|
Shhhh….Here it is….The SECRET to Success
Let’s Look at the BIG Picture Here at the Clown Marketing Institute, I get calls from Clowns all over the US, Canada and actually many other parts of the world. And it is so exciting to hear about the success stories that are taking place as more and more clowns recognize that they are in fact running a small business. We are so glad to be a part of that, whether through our newsletter, telephone seminars, articles, information products or personal coaching. It gets my pulse running to talk about direct marketing techniques, telephone scripts, getting into new markets and such. And I really enjoy being able to provide personal coaching services to those that are really looking for serious results. But can I share with you my biggest observation about why some professional clowns go on to have tremendous success and some just seem to fizzle out or barely survive? It’s bigger than the marketing techniques they are using. And it’s bigger than what area of the country they live in, how many years they have been clowning or what’s in their repertoire… It’s the inner enemy of progress…it’s called self-limiting beliefs. Self-limiting beliefs are those things you believe about yourself that place limitations on your progress. Things like:
It was once believed that man was not meant to fly. Yet Orville and Wilbur proved them wrong and would be ecstatic if they ever saw Chicago’s O’Hare airport. And sailing around the world was once believed an impossibility, now a regular occurrence. Who would have thought that a man would ever run a mile faster than 4 minutes, yet this year a Kenyan ran a “3 minute 52.87 second” mile. These people achieved the impossible because they believed that they could and they broke through self-limiting beliefs. (Is that orchestra music I hear in the background?) I said all that just to say this. If you are tying balloons at Wendy’s and in your heart of hearts you believe you were meant to be headlining a show in Las Vegas as “America’s Clown” then what’s holding you back? Knowing the Enemy is Half the Battle Fortunately, you can get rid of self-limiting beliefs. They come from a variety of places like things people said to us when we were growing up. Or from repeatedly listening to negative talk like the news, television, or other negative influences in our lives. My hope is that by reading this article you will be more aware of the self-limiting, self-talk that goes on in your head. Just being aware of these inner gremlins of progress will help you recognize them the next time they rear their ugly heads. Challenge these thoughts every time they pop up and consciously reject any thought or suggestion that you are limited in any way. Put yourself in a position to hear positive messages, read uplifting books or listen to motivational CD’s to balance out the negative influences in your life. There is nothing you cannot do. You simply need to find the way to get there and get on with it. Otherwise you will find yourself doing the same old thing for years, thinking that nothing will ever change for you. Here’s What Works for MeI want to share with you something that works very well for me. About 6 months ago I attended a weekend seminar where I got really focused on what I wanted to achieve in my life and especially over the next 3 years. I wrote a very detailed marketing plan for my business on how I was going to achieve my goals. During this weekend, my future business success and possibilities became crystal clear to me. At that time, I grabbed my digital recorder and recorded everything I was thinking, planning and the vision I had for my future. It was about a 15-minute, positive, uplifing dialog filled with absolute clarity on my future. Now, here is how I use this recording. When I recorded that message about my future plans, my heart was facing true North. Our daily lives have a way of turning our heads away from our plans for the future. Just one degree off of true North would result in a missed target when fooling around with rockets and plans for the future. But now, each morning, part of my first-thing-in-the-morning routine includes listening to that recording. And every time I do, it snaps my head and my focus back onto my true North. It has been tremendously powerful to keeping my business plan on track. Will this work for you? Try it! Maybe writing down your goals and ideas so you can read them again will work for you. Or drawing a picture of what your future success looks like will work for you. The bottom-line is this. Put yourself in a position where you can listen to what your heart is telling you, write down your plan to get there and then do something that will get you refocused on your TRUE NORTH everyday. “But Esther, you usually tell us all kinds of good things about how to market our businesses, book more shows, make more money and such…what’s with the big gear change here?” Listen, I can and do give you proven marketing strategies and techniques that will get you more business than you can handle. But if you can’t capture that bigger vision for your future then all the tools and techniques shrink down to only what you believe is possible. GET A VISION. WRITE IT DOWN. REAP THE RESULTS.
Have a successful business day bumping noses!
Esther Beris Professor of Clown Marketing Clown Marketing Institute 440-298-1536 The Clown Business Owners’ UNFAIR Advantage
To find out more about joining the Success in Clowning Club, visit Success in Clowning Club
Copyright
© 2004 Clown Marketing Institute |
Yours
for more shows, money and fun,