5 Lessons Learned: Keys to Success Every Business Owner Needs To Know and some great resources and tools to use.

 Let's dive deep into the five lessons learned keys to success that every business owner needs to know.

I spent a lot of time journaling and doing reflection this past year, it's something I do all the time, but this past year it brought me so much joy and it was such a good stress relief. Reflection is one of my greatest teachers. It really kept me grounded in dealing with all the uncertainty that we face all the time but especially as a small business owner and mother this past 12 months.

So I have to say that a lot of this came out of me taking the time to really dive deep into my reflection and journaling time.  

That is one of the things that are super helpful -- when you can create time for reflection in a way that brings joy because you're doing something that you love, which is the most amazing success that you can have because when you're doing something you love and you're able to reflect on it, I think it's just really juicy and delicious.

The number one lesson I learned, and I strongly encourage you to take a minute, whatever your form of reflection is, really take a minute or two to go over the five biggest lessons or your five biggest takeaways from the past year, month, or week.

One thing is for sure, we plan and God laughs.  But I still feel that planning is still such a good thing.  I'm so grateful that I did set goals. And I do plan because I know by having goals I was able to set things up in my life that really almost prepared me for this on unforeseen circumstances that we faced.

So I go back to the thing of we plan God laughs. It's funny to me because even if you plan and organize everything you never actually have control. 

I think it's really important that we understand that goal setting is just our wish list that has specific measurements attached to a date.

Some people are afraid of goal setting. And I am the opposite I love goal setting because it's like a way to measure and track.

Even if I have so many goals --  say, I had 20 goals, OK, great, maybe I only hit only ten. But if I didn't have any, then I wouldn’t feel like I was living my life.

What would I be working towards or I wouldn't even know that I didn't have anything that I was growing or chasing after. I like to have a way to measure my progress and celebrate the little wins on the way.

To me, I would never look at it like, oh, there are ten things I didn't do. I know that in time I will get to those ten and eventually hit all 20 goals.  Then I can say, wow, I accomplished ten things and this was a huge mind shift change for me. And it's a constant effort of learning and applying those lessons and revising my goals.

It's definitely not a Set it and forget it. So for those of you, that think, oh yeah, I know I need to have the right mindset, knowing and doing are always two different things. Until you are doing it more of the time than you're not, you are constantly in a state of needing to learn and apply that mindset technique. 

 Number two would be the way we think it will be or even that it has to be a certain way is not always what will be.

Let me explain what I mean by that. We might have a goal or vision or even a dream for what we want to accomplish.  And we think, oh, it's going to be like this. It has to be like this. Realizing that you can achieve your dreams. Like, you can live your life's dream and mission and achieve all of your goals by releasing just being OK with whatever way you got there, it's OK.

For example, I had the dream and goal of knowing I wanted to help 10,000 business owners.  And it's so crazy because if you asked me a year ago, or even two years ago, how I would have gone about doing that, I had a very specific map in place.  And for those of you who have goals, I take my goals to the next level, and I do like mind maps, whether it's crazy drawings or going into Google and creating my own little mind maps with circles and lines. I am super visual and I will really map out what I think is going to be the way for me to achieve a specific goal, dream or vision.

So when we learn to just say, hey, this is the goal, but I'll take this or something better and then just lean into it, we're so much better prepared for knowing that every day in life there's a lot of uncertainty. We really don't have control over much. And that's OK. That's actually what's exciting about getting up every day.

And if we can just lean into it and trust in the fact that things may not be the way they were, but we can be open to something even better, even more, juicy and more amazing than we had ever hoped or dreamed possible.

I believe that is what works best.  So that brings me up to point number three of the lessons learned. Leaning into your dreams, no matter which way they take you definitely brings the greatest joy. So I think in the past I had been very rigid in thinking I had to mind map it out and stress about what has to be this way.

It has to be this way. It's going to be this way. Do it. And if you really just focus on the end result, but then leaning into it without being attached to your expectations you will always be pleasantly surprised by the outcome. Just like in the best movies they are usually based on real life, and that story is told in a way that makes you go, wow, that character started out wanting X, and they just show them making mistakes and not getting there and really struggling through the pain. Then all of a sudden the most unexpected thing happens.

