How to be Successful – 4 Missing Links

Do you know how to be successful? Have you often wondered how some people can do everything, or so it seems, and still be successful?  Yes?  So did I, so I did a bit of digging to find out what they are doing differently compared to the people who work really hard, but don’t seem to be able to break through to success.  What are the missing links that we don’t see?  The answer, a refresher course in who we are, is a timely reminder for all of us who strive to grow their success businesses.

The Missing Links of Successful People

Successful people know who they are, where they are going and how they are going to get there, they have a vision.  But I can do all that too, so there is still something missing.  Do you relate to this?. Maybe there is more to the obvious stuff than meets the eye. Successful people are all things to everyone, but they don’t do it themselves, they have a team of people working in the background doing the grunge.   Mmmmmmm…. Interesting because I try to do most of it all myself and that doesn’t work. There must be more to this!

The 4 Less Obvious Stuff about Successful People

1. Successful people find out what they are Good at
2. Successful people get better at what they are Good at
3. Successful people concentrate on what they are Good at
4. Successful people find other ways or people to do Everything else

Find out what you are good at

It is imperative to understand the things you are good at and what you are not, what you enjoy doing and what you don’t, or put another way, your strengths and weaknesses.  Your strengths are the things you are probably good at, they are the things that come easily to you.  This is what you need to concentrate spending your time on, nothing else! So how do you find out your strengths?

• The Gallup strength finder is a good start, and although it does cost a small amount of money, it is totally worth it.  It uses science and analytics to determine your natural behavioural talents, or what you are good at and what areas are not as strong by ranking them in order of strengths.  It will absolutely open your eyes to what type of tasks you are good at and help you understand why this is so.
• Personality tests also give another indication of strengths, so if you are a “Sanguine” or an Enneagram 3, “the Performer”, being in the back of the office doing the accounts will not serve you or your business well.
• Asking family and friends to be totally honest with you about what you are naturally good at and what your best qualities are, is also another indication, although they might not be totally honest with you on what your worst qualities are.  Others often see things in us that we can’t see because we are too close.

Get better at what you are Good at

Getting better at what you are good at is usually a mixture of tedium and sheer joy. Was it Arnie Schwarzenegger who said “Reps, reps reps”? You get it – repetition. When you are working on a skill or attribute that comes easily to you, then your improvement will be faster than you think. I always find it useful to revisit my starting point. I am grateful for how far I have come.

Concentrate on what you are Good at

Hopefully your business is a part of your strength skill so the main part of your daily tasks will be using these skills easily and enjoyably. Distractions and other people trying to pull you in different directions will sabotage or at the very least delay your progress. Attempting all the tasks that contribute to your business invariably results in either being spread too thinly or being completely overwhelmed. Success will then slip away from you.

Find other ways or people to do Everything else

You have worked out that you are not good at everything, or there are just too many things to do. The 21^st century gives us the opportunity to not only get things done in other ways, but usually the tasks are completed more efficiently or productively than we good ever do ourselves. We are familiar with the concept of contactors and sub-contractors. The 21st Century and technology has taken this concept to a whole new level – Outsourcing! It is quite straightforward. While you keep doing the things you are good at, outsource the rest of the tasks in both your personal and business life for others who are probably better than you at doing them, to do.

Outsourcing versus Employees

Outsourcing tasks to contractors has become a much more efficient way of doing business, we can use contractors who live all over the world nowadays, they are more skilled at their specialty, dedicated to doing your work, faster at performing the tasks and much more cost effective. Employing staff for these tasks is no longer cost effective with all the taxes and costs involved in having staff.  Leave the tasks you aren’t good at to the experts, you will free up your time and save money by having specialist contractors, virtual assistants and professional people who look after different parts of your business.

How I Outsource

In my business I outsource most things these days.  I outsourced all my accounting and bookkeeping, I’ve got rid of my factory and all the overheads and expenses of running that and use a logistics company for all my stock holding, I use a sub-contractors for all the work and he has the headache of staff.  My I.T. is outsourced to an expert, marketing is outsourced too.  My job is to do the quoting because I love working with the detail and knowing where the costs are going.  I’m thinking about outsourcing all the customer follow up and customer support, because that is not what I enjoy doing. Outsourcing allows me to have time and focus on doing the things I love doing.

Strengths plus Outsourcing Equals Success

So……

If your strength and business isn’t in social media, outsource that.

If your passion and business isn’t into house cleaning, outsource that.

If your strength and business isn’t in I.T., outsource that.

If your strength and business isn’t in accounting or bookkeeping, outsource that.

If your strength and business isn’t into newsletters, outsource that.

If your strength and business isn’t into website development, outsource that.

If your strength isn’t people management, then you can outsource that too!

Get the picture, if your strength, passion and business isn’t an expert at doing something, then outsource that. We live in a global economy now so employing people from other countries makes much more sense too as this increases the number of talented people who can work for us remotely and remember we can also sell to these same countries.

We need to become the boss or coach to the team that does the grudge jobs of our business, so our business can grow beyond us with the best team to do the work.