How To Deal With Business Challenges

When you know how to deal with business challenges, you are better able to accelerate your success.

In today's ever-changing and complex business world, challenges are a reality that every business owner can expect to face. This is especially true when it comes to dealing with people.

I want to share a recent experience that I had in my business that cost me a lot of time, energy, and money.

Are you ready to learn how you can prevent this type of experiences from happening to you, and how you can effectively deal with business challenges when they arise?

Watch the video below:

(Click here to watch on YouTube)

[smart_track_player url=”http://www.buzzsprout.com/9299/896302-plm-637-how-to-deal-with-business-challenges.mp3″ background=”default” ]

Are you ready to learn which online business is right for you? CLICK HERE to take my online business quiz!

Business challenges are the norm in any business.

Whether you are an aspiring entrepreneur or someone who currently has a business, there will always be times when you come across difficult people. I recently put on an event called, The Online Business Mastery Mastermind. This was a two-day, intimate experience. I always heavily qualify people for this event, in order to make sure that they are the right fit.

I like to work with people who are open, positive, and coachable. When it came to collecting the payment from the person who signed up for the event, the individual became extremely difficult to deal with. In the end, the person ended up deceiving me and I lost $5,000 dollars as a result.

In the words of Bill Gates, “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.” Here are 3 lessons that I took away from my experience.

1. Take Responsibility For Your Role In An Experience

When challenges occur in your business, it's easy to blame someone else instead of taking responsibility for what happened. If you encounter a similar challenge in your business, I want to invite you to point the finger at yourself first. Think about what role you played in the experience. There are always two sides to a story. When you blame someone else, you give away your power.

I sat back and thought to myself, “What could I have done differently and what can I learn from this experience?” All of a sudden, I came up with a lot of great insights. I could have told this person that I needed to collect payments by a certain date, with no exceptions.

Similarly, I could have paid attention to the red flags that this person was presenting to me, early on. If I had done this, maybe I could have prevented this challenge from happening in the first place.

2. Don't Get Emotionally Reactive

When challenges occur, it's easy to get stressed and take out your frustrations on other people. However, I encourage you to always make it a priority to not get reactive.

To be honest with you, I was mad at myself for allowing this experience to happen in my business, but I reminded myself that I have zero control over what other people do. The only thing that I have control over is my internal world. When something bad happens, don’t ask yourself “why” questions, such as “Why is he acting like this?” Instead, ask “what” and “how” questions, which get better answers and results.

For example, I asked myself, “What is great about this challenge? What lessons can I pull from this experience that can help me improve how I deal with people like this in the future?” These types of empowering questions allowed me to redirect my focus, which in turn, changed how I felt about the situation.

3. Determine What You Are Willing To Tolerate

At the end of the day, it is up to you to decide whether or not you are willing to tolerate difficult clients. I believe that it is a privilege for me to serve people. However, at the same time, I know that it's a privilege for people to be customers of mine.

As a business owner, you don't have to take on anyone and everyone as a client. Some people aren't worth the stress or hassle. If you want to be successful in life, it's important that you surround yourself with people who live from a place of integrity. Don't be afraid to turn down business that doesn't align with your core values.

Running a business has its share of highs and lows.

Challenges are gifts. I encourage you to learn the lessons early on so that you don't continue to be tested by them in your business. Your character speaks volumes to who you are and what you represent as a business owner and as a human being.

All you can do is strive to be the best version of yourself. I promise that having this mindset will allow you to conquer any challenge that stands in your way of success.