What the Doctor didn't tell me!

Written by David Harman on May 1, 2012 3:01 pm

Waiting for the Doctor

What the Doctor didn't tell me I discovered in the waiting room from a little girl called Erin. She was just 19 months old. Yes, a toddler! She was also waiting to see the Doctor with her Mum.

Erin was being very good looking at the books and magazines on the waiting room table. Taking some back to Mum and 're-organising' the others on the table.

Then she discovered a pack of business cards on the magazine table and immediately took them back to Mum.

Clever Mum, in an effort to keep Erin 'entertained', started giving them back to her, one at a time, to take back to the table - which Erin did.

After a few trips to and fro between Mum and the table, Erin stopped just as she was turning away from Mum to take another card back to the table. She was looking at the card in her hand and then her empty other hand. It was magic watching. We were all smiling!

After a few moments thought, Erin returned to her Mum holding out her empty hand for a another card before returning to the table. It was priceless seeing Erin discover that it was possible to take more than one card at a time and reduce the amount of walking!

So next time she came back to Mum she made sure she had two cards, one for each hand.

However, after a couple more trips with two cards she discovered, while handling the cards, that she could hold more than one in each hand!

She was on to a winner now. Mum could not just give her one card at a time and make her toddle to and fro with a few cards. Erin could take the whole lot back in one go.

Why am I telling you this story? What relevance does it have to developing an online business?

I was reminded of three important mindset lessons that are important when building your business:

Keep on learning

'Rome wasn't built in a day' they say. So true! Building a new business online can be a daunting prospect. But it doesn't have to be as long as you are prepared to keep on learning.

I believe it has also been said that if you're not learning, you've died! Now that is definitely true businesswise. There is always new stuff to learn. Even my mentor has a mentor. There's never a point when we can afford to stop learning.

Be eager to learn!

Keep your focus

The second lesson I was reminded of by Erin, was to keep your focus. It would have been very easy for Erin to have started looking around at all of us spectators and to get distracted from learning and discovering.

Erin was focussed and it paid off. She was developing!

Just as we start setting up our businesses we have to set our goals and remain focussed. Keep concentrating on one thing, getting better and better before moving on to another skill. We mustn't be distracted by those more established than ourselves. They've been in our shoes. They have learned in just the same way. They just started before us or had more time to devote to their business.

It doesn't matter what anyone else is up to. Focus on YOUR business!

Erin advanced from taking one card at a time to a whole pile through focus and persistence.

Keep your reference

And finally, Erin kept going back to Mum to pick up more cards. Mum was encouraging her to keep taking the cards back to the table.

We too need to have a reference, a mentor. Someone who will keep us on track. Someone who won't do the work for us but will ensure we are learning efficiently, keeping us focussed.

I have a mentor, someone I use to keep me focussed. She's tough sometimes but it's the way it has to be. I need to build MY business! Like YOU need to build YOUR business.

Don't try going it alone, join a team, a strong team with awesome leaders proving their teaching and creating great businesses.

Take action now. Take MASSIVE action. You owe to yourself!