Are you Responsible? Or is it Fate?

It’s completely fascinating to me how many times we refuse to take responsibility for the success of our businesses (or most often, the failure to succeed) instead relegating fault to “the Universe” or “fate” or “Mercury in retrograde!”

While I believe in positive mindsets, affirmations and believing the best is going to happen I’m here to tell you stop blaming your business failures on the planets when the real reason is a lack of planning and systems.

Let me give you 3 common scenarios that I see online entrepreneurs making that get blamed on the moon, stars and everything else.

Mistake #1 Not Paying Attention to Technology Until it Fails

You see this during a telesummit, workshop or call when “suddenly” the host’s computer shuts down, they can’t log into the dashboard or the recording ‘just didn’t start, oops!’

It’s a problem because everyone listening in is hearing a different message that what you’ve prepared to teach. They’re hearing that you’re unprepared, the technology isn’t working well and then on top of all that sometimes they hear the host say, “oh boy never plan a launch when Mercury is in retrograde!”

Raise your hand if you’ve heard that before.

In reality, if you don’t test your technology, ignore system updates and just “wing it” then you’re probably going to have problems that have nothing to do with the planetary alignment and everything to do with your decision to ignore technology until the second you need it to work perfectly. Also, you have to press the button to start a recording most of the time.

Mistake #2 Ignoring Marketing Until Launch Time

Regular marketing is so important, you can’t ignore your audience until you’re ready to sell to them. If you do then you’re that guy who only calls when he needs to use your truck because he’s moving. Oh and can you help carry boxes? Actually, you’re worse than a fair weather friend, because you don’t show up and ask for a favor if you only market when you want to make money.

The real mistake here is that you haven’t built up enough goodwill to ask for the sale, your audience doesn’t trust you. But instead of acknowledging that some people claim “the Universe is telling me this is not the right path.” Well, maybe it is the right path for your business (the right offer, timing, price point, etc) but you haven’t done the work to prepare your audience to buy from you.

Mistake #3 Blaming All Your Problems Externally

In the stellar book Good to Great I found this fascinating delineation of okay vs great leaders. It goes like this:

Most leaders take credit when things go well and blame external forces when things go wrong.

Great leaders credit their team and a dose of luck when things go well and take full responsibility when things go wrong.

And these are leaders of Fortune 500 companies responsible for millions of dollars, thousands of jobs and answering to shareholders.

How much more should you, in your solo or small business, be taking responsibility? If your new virtual assistant doesn’t work out then it’s likely you chose the wrong person or were unclear with directions. If a product launch flops then you need to consider how you misread the market, if you didn’t promote enough or if your product just stinks.

I actually love the phase “breakdown before a breakthrough” but I think most people miss the point. By having a “breakdown” you should be able to clarify what changes you should make and then “breakthrough” to the results you want by implementing them in your business.

Bottom Line?

Please continue to set intentions and goals, manifest the success you want in your life and business, and believe in God, the Universe, fate, vortexes, whatever it is that you believe. But not passively.

Get off your assets and work hard and continually learn from your mistakes.

With the right systems and planning you can leave poor Mercury out of the equation.

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