The secret of success
I’ve been an entrepreneur for many years now and it’s certainly been a rollercoaster ride. However, when I first set out I didn’t really set myself detailed goals. I was too busy enjoying life and bumbling along. I had a vague plan and I certainly wanted to be successful and enjoy the wealth that would come with it but I’ve found in recent years – perhaps since my brood came along – I’ve become much more focused on getting where I want to be in life.
I’d have thought that most people set themselves goals whether they’re entrepreneurs or not. However, for those of us involved in the property business either through investing, developing or whatever, I believe the need for such goals and targets is paramount to our success. Goals help us measure our achievements in life and provide essential motivation along the way.
There’s a million books out there on the subject so I’m not going to go into great detail about the whys and wherefores here. Instead I’d be really interested to hear from people out there.
- What goals you set yourself?
- Do you visualise your goals?
- Are they written down?
- Do you have monthly / yearly / 10 yearly goals or specific targets?
- Do you put mechanisms in place to monitor your progress?
- Has the current market affected your goals?
- It is material wealth or spiritual wellbeing you seek?
- How BIG are your goals? Are you trying to attain the wealth of the Dragons from the Den or are you simply striving to be debt free?
- Is property investment just one of the tools you use to reach your goals?
- Are goals essential to you or do you survive without them?
- Do you just want to be happy? Is that a goal in itself?
I also wonder whether those with a positive outlook on life generally achieve more than those without. Within the various books I’ve read on property investment, making money and self improvement, there’s often much written about the importance of targets and goal setting. But what do you think? Is it essential to success? Does a positive attitude really count?
Apart from seeking the opinions of my close friends, I rarely get to find out whether those on the front line actually practice what these books preach. I’m genuinely interested to hear from people just how they set their goals and manage their path towards them. Hopefully, if enough people share their thoughts, methods and practices, we can all learn more about the path to success and how to navigate it more clearly.
So come on, please leave a comment and share your secrets to success.
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When I was growing up I set myself the goal of being a millionaire by 30. So on my 30th birthday it was time to sit down and take stock. I was living in a rented flat, I had around £15k in the bank, was living hand to mouth and the business I had invested all my time and energy into for the previous 10 years was barely ticking along. Hardly what I would call a millionaire lifestyle! It was a real wake up call.
So I set myself a new goal to increase my bank account to £100k within 12 months. I used the £15k to fund the depsit on a run down terrace. I did it up and sold for £20k profit. I did three similar houses that year.
I also took a long hard look at my business and realised some dramatic changes were needed. We’re now heading in a completely different direction and making healthy profits. I also opened myself up to new opportunities and I’m involved in a few different ventures with friends and business associates.
If it wasn’t for that boyhood dream of being a millionaire by 30 I probably wouldn’t have been forced to take stock and realise I was “bumbling along”. I didn’t quite make the £100k target within 12 months but who cares 2 years down the line I now have over £300k in the bank.
Fairly sure it was down to those goals I set myself (oh and a hell of a lot of hard work)
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I feel that attitude plays a vital part in anyones success. Attitude is the intregral part of a persons personality, its what determines who we are, what we do and how we do it. Our attitude is the result of our programming (or conditioning) and exposures from childhood into adulthood. A positive attitude is the key factor in determining a persons success, its what carries us through the tough times. You made a great comment there Mel when you said ‘I opened myself up to new opportunities’, with the wrong attitude you might not have seen these new opportunities. Everyday we are bombarded with tales of gloom and doom by the press and news. Take a look at this phrase which we are told every day, ‘opportunity nowhere’ now take a second look at it ‘opportunity now here’. Success is all about mindset which is a direct reflection of attitude. I’m sure we’ve all heard the phrase ‘hire for attitude, train for skill’. Its hard to change a persons attitude, it can be done, it just takes time, in effect you need to reprogramme their whole belief system.
Personal Development helped me to do this, try typing it into google and see how many hits are returned. I went from being on benefits, after my second redundancy in engineering, to being a Business Development Manager then Managing Director in 12 months. I’m not a millionaire yet though I have put all the wheels in motion to be a billionaire at 55 using five pillars of wealth; Personal Development, Businesses, Property, Stocks, Internet. Personal Development is helping me create the success mindset needed to buy-build-sell Businesses to create the cashflow to invest in Property, Stocks/Forex trading, and Internet based businesses.
Try using a ‘dream board’ (a bit ‘off the wall’ for some) but they work. Use it as a ‘road map in pictures’ of everything you want and put a timeline to it. Push your own boundaries of what you think is possible. If you know how to achieve your dream then your dream isn’t big enough. Mine is in my office and I look at it everyday. Use visualisation techniques to picture where you want to be in life 5, 10, 15, 20 years down the line. I use visualisation techniques to picture what I want the outcome to be of important board meetings and deals. Read something motivational every morning. The only way to predict your future is to create it.
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Lyndon Forshaw Reply:
August 24th, 2009 at 11:08 am
Hi Chris,
Thanks for the your definite and rather inspired post. Have you recently developed your current attitude that you rightly point out is crucial to success, or have you always been positive in this way? Was the redundancy a turning point?
Regards, Lyndon
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Hi Lyndon,
Thanks for your reply. Its a good question that you ask and one that has definitely got me thinking deeper about my turn of events. Deep down I feel I have always been a positive person. However, over the years that was slowly chipped away at as I went from one job to another and never really feeling part of anything. I certainly felt that after my second redundancy my situation had to change or more to the point, I had to change my situation. I strongly believe that deep down we all have an entrepreneurial streak. The challenge we are all faced with is complacency which prevents us from taking action. I suspect that is what happened to me, I’d become complacent knowing that I would be paid every month. It wasn’t until that one income stream dissapeared that I realised I had no Plan B. I remember being in a bookstore looking around for a Christmas present for my wife when I saw Duncan Bannatyne’s (Dragons Den) book Wake Up and Change Your Life which struck a chord with me! It was this book and many others that followed by people like Richard Branson, Alan Sugar, Theo Paphitis, Brad Sugars etc that helped draw out my entrepreneurial streak. After reading these books and many more I realised that the one thing they have in common is that they have never given up on their vision. Some see these people as overnight success stories but they aren’t. They have just tried and failed at more things than most. We all wish that things were easier, when we should be wishing we were better.
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