There are certain mind set skills that are necessary for any entrepreneur to have to succeed, especially self-storage owners. The next few video blogs are going to cover the five mind set skills that I think make a huge difference.
The first is confidence.
There is a lot of information available out there about confidence by people who have more credentials and knowledge about it than I do. I have just had to develop it over the years because I know without it, I am sunk. If I can’t come up with an audacious goal or game, and relate it to myself as someone who will win that game, I have lost before I have even started.
So in my unprofessional attempt, I will try to tackle this topic. In my opinion there are two sides to the topic (1) self confidence (what I think about myself) and (2) confidence (how I feel about my skills to succeed at something).
There is a lot of material on building self confidence and it may be very good. I don’t know. I was never abused or had to overcome any greater than normal harassing in my youth as young children give each other. My development of self confidence comes mostly from the training I received in Landmark Education.
While in that training, I learned that my relationship to my word will define how I relate to myself. For example, when I say I am going to be somewhere at 9:00, who I am is the person who says they will be there and I will be there. I will do whatever it takes to be there at 9:00. Now am I late sometimes? Yes. But as soon as I know it, I call whoever is affected by me not being able to keep my word, and tell them. I am still relating to my word as if it means something by doing that.
By being that type of person over the years, when I tell myself I am going to lose weight, pay off my debt, improve my relationship with my stepson, whatever, who I am for myself is, I know when I give my word it will be so. It may sound very simplistic, and it is, but your word is everything. You are not a good person if you keep your word or a bad person if you don’t. You are just a person with power if you keep your word, and a person without power if you don’t. It is that simple for me.
So when I say (especially out loud to people) I am going to create a $60 million dollar self-storage portfolio, it will be. Who I am for myself is what will be. If I am that person for myself, others will get it and also relate to me as that person, and my environment reflects back to the me who I have created myself as.
So my self confidence comes from my relationship to my word.
My belief that I have the skills necessary to pull it off are different. I know I don’t. Or at least I know when I start on a new endeavor, I do not have all the knowledge or skills necessary. However, I know I can learn them, or find people who can teach me. I do not have to know every aspect of how to create the portfolio. I just have to keep my attention on the goal, and take the next step in front of me towards the goal. I can learn the rest as I need to, or get help if it is something I will never do well.
Will mistakes be made this way? Absolutely. In fact, I will most likely make more mistakes than get things right. But that is the entrepreneur journey. Mistakes are the training ground for success. In fact I have heard success is nothing more than a string of failures strung together without quitting which ended up in a big win.
Right now I know very little about real estate funds and the world of fund raising, but it appears it is the next step on the journey to the $60 million portfolio. I am meeting today with a fund raiser to see their presentation. By the time I reach my goal, I will know about the world of real estate funds. I most likely will have made some mistakes along the way, but who I am ensures me that it will happen and my investor’s expectations will be exceeded.
If your relationship to your word is not strong, and no one’s is when they start, so start small. Pick an area of your life you can give your word to something, and then honor it. I didn’t say keep a promise, I said honor it. Treat your word as sacred. Then see the new world that opens up.
