Ep118 Playing the long game of business

I've been in business for 16 years, and I have so many people come and go in this space, and I have a fair idea of what a successful business looks like, and what red flags to look for when it's not. 

The short game of business is sexy. Of course it is! It offers overnight success, quick wins and ease. But, look at the results of people trying to get it. Is it real? The short game is putting off anything that seems hard and doing anything that seems easy and fun. 

Sticking to the hard things, and being pushed outside of your comfort zone is scary. But gosh it's rewarding. You are sacrificing so many things in order for a better future. A boring business is a profitable business. You don’t see the massive day to day results, but over the years, the gap widens hugely because you’ve stayed the course. Business is filled with challenges and complex decisions and playing the long game means sometimes having to give up some of the benefit now, in order to receive more later.

Playing the long game is certainly not easy. If it was easy, everyone would do it and there wouldn’t be such a small percentage of people who make it past $100k, let alone the $1m mark.  It’s all worthwhile and it all will make sense one day when you wake up and realise that what you were always building towards, is now here. Playing the long game means you take advantage of slow, incremental but constant compounding progress that will inevitably lead you to success. I can't express this enough - love your customers, show up and serve - the law of reciprocity will come back. Delayed gratification is something you will learn to master. Present for one person on your first course. Do the webinar for whoever shows up. Don’t get fomo when you look around and see what others are doing because it’s really hard to see everything they’re doing in the background. Focus on your race and doing the things that will pay off for you over time. The law of compounding is a beautiful beautiful thing. 

There are moments in everyone's business journeys, where it all can become too overwhelming and hard. But, it's these moments that are the most crucial for your business success. If you come up against one of these moments, I want you to remind yourself why you are in business. When you remind yourself of why you're doing what you are doing, why you are serving your customers, it will help you make the hard decisions and will pay off in the long run. 

This journey is yours, stay true to yourself and your values, stay in the game and enjoy the journey.