Why Your Past Success Is Hurting Your Future Success – This Is Personal

This article is based on my recent teleclass, Why your past success is hurting your future success - 3 reasons that your business is not making BIG money – YET!  There is nothing so heartbreaking as seeing your dream business – that you've put your heart and soul into – falling to the ground like a big broken kite!  If you could separate yourself from the equation, it wouldn't be so bad, but if you're anything like me, your business is your baby!  So here's the third reason, and I know this one well:

Reason #3 – You are not used to failure feeling so personal.  When things are going great, all is right with the world.  But when it's not going well, let's face it - it's embarrassing!  Your business is a reflection of you, and it's hard to accept setbacks, rejection, or criticism. This is the point when people give up and get a j-o-b rather than admit their weaknesses.  So here's the third and final principle, and it is by far the one that helped me the most to triple my income over the past two years:

Divine Juice Principle #3 - You must use failure to catapult your success.  There is a lot of good that can come from failure – believe me!  It leads to a phenomenon that I call the “entrepreneurial wormhole”.  Believe it or not, many businesses actually are born because of some type of struggle or pain.  And through that experience, the business owner learned!  They either decided to use that pain to help other people, or they realized that they had a gift in a certain area, and wanted to share it with others.  Or, they found something that helped them and then wanted to pass it on. 

Failure has a purpose!  Of course when you're in it, it sucks.  But once you're out the other side of the wormhole, that knowledge catapults your business.  And here's the rub - when you invest in yourself, and in your business, you often experience another version of your wormhole.  It doesn't make sense, but you're birthing the next level of your work – and it hurts!  But if you don't take those risks, it could be the death of your business.  Investing in that help, working with my mentor, and having faith in myself – that's what got me out of my wormhole.  I could never have offered the high level content of the Inner Circle had I not made a high level investment in myself, and had I not experienced and received that kind of support.  Yes, failure feels personal – because you're not used to this level of frustration!  But in order to always move forward, you have to have people around you – peers, friends, a mentor or mastermind group – to help you get through that wormhole. 

So here's your homework for today – list your “failures” and what you learned from them.  Give them the credit they deserve.  Maybe it was a struggle, or a setback, but in your heart it became pervasive enough to affect your ability to take risks.  Doing this exercise may help prevent another wormhole!  And it will make what you've gone through – or going through – make sense.  I have a saying that we share in the Inner Circle - “Leap and the cliff disappears.”  When you decide to love your career, to have a peaceful and prosperous business, the cliff disappears.