The State of Mind of Success

When I asked a friend of mine what she would like to see in a future post, she had mentioned a few things (which I will definitely write about – don’t you worry), but one thing she mentioned was “what were the biggest challenges to starting your own business”. There are numerous things that naturally come to mind. Setting myself up financially to embark on a business. Writing a business plan. Creating a marketing strategy. Developing a client list from scratch. There are a bunch of things that challenge the upstart business. However, there was one reoccurring theme that I noticed when listing off all of these things: success. You want to develop a successful business plan. Develop a successful marketing strategy. How do you even know your plans and intentions will be successful? It’s definitely hard to predict, but if you get nervous and doubt your strategy, you’re already going to fail. The best way to start any of these things successfully – and the biggest challenge to consistently be mindful about – is to be in the mind frame of being successful.

Now, I know this sounds like a load of crap, as if I stayed up way to late one night and saw all of these self-help commercials. I don’t really look at “being in a successful state of mind” like that. It’s actually very difficult to continuously be in such a state of mind, especially when things are looking bleak and trouble is on the horizon. Instead, it becomes even easier to be in a state of doubt and fear, which may end up causing you to turn away from your dreams and wave the white flag. Therefore, having the right state of mind can help guide you to setting yourself up for success.

When I was first starting out, people would ask me what I do for a living, or I’d be introduced as a photographer, and most people’s reactions were of amazement and they were impressed I would embark on this career path. I’d explain how I spent the last ten years in the food service industry, but then I’d do something nearly every time: I would follow it up with, “I hope I don’t go back into the food service industry.”  It sounds innocent from the outside, but when you break it down, it shows nothing but fear and uncertainty of what my future holds. It was something I subconsciously did, never realizing this habit of being in a scared mindset.

One time, at my favorite cafe, I made a similar statement to one of the owners, Rob.  Rob is a very easy going guy with one of those laid back attitudes that you admire.  So, it makes you come to Boccato in the mornings before your chaotic day begins, since his personality makes you feel at ease. However, after hearing my remark about “hoping I won’t go back to the food business”, he stopped everything he was doing.  He looks at me with the most concerned look on his face and turned his serious voice on.

“No, man. You won’t go back to the food service industry,” he said. “You’re a photographer now. You have to think that and don’t approach things with a ‘what-if’ attitude.”

Holy crap.  He was right!  I couldn’t look at my business with my fingers crossed, hoping for the best.  I had to want it.  I had to realize that this was my chosen path, and if I didn’t want to go back to the food industry, I had to keep my focus on being successful.  It was such a wow moment that I’ve made sure I remind myself of this lesson every time I start to get nervous.

Back in my college days, I was an avid poker player.  I did my homework, learned from the pros, and had a pretty successful run.  I always have this feeling like poker mimics life, at times, and there are a lot of sayings that stem from that wonderful game.  One such saying seems to apply to any business venture: “Scared money doesn’t make money.” If you approach your business with worry of fear, you won’t be successful.  You have to go in it with confidence, and that confidence will permeate through every business interaction you make.

Until next time,

- Patrick

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 9th, 2010 at 12:15 pm. It is filed under business, personal, photography and tagged with business, inspiration, musings, personal, photography, photography business, success. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.