How Do You Give Away Your Power in Business?

Recently I heard someone comment that another friend had been ‘giving away her power’ by continuing to remain angry at someone who’d done her wrong. She’d stayed stuck in a complete lack of forgiveness.

The comment really made me stop and think …for forgiving others isn’t just what we’re ‘supposed’ to do – it actually does make us feel good about ourselves.

So, naturally, my next thought was to apply this to the process of marketing and building your business. (OK, I don’t think about biz 24/7. Honestly! I don’t! Really!) Anyway….

Ever notice how certain business habits we develop keep us small and stuck? In a lot of cases, I’d say that comes directly from giving away your power, by developing a bunch of inaccurate beliefs about your business.

Let’s look at a few beliefs that bleed your power. See if you recognize any.

1. “Technology is just ‘too hard’ – I’m not good on computers!” The belief here is that keeps one stuck is that you have to do it yourself – or worse, that you cannot be taught. No matter what! I have it on good authority, from living with an artist who’s totally visual and not a real computer-comfy soul that you CAN be taught. Do what Larry does – get lots of professional help figuring things out. (And he’s a photographer so his learning curve is really big to begin with.) The fact is that some of us do need more instruction than others, and that doesn’t matter. Just get some – and then you’ll start to have more fun!

2. “I’m too busy to get into social media.” If you can give yourself a weekend to dig into Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube (the basic trilogy as I see it) you’ll be amazed to see how streamlined that can be. There are now apps all over the place that allow you to postdate your tweets and posts, cross post across several different platforms and use RSS to spread the word around. These are all available in easy to use, easily explained formats. For more good info, I like Mari Smith’s info on Facebook and The Twitter Handbook.

3. “I’m not like those 7 figure marketers – they’re all con artists anyway!” Wow, this is REALLY a big power giveaway – to those who need it least. Super successful net marketers are usually wonderful examples of what to do right, so you can actually get on their lists, study their examples, and even take their classes. (Alex Mandossian and Ali Brown come to mind.) I love these folks because they always take risks – which often work out and sometimes don’t because they are human, too. They’re giving us all the gift of great info and good inspiration.

4. “I had three different web developers try to make me a site – and none of them worked out!” Yeah, yeah, yeah. Quick show of hands – who had a website that didn’t work out? Uh, maybe I’ve had half a dozen? Or they were sites that just sat there and didn’t do much, get much traffic, etc.. Bottom line is that this is a fluid and ever-changing business. It’s up to you to let go and move on when necessary. Forgive yourself most of all – even if you blame your ills on a bad web developer.

Hey … by the way … is this getting tiresome, this constant stream of negative thoughts? If so, do an auto scan right now … what do you need to forgive yourself for? Cause guess what … we all have ‘em!

5. “I can’t get hired to speak no matter how hard I try.” So the question begs to be asked – how hard DO you try? Persistence wins the lot on this one, plus some strategic strategy.

6. “I can’t afford to hire an assistant.” By now you catch the drift, I’m sure, that the ‘can’ts’ can go on and on. This is just another example of letting vague or pessimistic thoughts cloud what’s possible. If you truly have no cash to make that bigger leap – which btw ALWAYS seems hard for all of us – how about bartering to start? How about creating a special product and sale to create the income? How about short term projects only?

See? It’s all doable … if you claim your power to invent your life just the way you want it. That’s what becomes available the minute you stop giving your power away. (And hey – how fun is that?)

Here’s your chance to stop and assess for a quick minute. Jot down wherever you may be currently giving away power, and make a promise to your self to change that thinking in the here and now.

Here’s to your brilliant future!