This heartfelt advice will transform your business (and life)!

I contemplated for days on what to write for this article; what is it that I felt would be the best business advice I could give. Business advice is much like peanut butter, you get it, implement it, and wait to see if it sticks.

Weird analogy, I know. But it works.

I can create a tutorial on how to convert leads into customers. I could write an article on social media and how to use this ever growing monster marketing tool to maximize your business efforts. (By the way, if you haven’t done so yet, check out Kristi Hines post on 40+ Tips on Using Social Media Like a Rockstar – it’s awesome!) I could spue out a multitude of business theories, concepts and best practices – vision, market research, supply & demand, customer relations, and so forth.

The list is endless and so is the advice…

But I wanted to share with you something that preceded all the things you had to DO in running a business.  I wanted to share something that was the bubble (the membrane) where encased in it, is all the other ‘stuff’ pertinent to running a successful business.

I’ve managed other people’s businesses; I’ve started a multitude of my own businesses. They were all different with their unique qualities and needs. But thinking back now, I wonder what was the key element that determined which ones were successful and which ones were not.

Where did I excel and where did I fall short when working these businesses? And what was ultimately the key factor in determining the success, or lack of it, in the business?

I had to think long and hard for sure. I felt there must be some common thread between successful businesses even amidst their differences.  Much like planting seeds where there is a gestation period before you see your fruit come to fruition; getting answers to questions such as these often take time.

After nearly a month of pondering, these questions quietly working in the background seeking for its answers, it finally came to me just the night before. First I questioned it. Yes the ego has a tendency to do that.

Can this really be it? Can this be the advice of all business advices to give? Can this be the key element needed to determining whether or not a business is successful? Can people use this advice, embrace it, and move from a business that is barely surviving to one that is sustainable, profitable, and changing the world in its own way?

Tall order, I know.

But I think I have found the answer. Scratch that I KNOW I’ve found the answer!

How do I know? Because my heart and spirit tells me so. Because when I think of it, it feels GOOD. Because it is what I have used myself and has worked for me.  Looking back I know without a doubt that this ‘key element’ was the number one factor is determining whether a business (or project within a business) had failed or succeeded.

Are you ready to hear the best business advice that you will ever get? Are you ready to embrace a radical, yet not radical, intangible concept that is going to take every ounce of your BEING to embrace?

Well here it is then…

FAITH!

One simple, yet very powerful word; an abstract, unmeasurable concept where there is nothing to DO, but rather just BE.

Have faith. BE in faith.

You’re probably thinking, really?!

And I will say to you unequivocally, YES!!

Faith has always (and still does) played a major factor in which businesses I have been able to make successful and which ones that failed when my faith began to wane.

Let me share with you a very quick story. Years ago, I had worked for a business that overall was very successful in all areas excluding one – their food and beverage department.

For years they could not figure out why they were failing in this department. Why couldn’t they get the sales they were striving to reach? Time and time again goals and projections fell short.

Six months after my employment there, I approached them and asked them to place me in that department. I was eager and hopeful and promised them I would turn it around. I had NO IDEA HOW I was going to do it, but I had FAITH that I could.

Well long story short, within three months I had not only turned that department around, I had exceeded their (and mine) expectations. We went from a $.28 per person average to over $1.00!  I have many more examples of this, that I can’t share with you here. But ultimately, all I did was start with an idea and had FAITH that it was going to work.

And I kept that faith front and center, never faltering until my goal came to fruition…

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As I kept in faith, the ways of creating success kept presenting itself to me… opportunities that ‘were not there’ before, all of a sudden seemed to appear.

Having faith is something difficult for many people to grasp.  For most people, if they can’t touch it, see it, or measure it, they discount it as new age fluff. Believe that if you will. Don’t take my word for it. Study others.

Pick up books. Read biographies. Study the experiences of others who have been very successful in the business. I can guarantee that they’ve all have a commonality – and that is FAITH.

So what ya think? Has faith played a key role in your business success? Can you see how faith can be THE key factor in determining that success?

Please comment below. And be sure to share this post and ask your friends to join the conversation!