The #1 Thing That Will Cause Your Business to Fail | Nashville Branding Photographer & Business Systems Educator Dolly DeLong Photography

When it comes to your business — there’s one thing that will make it fail. Every. Time.  It’s not bad profit margins (although that is a legit reason of failure). It’s not a lack of knowledge (which is another legit point of failure). As much as it pains me to say — it’s not even automation. (Scroll down to read how you could be hurting your business today) 

Are you ready for it?

It’s comparison. 

In today’s blog, I’m walking through why comparison is the worst thing that can happen to your business and how to stop comparison dead in its tracks.

Why Comparison is Hurting Your Business

When you compare your business to others, it puts emphasis on the wrong person and ultimately hurts your business. It’s your job to focus on your own business and how you can improve yourself. When you spend time focusing on others, you’re much more likely to miss out on the great opportunities presenting themselves to you every day. 

Next time you find yourself getting caught up in the comparison game, ask yourself these three questions to reset your mindset …

1 – What is going really well in my business right now?

2 – What opportunities have I been offered that I can take advantage of?

3 – What are 5 things I am grateful for in my business?

How to Stop Comparison

Getting caught up in comparison can become a vicious cycle. Instead of comparing yourself to others, here are three strategies to help you feel empowered instead.

1 – Celebrate someone else

When comparison starts to take over, it’s easy to throw yourself a pity party on social media. 

Don’t.

Instead, choose someone to celebrate. Do you have a friend who just closed a massive deal? Shout them out! Did you work with a contractor who delivered excellent materials to your business? Refer a friend to them! Are you proud of yourself for a recent accomplishment? Share your achievements with your audience. 

Celebrating in the face of comparison helps you press the reset button and channel your energy into positive places instead.

2 – Learn a new skill

One of the lies of comparison is that you’re not good enough, That could not be farther from the truth. You have unique skills and abilities that make you a great fit for your clients and you deserve to feel empowered in that truth.

A great way to combat the “not enough” lie is to learn a new skill. Find a tutorial for something you’ve been dying to learn and take that challenge on head first. Once you’ve tackled that challenge, you’ll feel proud of yourself and remember that you are (and have always been) more than enough!

3 – Remember your “Why”

Entrepreneurship can be hard, especially when comparison starts to rear its ugly head. Take a moment to remember why you got started on this journey in the first place. Meditate on that truth, journal for a bit, and then remind comparison it has got no place in your business!

In Summary

Business is a roller coaster, and it’s easy to get caught up in the cycle of looking at your competitors and believing the lie that you’re not good enough. That’s not true. You were created for a purpose and your business is unique. If your business doesn’t look like everyone else in your field — that’s okay. It’s not supposed to.

Combating comparison is one of the keys to being a successful business owner. Yes, it truly is an on-going mental battle but when you truly discover how to celebrate other people’s victories as you are figuring out how to navigate the waters of your business journey, you will discover how freeing it is to not be so consumed with the comparison game. Take it one day at a time…you’ve got this! 

Did you enjoy this blog post? Can you do me a favor and share it on Pinterest? Thanks! 

Meet Your Friendly Nashville Branding Photographer & Business Systems Educator

Dolly DeLong is a Nashville-based family & branding photographer and a creative business owner who educates on all things Pinterest, Dubsado, Lead Magnets & Email Marketing (aka pretty much all the fun automation stuff centered around those business systems)!  Dolly loves serving families, and business owners with her timeless, radiant photography.  She loves capturing the joy and emotion in both digital and film photos.

She also has a heart for serving the larger business community. Dolly shares her knowledge of tools like Pinterest, Dubsado, email marketing, and business systems with new creative business owners in an encouraging and supportive way because she believes that even muggles can become automating wizards!

Dolly’s faith and love for her family motivate her to help other business owners find the joy and freedom she’s found in running a successful small business.

Whenever she has a spare moment, she enjoys watching TV (i.e. Survivor), loves eating way too many sweets, and listens to podcasts while running or walking. To work with Dolly DeLong Photography LLC, please email her at thedollydelong@gmail.com or fill out her contact form here.

Interested in learning how to best automate your small business but have NO clue where to start? Click here (or on the image below) to get started with learning the foundations of automating your business with Dolly DeLong Education!