You're an entrepreneur. You're smart, you're talented and you bring a lot of value to the table. And the more that people recognize your skills, the more people will be knocking on your door trying to get you on board with their program, idea or mission. Along with this, we obviously have our own new ideas and inventions crossing our mind on a minute-by-minute basis. Some of these ideas materialize into something great while others do not, but that's ok with us. And, because we are wired to multi-task and have the confidence that we can do just about anything we set our minds to, we have the tenancy to jump on every opportunity that comes our way and run with it. Our logic is based on the fact that every wealthy entrepreneur before us took on many tasks and developed systems that generated multiple streams of income, which is the reason they are so wealthy. But, you must realize that those wealthy entrepreneurs learned how to say "no" before they reached any serious level of success.
John Maxwell addresses this best when he says "Learn to say "no" to the good so you can say yes to the best."
I like to use the analogy of dating to help break this down for clearer understanding. When you first see that person, you are attracted to their looks and/or surface personality. Everything is so exciting and all you can think about is spending time with them, and you could most certainly never imagine it any other way. When you're not with them physically, you're on the phone with them, texting them or at least thinking about them. As time goes on and you spend more time together, you get to know them on a deeper level and that's when you begin to notice their flaws and get a better understanding of their beliefs & priorities. Eventually you disagree on something and your first argument happens. At some point in the relationship, you will reach a crossroad and make one of two choices. 1) This is no longer working out for you and you decide to part ways. You may feel as if you wasted time and wonder if "Mr. Right" really even exists. or 2) This is the person of your dreams that you want to marry and spend the rest of your life with, flaws and all. This is called love. As helpful as being psychic would save time & pain, that's not a viable option for us when making business decisions.
Sometimes when an attractive opportunity comes our way, it looks sexy and sounds so good. We dive in only to find out that it wasn't all it appeared to be. That wasted time makes us question our ability to recognize the difference between "good" and "best". On the flip side of that, the learning lesson that comes with failure is healthy in of itself if the lesson keeps us from making the same mistake again. But, if you're the person who repeatedly makes bad choices because of your inability to say "no", then I would say to you that while you're wasting your time with "good," "best" may be walking right by you for you to never notice it because you were so distracted by "good". Worse yet, when you give your time and attention to several different non-producing ideas and opportunities, the true money-making sources that are already in place begin to suffer. If you cannot give 100% to everything, then everything is suffering, this includes your family.
It's very important to have a good system in place to filter out all of the good opportunities that come our way so that we don't miss out the the best opportunities and end up not reaching our goals. I have broken this down into 3 categories:
1) The good-bad opportunity
This is that idea that you come up with or the opportunity that is presented to you that may look & sound good on the surface, but does not have enough facts to support its ability to succeed. It's a "shot in the dark" concept. As a business-builder, we know that a big part of pulling the trigger is KNOWING facts, not just hoping because it SEEMS like a good idea. Emotion is not permitted when making decisions in business, only factual researched evidence is. I will say that the good-bad opportunity is only acceptable when you're just starting out as an entrepreneur. Your time is not as valuable when you first begin and the lessons learned by trying new ideas & opportunities are invaluable to your success in the long run. Before you pursue a questionable opportunity, ask questions & do your homework. Know why you're doing it!
2) The stepping-stone opportunity
This is the opportunity that has a definite beginning and ending, realizing that it is simply serving as a catapult to a new and better opportunity, which will ultimately help you reach your long-term goals. The question you must ask yourself with this type of opportunity is: "what's worth more, the time & money I'm investing NOW or the final payoff that comes from the next chapter?" This is sometimes a risk because we can't know that everything will go as expected, but the deciding factor for taking on a stepping-stone opportunity is realizing the high probability that new & better opportunities will come out of it and that it's simply a means to an end. Again, understand the why's before making your final decision.
3) The home-run opportunity
This is the opportunity that just makes sense all the way around and fits in perfectly with your goals. It's the no-brainer concept that has facts to support it. This type of opportunity creates wealth while freeing your time to pursue your other ventures. This is not as common of an opportunity as the others, and for obvious reasons. If this is not your own idea, then it's likely that you have some solid value that you are bringing to the table since you were approached with it to begin with. This doesn't take a whole lot of thought when deciding to move forward with it.
This is that idea that you come up with or the opportunity that is presented to you that may look & sound good on the surface, but does not have enough facts to support its ability to succeed. It's a "shot in the dark" concept. As a business-builder, we know that a big part of pulling the trigger is KNOWING facts, not just hoping because it SEEMS like a good idea. Emotion is not permitted when making decisions in business, only factual researched evidence is. I will say that the good-bad opportunity is only acceptable when you're just starting out as an entrepreneur. Your time is not as valuable when you first begin and the lessons learned by trying new ideas & opportunities are invaluable to your success in the long run. Before you pursue a questionable opportunity, ask questions & do your homework. Know why you're doing it!
2) The stepping-stone opportunity
This is the opportunity that has a definite beginning and ending, realizing that it is simply serving as a catapult to a new and better opportunity, which will ultimately help you reach your long-term goals. The question you must ask yourself with this type of opportunity is: "what's worth more, the time & money I'm investing NOW or the final payoff that comes from the next chapter?" This is sometimes a risk because we can't know that everything will go as expected, but the deciding factor for taking on a stepping-stone opportunity is realizing the high probability that new & better opportunities will come out of it and that it's simply a means to an end. Again, understand the why's before making your final decision.
3) The home-run opportunity
This is the opportunity that just makes sense all the way around and fits in perfectly with your goals. It's the no-brainer concept that has facts to support it. This type of opportunity creates wealth while freeing your time to pursue your other ventures. This is not as common of an opportunity as the others, and for obvious reasons. If this is not your own idea, then it's likely that you have some solid value that you are bringing to the table since you were approached with it to begin with. This doesn't take a whole lot of thought when deciding to move forward with it.
To sum it up, it's essential that you approach each and every opportunity with a broad point of view. If something sounds to good to be true, it usually is. Be smart, gather information & learn to say no. Saying NO will be many of the best business decisions you ever make, trust me! :)
Good luck!
