Why Is This Happening to Me?
Have you ever looked in your bank account and thought – where did all of this money go?- Were you hit with an unexpected tax bill this month?
- Did you suddenly have 3 clients leave or finish their programs and then get stuck in a low cash crisis?
- Did you get behind on a launch and then have less sales than you expected?
These things happen to all of us. We have crises in our businesses or bumps in the road.
What I’ve come to notice is that there is a difference between how more mature and successful business owners handle these situations.
Successful business owners really understand Cause and Effect. They don’t misplace their blame. They focus on solving the problem instead of blaming external circumstances. They don’t question, “why did this happen?”
For every effect, there is a cause. And money is no different. Money is the effect and you are the cause.
Let’s take the tax bill example. If you understand Cause and Effect, you get that the reason you got hit with an unexpected tax bill is because you avoided speaking with your accountant or finding one that you could work with over the course of the year. Somewhere deep inside, you knew you would have to pay the taxes, especially since you were making great money. But you just avoided the situation. So the effect is a surprise bill that creates lots of fear and anxiety.
The entrepreneur that understands cause and effect doesn’t beat herself up too long. She just gets it. She thinks: I am the cause of this issue. Next year I want to create a different effect. I’m not going to stay in fear around this. I’m just going to focus on working out a way to pay the taxes in installments, focus on getting more revenue in, and make sure I communicate with my accountant.
And I’m also going to determine (from my accountant) what my estimated tax payments are for each quarter and be sure to put away that money in my savings accounts.
What I want you to really understand here is that this successful entrepreneur still MADE the mistake. She’s not perfect. She just isn’t dwelling on the problem or beating herself up or acting out in fear. She’s just moving forward. She also isn’t sitting around thinking, why is this happening to me? She is taking responsibility.
Let’s take another example:
The situation of having 3 clients finish their programs with you or leave unexpectedly and leave you in a cash crunch.
Again, this could happen to anyone and does happen all the time.
The Entrepreneur who understands cause and effect, looks at herself and thinks. Where did I avoid looking at my numbers and seeing that these clients were going to end their programs? Where did I avoid doing the marketing to get new clients at least 90 days before they left so I wouldn’t be in this situation?
For the situation when clients leave. The aware entrepreneur says: Where did I avoid noticing signs of unhappiness? How can I make sure that I have a cushion in my business account to account for situations like these in the future?
Again, there isn’t a point where she stops working for weeks or wonders how could this happen. Yes, she has her tantrum and upset moments for a short amount of time. Then she moves into action to solve it. She also doesn’t blame outside people like her clients, her family, her mentors or anyone else. She just steps in to taking responsibility.
I find that so many young entrepreneurs struggle with cause and effect. They spend a lot of time blaming, beating themselves and wondering why things happened.
They also misunderstand other people’s successes. For example, you might see a colleague sell 100 products in a product launch and not realize that part of her cause was having a large list and 10 great JV partners. Then when you try to copy that success you don’t get the same results. It’s important to notice that EVERYONE lives by the rules of cause and effect. Even if you can’t always see someone else’s cause.
Many also believe that if they were more successful, had more money or had more training – these things wouldn’t happen. The truth is that unexpected bumps will always happen during the course of business.
The more successful among us just stop and look at cause and effect. Trust me when you start doing this in your business – it makes things less emotional and you stop beating yourself up.
I know for my business and myself – I’m always a work in progress. I’m always looking at the effects of my behavior both good and bad. And I’m looking at how I can change the cause. What systems and processes can I put into place to make things better? How can I develop myself personally to change my own outcomes?
This week – ask yourself: Where am I blaming external circumstances instead of looking at myself or my business structures as the cause? What could I be doing differently?
At first, it’s not always easy to point the finger back at yourself. But as soon as you start focusing on solving the problems, you start to notice that it’s much easier than you thought. And soon you’ll become addicted to really getting to the root cause of the issue.
Keep in mind that you may need some help with this – it’s what a really good mentor does is help you see the underlying cause and come up with a solution. Email us if you need support – support@revenuebreakthrough.com
Leave me a comment below and let me know how you see Cause and Effect. I’d love to hear from you.