And that's how they achieve that biggest dream and goal in a bigger, grander way than we could have ever dreamed possible. So just leaning into your dreams, doubling down on the dreams you have is just amazing.

So definitely do that. I know it sounds scary, but if this past year has taught us anything, it is that. We never know what tomorrow's going to bring and we really don't have control, so if we just embrace the fact of knowing that, you know, we never had control anyway, we never did. And that's the fun part.

We can still set goals, still daydream about what we want, the way we want things to be, but then not grip too tightly to how it's supposed to happen. 

One of the inspirational leaders and mentors that I love Mike Dooley says you cannot grip too tightly to the cursed how's so you don't know how something is going to happen. So, let go of that. It’s OK. Check out notes from the universe Mike Dooley writes these daily. It's such an awesome gift to yourself. It's an email that you got all the time and it will help you manifest what you really want without gripping too tightly to how it's going to come into your life.

That brings me up to point number four.  This is the biggest lesson I learned in the last 12 months, do for one, what you wish you could do for many.  My dear friend Daniel Mason-Jones taught me that this year.  I just love his philosophy on this and I have found it so helpful.

You may or may not know, I want to help 10,000 business owners get clarity and focus in their life and business to help them set up systems that drive profitability and deliver results in their businesses.  I also want to be a resource for female business owners to know that they are more than enough and we are strong together. There is a world of female leaders and power for people coming together with great energy to lift each other up and support each other so everyone feels that they are not in this alone. I know sometimes, especially as business owners we can feel like we are alone or isolated, but reach out and connect. This is what I love most about my friend Daniel's philosophy --  what it taught me is that just because I want to help 10,000 business owners, the first thing I have to do is focus on one.

I can do for one at this moment what I want to do for ten thousand, that's always a step in the right direction. So right now, if things are challenging for people, you may not be able to offer a lot of support but we can each give a little to one person instead of waiting for the day to have enough to give and help 10,000 people.

Do for one what we wish we can do for many!  This past year was a perfect example. Just because I didn't get to do my huge grand book tour, traveling all over the place and connecting with a lot of business owners, and meeting people face to face as we planned for my book tour, I could still jump on a Zoom call and connect with others in a way that I had hoped to do for many.  Plus, now I can connect and make more Facebook live appearances with other business owners.

There are many things and ways that we can do for one, what we wish we could do for many.

But even if you don't have all the time, money, resources necessary to do the big grand thing, it's better to do something even if it's a little thing.

This way, you’re moving in the direction of your dream to help many.  Daniel also has an awesome podcast that's based around the beauty industry. So I highly encourage you guys to check that out. More than Beauty Podcast.

Now that brings us to point number five.  After the year we had, I've finally realized that time is not my problem.  I've always said, oh, if I had more time, I would do X. Oh, if I had more time, I would do Y. Oh, if I had more time, I would do Z.  And throughout the last 12 months, I realized that time is not my problem at all. Time is the most precious commodity that we all possibly have. 

It's a non-renewable resource. So if we squander it, it's gone. We can always make more money, but we will never get more time.

So since I discovered time is not my problem. My problem is a get your life priorities in order. It's like a life management opportunity.  The huge lesson for me was to discover that I needed to design my life around what truly makes me happy. To make time to do things every day that truly make you happy.  Because let's face it, even though I dream of this perfect, absolutely amazing home where everything has a place, everything is just that perfect rainbow. The way that The Home Edit experts do you on their show on Netflix with those amazing Home Edit home organizers Clea and Joanna.

I dream of this perfectly curated perfect rainbow organized home, but I will never have enough hours in the day to actually pull that off by myself. So if you see the ladies from the Home Edit, please strongly encourage them to come to Cleveland because I need to hire them.  What I learned from this lesson this past year was that, again, time is not my problem, it's a life management opportunity.

