Auto Repair Shop Owners Who Can't See Their Way

Can't See Your Way by Rick White, President 180BIZ

I'm driving over to see my son today, which I'm excited about. One of the roads is over this mountain.  It’s amazing most of the time. Along the freeway, there are warnings about fog. I must tell you something, this fog can get intense up here when it's bad.

I think this is an important lesson in business as well. What do I mean by that? Sometimes it's easy to know where we're going and how to get there. Where we know the direction and we're sure of the path. And there are other times when you're driving your business forward and you can’t always see the next step. You're not always going to know for sure. You're not always going to know for sure that where you're going is the right way.  I'm driving down this road and I can see clearly where I'm going. But then it gets crazy in here with fog and suddenly you can't see too well.  Too many times people stop moving. Because they're scared or they're blind and they keep going full force until something bad happens.

Martin Luther King said it best. He said, “You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” I think that's an amazing quote for business and for life. We're not always going to know the way, but you should always know the direction. So, when you hit fog, when you hit uncertainty, when you hit doubt, it doesn't mean stop. It doesn't mean doubt yourself.  I'm going to give you a couple of quick ideas that are just coming to my head to help you with the fog.

1. So, the first thing you should do when you're coming up on some foggy areas is to know your direction.
2. The second thing is to slow down. Don't stop and don't keep going at the same speed. Slow down. And honestly, I sometimes think that as business owners we're achievers. And when we're going from one goal to the next our focus is so much on the goal that we want, we miss the life around it. I think we need to slow down a lot more instead of going from goal to goal. Enjoy life.
3. And then the third thing you do is just get feedback. How are you doing? Are you still moving towards your destination, your direction? Are you still on the path? How are you doing? Get that feedback and make sure you're still moving ahead.
4. The fourth thing that you can do when you're dealing with all that fog is to get a guide. Find somebody that knows that path, that knows how to help you through it.

Be aware of what's going on. That's what happens when you're unsure of something your sensory acuity must go up. You must be super aware of how things are going in your business. Are your customers happy?  Is your team happy? Are you getting results? Watch very carefully what's going on.

God bless and go make some money!