Make A Decision

About 15 years ago, I made a decision that changed my life profoundly.
I was struggling in my personal life. I was in a dead end marriage and was working out how to get out of it. 
 
I was struggling with my business. I had a lot of sales because I loved marketing but I was not making much profit. 
 
With business and personal expenses, I was spending the money as quick as I was making it. I was trying to control every aspect of the business from sunup to sundown each day.
 
One of my clients had become a business mentor to me and I could open up and be vulnerable to him. He ran a large HVAC company with more than 180 employees. He was doing very well.
I told him I felt like I was running on a hamster wheel, not making much profit, and wondering if I made a mistake getting into the drycleaning business - or at least getting into it in my city.
 
He asked me, “Are others in your industry profitable and getting freedom from their business?”
 
I thought about it and said, “Yes. In almost every market there is one drycleaner who makes most of the profit. They spend their weekends with their families and take great vacations.”
 
He shocked me when he said, “Then the problem is not the industry. The problem is not your city. The problem is you.”
He had previously been right about almost everything he told me but this was a bit tough to swallow.
 
He went on, “You see, Dave, all business skills are learnable. The market leader who is making most of the profit has made a decision. They decided to learn the business skills needed to be at the top of the industry.”
 
My mentor was not talking about the learning that happens in the classroom. He was talking about the REAL growth that happens when you learn proven business skills, strategies, and tactics and then take action by applying them in your own business. 
Then continue to refine them.
 
That day, my mentor asked me to make a decision. He asked me to fully commit to learning the business skills that would allow me to grow a business with not only strong profits, but could also operate and grow without me. That’s exactly what I did.
 
Today, I would like to invite you to make the same decision. I want you to commit 100% to learning the business skills to create a strong product and service (operations), high top line sales (marketing), efficiency (finance), and joy in helping others grow (leadership).
 
Once you make this decision with 100% commitment, next week I will give you the roadmap to follow to learn these critical business skills.