This is the time to really reflect and learn the lesson that even if you had all the time in the world, are there certain things that you wouldn't do? And I learned a big lesson is that I have a lot of interests. I have a lot of things that I want to do and accomplish.

So the good news is that is why I will never be bored. I will always have a to-do list longer than what I can humanly accomplish in a day and I have learned to accept that without judging myself for it any longer. I also discovered it could be one of my secrets for why I get more done in a week than most people get done in a month.  But just because we're given time, it's still up to us to prioritize it in managing our lives in a way that makes us happy and really serves our greater purpose. 

So I'm giving myself grace on the fact that as much as I would love to have this perfectly curated, perfect home, I have too many other things to do.  But despite other obligations or family duties, the question for reflection is this:  Were you able to then achieve everything you had on your goal list, or was there some type of disconnect between where you wanted to go and where you landed?

I say celebrate wherever you are because where you are is absolutely perfect. It's absolutely brilliant,  give yourself the comfort and grace of knowing where you are is exactly where you are supposed to be. And you, my friend, you've got this.  So that is my top five biggest lessons learned from the last year.

 Finally, let me share where we are going in 2021 and beyond!  There are so many things I'm so excited about.  I'm so excited about our future. We are going to continue with our mission of helping 10,000 female business owners and leaders live their best life and find more clarity and focus in their life so that they can truly,  be living their life and serving their customers and their business in a way that really empowers them to use their strengths. We're going to continue helping as many people as possible, and we are able to do this in a bigger way because more people than ever are comfortable at Zoom.

  We have a ton of upcoming free webinar trainings that we're doing. Stay tuned and be on the lookout for those.

We have so many amazing Beyond Common Business Secret podcasts coming your way as well. You'll want to tune in every week and be on the lookout for some bonus content as well.  We have a brand new course that will launch in March.  This course has come out of the fact that so many of the people who loved the book, Beyond Common 12 Essentials for Success in Life in the Workplace, have asked, how they can apply the life lessons learned, how they can get help with implementing the success essentials all the time, what are different ways to give it like a practical application so you can continue to get the lasting benefits of using the essentials in your life in business.

We are so excited to launch this course to help business owners and to help share our Beyond Common message with anyone who wants to live beyond common life and not just show up for the life participation trophy. That's one of these big lessons, life is meant for you to live it. For you, to write your own story and live every moment with intention and take action.

If you don't like the story that you're currently living, my friend, it's yours to re-write. You have permission! Permission is granted for you to do everything and anything in your life. There are so many ways that you can write your own story and live up to the dreams you have for yourself.  That's what's most important, that you love and appreciate all that you are when you look in the mirror every day. And we really hope here at Beyond Common Coaching and Training Company that we can be part of that team of people that just helps lift you up, motivates and inspires you to take action, even if it's messy action.

Just take action!  Moving one inch in the step towards the goal or dream that you've always had. You've got this.

I believe in you and I know you can do it. We will be here sharing everything we know and all the new stuff that we learn along the way. We want to empower you to make this your best year yet!  Make your plan for whatever it is you dream about.

There are no dreams that are too big, right? Nothing is impossible. Who would have ever thought that hairdressers would go on unemployment? Trust me, nothing is impossible.

The last year has taught us so much about what we never thought was possible. Trust me when I tell you that you've got this, you can do anything and we will be here cheering you on!

I highly encourage you to take the time to really pause and reflect as often as possible because, We learn the most by spending time reflecting on what worked, what didn't work, what doesn't serve us anymore, what things need to go and what knowledge we need to get.

  Let things go. It's cool. No judgment. Thanks for spending this time on reflection and really going over those lessons learned.  I hope it will be so helpful for you. 

No matter when you are reading this.....

Now is the time to really set your future success on fire by taking the time to really reflect on the lessons learned. Applying that new knowledge and moving in the direction of your life’s purpose and your heart’s desire.

If you need more help in this area. Check out my complete goal setting guidebook course. It will really help you get clarity and focus and teach you my secret goal setting success framework.

As always thanks for spending your precious time with me and happy reflection and goal setting!

Tracey Watts Cirino