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Eva Guerra details the 4 keys to creating a successful practice: change the way of thinking, accepting to make mistakes, looking for new opportunities, and asking for support

1. Change the way you think

The way you think creates your success. If you find yourself blaming other people or circumstances for your lack of success, you need to take responsibility for your choices.

In Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), we talk about what's called "cause and effect".

• When you're "at cause", you take responsibility for your actions and your results. You take ownership of everything that's going on in your world, and then choose what you can do differently to turn things around.

• When you're "at effect", you blame others/everything else for your lack of results. And that also means you're giving away your power: you're essentially removing your choices to create success.

Why would you want to be a victim and give away your power, when you can choose to create your success?

Let's take a look at some common victim-type (limiting belief) statements to see how you can switch from an "effect" to a "cause" perspective.

1) There's too much competition / There's already a similar and bigger more important Lawyers practice in the local area

• You are unique. It doesn't matter how much competition is out there. You can still attract your tribe.

• Let's talk about food. How many different cereals exist? Yet there are still very successful brands, like Kellogg's, that have stayed in business for over a hundred years despite every newcomer to the marketplace.

• To attract clients, you need to show how you're different from the competition. There's plenty of room in the market for everyone. We have over 7 billion people in the world—and I'm guessing you only want a few of those as clients!

2) It's always quiet at this time of the year

• Maybe, maybe not. If it is, how can you shift your offerings to create some demand when it's quiet? What if you chose to make this your best time of year yet?

• I did this once when I cleared my limiting belief that "August is a quiet month" and had my best month in business ever.

3) People don't understand what I do

• Okay, this can be a challenge for coaches. So help them understand!

• Reach out to a handful of people to find out what they think you do and what they need, so you can turn this around.

4) I'm not very good at selling

• Again, learn how to do it! It's just a skillset you need to grow if you're in business. Practise and improve, over and over again.

• For example, I spent 18 months just learning how to do effective discovery (sales) calls. Each time I improved my skills and now I convert around 85%–90% of people on a discovery call with me.

5) Nobody likes what I'm offering

• How do you know? And if that is true, then find out what they do need, and create something on that basis.

• Listen to what your fans, followers and clients are telling you.

6) Everyone else is more successful than me

• Again, how do you know this to be true? And if they are, then what can you learn from them about how they created that success?

• They will have had to overcome things to create that success, to have worked on their mindset, built their skills, etc. How can you emulate some of the actions they've taken to create your own success?

Next Steps

Action: I challenge you to decide today that you're not going to be a victim anymore!

2. Be okay with making mistakes

You're in business. Mistakes. Are. Okay.

Seriously! If you don't make mistakes, then you won't learn. And making mistakes is a great way to help you get over future fear.

For example, I once ran a Facebook Live training webinar for 70,000 people and had so many things go wrong that I just don't worry about that kind of thing anymore: I survived and learned a huge lesson!

So, failure can be good. Why?

• It keeps you grounded (it helps you lose the ego).

• It gives you opportunities to experiment.

• You can get curious and try new ways of doing things.

• Once you've learned all the ways not to do something, you can then work on making things better for next time.

Any successful business owner will tell you they've failed at some point. It's the quitting that's the problem! 

When you're not afraid of failure, you're much more likely to get brave and put yourself forward for new opportunities—and even to create some for yourself.

Next Steps

Action: Write down all the "mistakes" you believe you've made, and consider how they've actually been beneficial to you growing your business in the long run. What can you learn from them, and how can you apply these learnings to your business?

3. Put yourself forward for new opportunities

Don't wait for opportunities—get brave and reach out.

If you're constantly expecting others to reach out to work with you, you're missing a trick. Instead create a habit of spending time building connections and relationships. This means sometimes leaping in and offering your services, as well as accepting those challenging opportunities that come your way.

If you only do this one thing as your marketing strategy, you will attract clients. Yes, it can feel daunting. But when you're not out there asking to be considered for opportunities, you already have a "No"! So what's the worst response you can get?

Over the years, whenever I've been brave in putting myself forward for opportunities, I've had really good results. I've been proactive by sharing how I can help people fill gaps they didn't even realize they had. This has paid off tenfold.

I've also been invited to perform speaking gigs, to write company training programs for audiences of more than 5,000 members, and to be a guest on podcasts and blogs posts. Those opportunities have resulted in lots of client work over the years.

I'm not telling you this to brag. I'm telling you this because all it took was a few moments of bravery. All because (as they say in the movie We Bought a Zoo) I had 10 seconds of insane courage to reach out and pitch (or say "yes!"). And you can too!

Action: Take a breath, brace yourself and spend 10 seconds of insane courage putting yourself forward for something fabulous!

4. Ask for support

Especially in the legal sector it is ingrained that help or support or a second opinion is not possible. if you want to grow, if you want to learn how to improve, if you want to innovate, dare to take the step to resources. Consult a coach, a counselor, a colleague to measure whether what you are doing is having an effect, or perhaps you need to change strategies. Dare to look at the competition, learn from your colleagues, employees, family and friends. Do not believe that you already know everything, that can be a big pitfall. the most successful people in the world have surrounded themselves with powerful people and accepted their advice and feedback with great gratitude. 

Wrap-up

So are you ready to create your own luck? The keys are to:

1. Change the way you think

2. Be okay with making mistakes

3. Put yourself forward for new opportunities

Do you need support, feedback or insights about your Practice, send me an email and together we’ll discover where you can improve to get the potential clients you wish.

One of the sources, Ruby McGuire, Business Mastery & Mindset Queen