I am so tired of make believe business owners

Maybe it's middle age - but I seem to be doing a lot of ranting lately.

But the amount of 'junk' I hear daily from business owners has me wanting to stir the pot a little - maybe just be honest about how I feel about it.

I mean really - can't anyone be honest any more?

"$200.00 to attend the weekend event? Oohhh I can't afford that". "$45.00 for a meal and a speaker - ohhhh - that's too much".

These are the words coming from the lips of micro business owners - who will always be micro business owners and never make more than just enough to pay the bills. And that is ok if that is where they want to stay.

But these same business owners are the first to whine about not having enough business. These are the business owners who continue to advertise using poor copy - and subsequently spend hundreds on an ad that no one reads or responds to. Or they have a website built from a template that they never update and complain that they are not getting any traffic on their websites.

Yet if you ask them what they want to achieve you will hear them say - next year I want a six figure income.

Not using outdated strategies and penny pinching they won't. In fact they will stay exactly where they are. And that's ok if that's what they want.

But pleeeaaase don't tell me how hard it is to get business when you are not willing to spend money on your business.

And come on! How do you expect to keep up with everyone else when you refuse to invest in yourself and learn new business strategies?

And get real! Do you really want to keep going to the same place month after month, meeting the same people over an over again - talking about the same issues - and making the same money (and mistakes) as you did 15 years ago?

If you really, really want to grow your business invest in yourself. Stop whining. Think from the end.

Yes $200 can be a lot of money. But what if you learned one thing, just one thing that would raise your yearly income by 10 to 20 %? Wouldn't that more than cover the $200?

You know it would be much easier if you were just honest with yourself and the rest of us. Why not just say - "you know I really don't want any more business - I just like to come out to dinner and socialize once a month". Or maybe admit, "I really just enjoy getting paid once in a while for my work - but I really don't want this to be a big business - it's too much trouble and just interferes with other things I would rather do."

Great. I can respect that. But please stop pretending to yourself and the rest of us that you are trying to build your business. If you are unwilling - yes UNWILLING to invest $200 in learning something new then you are not serious about your business.

There I said it. Now let's get some serious work done. Those of you playing at business can go back to your game of make believe.

By the way - we have a great business event in Hamilton October 16th and 17th. Why not join us. But be advised - this is serious stuff. You might even learn something new.