14. It’s your fault–get this
and then get it again
This is the most crucial concept of business ownership or
management. Get this, really get it, and things start to become
easier. If you don’t get it then you are doomed to a life of
mediocrity and bitterness. A life of always blaming the economy or
your boss/wife/parents/kids/landlord – the list is endless. You’ll lie in
your old people’s home, with your incontinence pants on,
muttering and moaning and complaining to anyone who’ll listen,
but they’ll all be avoiding you!
So here it is – the key to business success:
“Anything and everything that happens in your business is
your fault.”
If you decide you’re big enough and ugly enough to have a
business then decide that you will take full responsibility for it.
Don’t blame the competition, interest rates, the economy, your
staff or anything else. Accept that it’s yourbusiness or that you
have been given the responsibility to run it by the owner. If you
want the rewards from a successful business then you have to
accept that, on occasion, challenges will arise and it won’t all be
plain sailing.
But if you acknowledge that a problem is your fault and therefore
your responsibility, then you can calmly accept it and try and
come up with the solution. Success in business is NEVER a
straight line. It is always a wiggly line that sometimes moves
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