Let’s talk about 5 ways in which our Ego can get in the way of our business’s success
Do you hate the word ego? I know some of you may have even cringed when I said your ego might get in the way of your business. I know I would have. After all, don’t we like to think that we are above that type of behavior?
I know for me personally, when I haven’t checked my ego at the door, it absolutely has cost me money in my businesses.
Let’s face it, many of us are good at what we do, and when we are good at what we do, we tend to take a lot of crap from folks that we think we know a lot. I know I do. However, I always respond that it isn’t that I think I know it all, I just happen to know a lot. Maybe you have this same experience. This thinking however, causes us to be over confident at times and therefore we don’t see things we should.
It might seem wrong to think that your Ego is causing your business to fail. Now, it might not be causing it to fail, but it might be causing your business not to grow or to be losing sales or profits.
Let’s talk about 5 ways in which our Ego can get in the way of our business’s success
No one knows our business like we know our business
Let’s face it. We live, eat and breathe or business. We know it like the back of our hand and feel there is little that we can learn at times from others. The bigger the top producer you are, the bigger our ego tends to get. Due to this, we aren’t too keen of taking advice or input from those that don’t do the type of volume we do.
We treat our business like our child and we are very protected
We have worked hard for the business we have built. Like a momma bear or a papa bear, we are very protective of what we have created. So even when we know the advice is correct and on target, we still defend our business model or how we do things. Great advice being ignored out of our protection mode.
Because we live it day in and day out we know every little thing in our business
How often do you have a quick response when asked about your business? If you are like most, I bet you toss out the best educated guess you have. Think about how many times you were way off later? Your confidence once again getting in the way.
We feel we know enough to get by and don’t
Yes, we are good at what we do but we are what is called unconscious incompetents. Basically, we don’t know what we don’t know. Since we know quite a bit, we stop seeking new knowledge. That is, until we discover something we didn’t know on our own. Then suddenly we are diving in like crazy to learn more.
This one always seems to open my eyes when I’m studying others and their success. They will say something or do something and I’m flabbergasted that I had never thought of that before. Such a no brainier.
We are so busy making a living, we don’t take the time to grow as a leader and business owner
I’m a firm believer that I can learn from other people’s mistakes and failures. I think this has played a huge role in my successes. I even talked about this in a previous post. I watch others and when I see them try something that works, I’m taking notes. When they do something that blows up in their face I also take a note.
When we are successful, we tend to not carve out that time for ongoing education or learning to grow. I know many of you are firm believers in learning from others. After all, that is one of the key benefits of Activerain.
Don’t let your ego get in the way of your success. Even if you don’t think you ever would, look for these 5 warning signs. You might be accidently doing it.
If interested, here is the podcast episode I did for local small business owners, like you, on this very subject.
Have a great week!
Tammy
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