1) Raise your standards
In all areas of your life, surround yourself with people who challenge and inspire you to higher standards. It really is true that you become the sum of your five closest friends. I continue to volunteer for all kinds of things to be around people I aspire to be like. Then, not only do I become more like them, I pick up increasingly valuable skills that can’t be learned in school or through the people I normally spend time with.
2) Change your limiting beliefs
When you believe something is impossible, all you can see is what is stopping you. When you believe that anything is possible, you’ll be open to new ways of doing things that no one has discovered before. Fear is limiting. Years ago, when in a fit of fear, I grabbed my perfume and used it to quickly spray mice out of the farm vehicle I was in, and it changed my destiny. No longer afraid, I’m able to remove all self-limiting beliefs that prevent me from asking more purposeful questions like:
Why lure mice in to kill them; why not keep them out to start with? Why not make pest control fashion forward? Why not make it 100% sustainable, so it could offer new ways for family farmers to benefit? Why not hire handi-capable workers in our business—it’s unacceptable that 80% unemployment exists in their communities.
Today, turning that fear into action and removing all limitations has resulted in $50M in retail sales of Fresh Cab rodent repellent!
3) Model what works
You don’t always need to recreate the wheel. Find someone who’s already accomplished what you want to do in another market or category and partner with them, or ask them to be an advisor. The Ernst & Young (EY) Strategic Forum, held each fall in Palm Springs, CA, is a great example of this. Every year the nation’s top 1% of entrepreneurs meet there to ignite new growth for their businesses through high-energy collaboration to take ‘what works’ to a whole new level.
4) Increase your intensity
Start with what you can, with what you have, wherever you are. Find a way to move forward no matter what, and commit to it with every fiber of your being. My business started with a 99-cent package of garden seeds… today it’s a $10M dollar business, 100% privately owned by me and growing by leaps and bounds. Now, as I continue to grow, things will change, but I will adjust my thinking and refocus. I’ve seen this work over and over again and once that intensity is lost, businesses falter.
5) Always give more than you expect to receive
True transformation happens when you stop looking for the minimum that you can get by with, and start focusing on the maximum that you can give of your time and talents to create something bigger than yourself. I used to have a poverty mentality. I was on food stamps, spending hours figuring out how to get out of paying taxes, saving money, and to get anything for free that I could.
Once I shifted my thinking away from my pain and problems, and focused on how I could help alleviate that disharmony for others, everything changed.
I became a game-changing entrepreneur. I added new value to family farms that live near poverty levels, yet feed the world, and at the same time reduced toxins in our homes and environment.
Have you struggled with self-limiting beliefs? We all do—there’s no shame in it. I’d love for you to share with me, because believe me, it’s easier when you can share your challenges with others who have been able to overcome them.
