As much as every business owner hopes for an unbroken string of successes, the truth is that there are many factors just beyond our control—so from time to time it may mean failure and disappointment is inevitable. When that happens, you have two basic choices. You can say “the heck with it!” and give up, frustrated because your plans aren’t unfolding the way you have envisioned. Or, you can do your best to roll with the punches, understand disappointment is part of the growth process, and keep moving forwards.
Now, it’s obviously a lot easier to tell someone to “roll with the punches” than it is to actually live it out. But let me tell you—I have been there! I have experienced more than my fair share of disappointment as I built my career. In fact, one of the keys to my success has been my ability to deal with failure and disappointment. Below are three techniques that have helped me to adjust to unexpected circumstances and disappointment—hopefully they will help you as well!
Limit your focus to what you CAN control. When it comes to building a successful home staging business, there is a whole lot that we can control. The marketing strategy, our client service, the actual staging work, just to name a few. But there are factors which can’t be controlled by any one of us—like the local housing market, the state of the economy in general, or even an irrational decision by a client or prospect. Whenever you experience, ask yourself this question: was there anything that I could have done differently? If the answer is “yes”, make a note of it and work to avoid your mistake going forwards. If the answer is “no”… let it go! There is literally no point in beating yourself up about something over which you have no control.
Let go of your expectations. So often, in life, we don’t end up where we expected to be. If you had told me, when I was fresh out of school, that I would one day be the Founder and President of an international real estate home staging education school, I would have laughed at you! Success doesn’t always take the form you expect it to—so don’t stress out if your plans aren’t unfolding exactly as expected. As long as you are moving in a direction that is fulfilling and personally satisfying, you’re going the right way!
Learn to laugh. Don’t lose your sense of humor! Sometimes in business, there is nothing you can do but laugh. Whether it is a ridiculous client, incompetent partner, or an unbelievably bad sequence of events that leaves you breathless, if you can’t laugh about it, it’s going to be hard to cope. Make a point of talking to friends and family about your frustrations as well!
As much as we would like to, we can’t control all of the circumstances that impact our business. But we can control our reaction to them! Learn to roll with the punches and invest in your own development… and I promise you that you will find success! I have learned that just when things look like they are falling apart- they are actually falling together- just differently than you anticipated!
