Most people believe successful business owners have something special that they don’t. The truth is that success is rarely about intelligence, qualifications, or luck. It is usually built from mindset, habits, determination and a willingness to keep going when others quit.

This series is 1 of 8 blogs that explores the principles that transformed my life from a young window cleaner with pennies in my pocket into a successful entrepreneur.

Blog 1

Positive thinking.

Positive thinking is not wishful thinking. People often misunderstand positive thinking.

Positive thinking is not pretending everything is wonderful when it isn’t.

It is choosing to believe that a solution exists even when you cannot yet see it.

Every business owner faces setbacks. Customers leave, deals collapse, cash flow becomes tight and mistakes happen.

That’s when most new entrepreneurs give up and find themselves repeating for the rest of their lives what happened and why they are now not successful putting their failure down to someone else.

The difference between success and failure is often how we respond to the situation.

Negative thinkers ask:

“Why is this happening to me?”

Successful thinkers ask:

“What can I learn from this?”

When I started out, there were many reasons to give up. I had little money, little confidence and no roadmap.

However, I discovered that your brain tends to find evidence to support whatever you believe.

Believe you cannot do something and you’ll find reasons to quit.

Believe you can and you’ll begin looking for ways forward.

Positive thinking doesn’t guarantee success.

But negative thinking almost guarantees failure.

Success Tip:

Start every day by asking:

“What opportunities could today bring?” Then keep your ears and eyes open for problems that you can solve.

That simple question changes your focus.

One day I had to take a curtain pelmet off the wall to decorate, finding out there were just 4 pieces of wood, and it would be easy and cheap to make, I was now in the pelmet manufacturing business.