldn't otherwise have talked to today.
• I've have people step up and offer to help try to figure out the problem.
• I've been given the opportunity to look more closely at stats.
• I was able to fix a couple subscription problems that might have gone unnoticed.
• I learned how helpful iContact's customer service reps are.
• And yes, I've had a few complaints.

All in all, I learned a great deal and hopefully, so have my readers!  I do feel bad that I lost some subscribers.  It's likely, though, that if they didn't have the patience and understanding with my problem that they weren't all that interested anyway.  This brings up another opportunity for learning: whenever technology is involved I try to have a policy of patience and flexibility.  Yes, I made a mistake and yes, it would have been much better if iContact hadn't sent all the emails at once.  Stuff happens though.  Have you ever left a voicemail or an email and it wasn't returned to find out that something went wrong with the message?  Stuff happens! Email communications are misinterpreted ALL the time.  Stuff happens! Cars break down and the cell phone was left at home.  Stuff happens! Cell phones die, the email address was entered wrong, the phone number is incorrect, and.......sometimes we make human errors too.

Here's my point---part of being in a community and in relationship with people is the need for flexibility and, as I recently wrote in another blog, curiosity.  I SO appreciate Vickie, who ASKED me if there was a problem today. Heck, yeah!  But guess what?  A blog post was born and that's never a bad thing!

Do you have any stories of tech gone bad or flexible, curious people that have made your day?  If so, will you share them with us?

Say YES!

To your success,

Peg Stookey

Recently, I was in an email discussion with my friend, Elaine.  Elaine and her husband Eric own Hansen Resource Development and are very involved with an organization I belong to, A Small Group (ASG).  Elaine replied to something I said with a very profound statement: Replace certainty with curiosity.  Thank you, Elaine, for giving me these words to write about today!!  Thank you, Peter Block, for helping ASG members to value "curiosity" over "knowing".

Replace Certainty with Curiosity

I've written numerous posts on the topic of what an entrepreneur is but NONE of them get at the core like this one sentence does: Replace certainty with curiosity.  Take a minute to close your eyes and absorb what this means to YOU.

Breathe

Breathe

Breathe

Breathe

Breathe

OK-open you eyes with renewed sight!

What did you come up with?  To be honest, I'm having trouble putting my thoughts into words-it's that big!  AND, it's not just about entrepreneurism.  Can you imagine what the world would be like if we ALL replaced certainty with curiosity about

• our relationships
• our neighbors
• race
• social status
• religion
• education
• money
• family
• politics
• foreign lands and their people

What is it that you "know" that really isn't true?  Or that you're not sure is really true?  We grow up with the values and beliefs of our family because that's what we're taught.  It's all we really know.  We go to school and believe what we're taught because we're not encouraged to do otherwise.  WHAT IF THERE WEREN'T CURIOUS PEOPLE OUT THERE?  Would we still believe the world was flat, that fire was evil and that getting to the moon was an impossibility?  I could go on and on but I really need to get to how this affects as an entrepreneurs!

As an entrepreneur, what does it mean to replace certainty with curiosity?

1. We ask questions-lots of them!
2. We see possibilities where others see roadblocks
3. We seek-always!
4. We are "itchy", never quite satisfied or content
5. We are life-long learners
6. We identify needs
7. We look for solutions
8. We want more....

More knowledge, more relationship, more information, more money, more success, more efficiency, more caring, more concern,  more, more, more.  We are driven by what we personally don't have enough of or, more often,  by what we don't see the world as having enough of.

Most businesses are started by people that have VERY little small business, entrepreneurial experience of any kind.  They have been trained through education and experience to be good employees.  They have "employee mindset" down to the core.  Transitioning to "entrepreneurial mindset" is the most important factor for their sustainable success as a business owner.  Becoming CURIOUS is the first step in that transition.  Maintaining curiosity is the continuing challenge of us all.

Our human nature is to feel good about "knowing".  We feel safe and comforted when we're certain of things.  As an entrepreneur, we're called to give up some of this comfort in order to seek more.  We're called to be curious.  Are you ready to become more curious?

Say YES!

To your success,

Peg