Only about 3% of the population (that is, 3 out of every 100 people) has the kind of leadership, vision, and mindset that it takes to start and grow a successful business from home. Are you in that 3 percent, or are you in the other 97 percent (most people) that is actually happier and more comfortable staying on a conventional job path? Now, just to be clear, this isn’t a trick or pre-judging question on my part, because I don’t factor into your answer; YOU DO. Therefore, it may be the most critical question you ask and answer for yourself, as you consider your next steps and choices.
Let’s take a closer look at Leadership, Vision, and Mindset because they are all critical to starting and succeeding in a home-based Internet Marketing business.
Leadership
Leadership is about relationship. More particularly, it means being a force for change. Even though you may never have employees in your business (many consider this an up-side to home-businesses!), there are still many ways in which leadership is essential to success. You need to be a take-charge leader of your own life and destiny. You need to both call the shots and then follow-through in delivering the goods. Those who recognize your leadership–that is, they experience you as a force for change–will do as you DO, not as you say. These may include colleagues, team members and customers, family, friends, others in the community and the world. Leaders step up and show the way; they are willing to cut new paths; and they take responsibility for their own actions, attitudes and behaviors every step of the way. All of those things have an effect on others–intentionally or not. True leaders know this; they manage their relationships with integrity, and are good stewards of the influence and authority they effect in others’ lives.
Vision
Serious (that is, 3%) entrepreneurs see beyond what is immediate and obvious, to what could be possible and how such possibility, realized, would change the world. That is a special kind of vision. Entrepreneurs make decisions and take risks–not blindly–but on the basis of things that others often just can’t “see.” For this reason, entrepreneurs risk skeptical feedback and nay-saying from the 97% around them. In order to succeed as an entrepreneur, one must both possess the vision, and believe in it even when others do not. On the other hand, when others feel lost or confused, they look to the leaders–those with vision–to show them the way (see above).
Mindset
Your mindset is about what you believe. What you believe determines what you think; what you think determines what you do; what you do determines your life and your future. The entrepreneurial mindset must therefore be open, hopeful, full of the vision of possibility, and trust in oneself (and whatever or whoever is your source of inner strength) to hold onto both the vision and the leadership, even when the going gets tough.
The world needs the 97% as much as the 3%, so the only right or wrong answer here is the one that is most truthful for and about YOU. Are you a 3% leader? Are you an entrepreneur?
One thing is for sure, and I can attest to this: you are never going to feel quite “right” in your life if you try to find success from within the group that isn’t really “you.”
Think about it.
Thia Hamilton, Ph.D., has created her own successful home based Internet Marketing business after “retiring” from 30 years of leadership and management in the nonprofit sector. In her long and rewarding career, Thia has been mentor, advocate, friend, and career coach to thousands of individuals (mostly women) struggling to overcome huge obstacles in order to live prosperous and empowered lives.