Business: A Million Dollar Glow

Have you ever gone to the spa and had one of those sugar/salt scrubs? I remember my first time - more then 30 years ago. I thought great - spa treatment! Relaxing, fabulous, wonderful. Right? Then she started.

First mistake - I had shaved my legs that morning. The sting was almost unbearable - but who knew! And she worked at a feverish pace with the touch of a lumberjack who was skinning a fish. Painful to say the least.

Mistake number 2 - I didn't speak up! I laid there quietly praying for it to be over! Or atleast THAT part of the service. The massage would be better, right?

Wrong! My skin was so "raw" from the scrub that even the oil she used stung. And as you probably already guessed by the way this story is going, I again, did not speak up. I spent a ton of money for a special service and left feeling less then satisfied - by my own doing.

In business, as in life, we have to make REALLY tough choices! Tough decisions are what keep our business a viable, successful endeavor - it's what delineates the highly successful to the hobbyists. Then we have to speak up and stand our ground.

How can you run your business without the sting? Well, you can't - it's inevitable it will happen from time to time. But we can certainly minimize it!

Here are a couple tips that come to mind for business and life....

1. Speak up! Why are you playing small or holding back for others? So that you don't hurt their feelings? I was young, it was my first time, I didn't know better, I was "afraid". Is that your excuse? Well time to put on your big girl panties (or big boy boxers) and make the tough decisions if you want to run your own business and live your own life - profitably! Yes when you make that tough decision, there will be those who want to rub salt in the wound (every pun intended), but you will come out stronger, steadier and ahead of the game.

2. Yes it may sting, but don't be afraid of what they'll say. The nay-sayers are never going to go away. It's how we react to them that will make us or break us. We can succumb to the pressure and walk away with our tail between our legs, feeling like the failure they are making us out to be - or we can hold our head high and know the decisions we make are the best for us and those we serve.

Everything in life and business is a stepping stone and building block. We are learning from day to day, week to week, year to year - what works, what doesn't, what we love, what we don't, what we'll tolerate, what we won't. Some decisions will sting like my salt scrub, but hopefully we learn the lesson. Others will feel like the million dollar massage in a 5 star resort!

This quote sums it up perfectly, "Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely."