To start a new business, whether it is a small brick and mortar business, a home business opportunity, or an internet business, involves certain key steps, which are absolutely essential for long term business success.

Most people use outdated business plans, books, courses, or ideas, which seemed like the ideal source for starting a new business for the last few decades. However the high rate of new business failures, especially for people starting small home based businesses, is demanding some new solutions. Just like the idea of goal setting, or acting positive, fails to get expected results, and needs to be replaced, current business resources are facing the same need for replacement.

Everything in business starts with a thought. It is a thought that started the business. All actions related to the operation of the business start with someone's thought. As a matter of fact, every business is in fact nothing more then the collective thoughts, of all the people associated with the business.

Great products or service, great advertising, or strong financing, are essential to building a business, but a great business is the result of great thoughts. It matters not if the business is small or a giant corporation, for it to be a great business it must come from great thoughts.

Great thoughts come from people who have prepared themselves, practiced, and have the capacity to think in business terms. You can have the greatest product or service, but if you are not mentally prepared for your business, or have the capacity to come up with the great thoughts your business will need, most likely your business will not survive long term.

Preparing yourself for business is the most important step in starting and building a business. So many times you will encounter situations, right from the start, for which you will have no answers, and all the logical thinking will not get you the right results. These are the times that most business owners, end up making the wrong choices, which to a vulnerable small business can become catastrophic.

At critical times, business owners tend to consult with others within or outside of their business. Getting everyday advice from other people is important, and should be done often. But when it comes to critical decisions, advice from others just never seems to work. People who do not own the business, or who are outside of the business, will not have the same passionate emotional attachment as the owner does. Their view of things is usually different, and since it is not a life or death situation for them, they will not have the capacity to make decisions from a gut instinct.

To prepare mentally for business, means establishing the ability to act and react from a gut instinct. You must prepare yourself so that when logic fails, you can turn toward your gut instinct, and make the right decision. It does not mean that your gut instinct will always be right, but chances are, it will be more right then wrong, provided you prepare yourself, and keep nurturing your mental involvement in a certain way.

You are a "Being" with a human form, using both a logical conscious mind, and an intuitive emotional subconscious mind. Your conscious mind goes through all that daily mundane logical way of operating a business. All the stuff you learn in business school, business publications, or business courses. But your subconscious mind, which is responsible to protect you, guide you to what you want, and take care of your automatic bodily motor functions, is intuitive, it's always in the present moment, and only understands your senses. It is your gut instinct.

Think of it this way, let's say you want a very special something that you may have seen. There is no way you can afford it, and it is very rare. But you keep experiencing how it feels to have this object of your dream. You experience the passionate pleasure it brings to you, and you do it often. Long and behold one day you come across an opportunity, which makes it possible for you to not only have this object, but it is offered at a price you can afford.

How did that happen? Well your feelings kept influencing your subconscious mind, over and over again. It in turn wants to make you happy, so without you even knowing it, it guided you to what you want. That's exactly what you need and must have in operating a business. It is by far the most valuable source, to insulate you from business failure.

To prepare yourself mentally, in addition to starting and operating a business, you need to find what you want the most. What one single thing do you want, as a result of succeeding with your business. It could be the idea of building a huge business, or it could be something you will be able to get with the rewards of your success.

Next you need to find out the smallest of details about what you want. Take the time to explore it more and more, until you know more about it, than the person who made or invented it.

Now use the hologram technique, and interact with what you want, as often as possible, experiencing the joy and pleasure of having, or experiencing it. Capture the specific feelings, by reflecting upon them, and thinking about them.

This in turn will communicate your passion to your subconscious mind, which will try to please you, and get you what you want.

So as you start and operate your business, and come across critical decision points, your gut instinct, your subconscious mind, will take over and influence your decisions, making sure that you stay on course to get what you want. This gut instinct, is the only way that you can be sure, you are going in the right direction.

No matter how good your product or service seems, no matter how big your potential market is, make sure you take the time to prepare yourself mentally, which is your best insulation against failure.

Nick Barth - Author

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