There are a lot of people who want that overnight success and those quick wins. We are definitely in a time in this world where people want instant gratification. And the thing is when you build your business, you can build your business 1 of 2 ways. You can build it in a way that's going to get you that quick win, and hopefully you get lucky with that, or you can build a business that may be slower and steadier, but you'll actually win the race as they say. So let's talk about how to build a business that lasts. This is one of my core values in my business, to build to last, and I filter all of my decisions through this. And that has led to a few keys, a few ways that I do this. There are 4 different ways that I make decisions in my business that will help my business last, that will help my success the long term success.

 

Here are those 4 categories. So first, you have to look at what's right versus wrong, and I always say, do what's right. Do what's right. When it comes down to ethics and integrity, it should be a no brainer to do the right thing. But, unfortunately, most people will sacrifice and bend the rules in order to get that win. The let go of what's right in order to get that benefit. And I don't feel like that's ever the right decision, and I have committed to never do that in my business. Looking back over my career, there have been times where I've seen business owners do just that.

 

They've made a choice that would be considered something that would be wrong to others in order to get a little further ahead, but it always comes back to bite you. It always does every single time, maybe not directly, maybe not immediately, but doing the wrong thing will come back around. So when you're deciding what to do in your business, if you want your business to last, the first thing is to focus on doing the right thing. One way that I have done that personally is I'll give a very specific example. I had someone reach out to me wanting to work with me. She inquired about my services and wanted to have a conversation. At the same time, one of my clients was reaching out for support in how to handle one of her prospects that reached out to her. As we went through some more conversation, I realized at one point, it was the same woman.

 

She'd reached out to me, and she'd also reached out to my client. And she was exploring both paths, and I don't think there's anything wrong with that. I think that if you are looking to make an investment in yourself, it's worthwhile to consider your choices. But I had a decision to make. I was helping my client and coaching her through exactly how to handle the questions that were coming up and how to figure out this whole sales journey. And if I was gonna coach my client through landing this client, then I couldn't do something that put that at risk. I couldn't, in full integrity, pursue this client as a client of my own while also coaching my client. I don't know what choice you would have made, but I let the prospect know that I wasn't currently accepting clients and recommended her to my client.

 

I actually not only turned down a prospect, but I redirected her and recommended my client. It wasn't something at the time I thought I'd ever share. It's not some badge of honor that I wanna go around and talk about, but I do wanna share a story that I feel like illustrates what it really means to do the right thing. I sacrifice potential profit in my business to help a client, and I would make that same decision every single time. I fully believe in doing what's right, and I know that by doing that, that's gonna help me build a business that lasts. The 2nd filter that I use when I make decisions around building a business that's going to last is looking at whether I'm making this decision out of faith or fear. And you always wanna make a decision based on faith. You want to look at what's possible versus approach your decision based on what the fear is of what could happen.

 

If you're making a decision because you're scared, that's different than making a decision because you actually have faith that something will work. And I truly believe that the success that is the long lasting success stems from making decisions every day out of a place of faith and not fear. The 3rd filter for decision making, is making sure that my decisions are proactive versus reactive. When you get into the zone of business, there's so much that you can do. There are things thrown at you every day, decisions that you have to make. It can get downright tiring to make all the decisions that you have to make as the CEO of your own company. And if you make them as they come at you versus anticipating what's gonna come in the future. Your business will suffer.

 

Being reactive means you're making decisions far too late. A business that is built to last is a business that's built on forward thinking. It's built on intentional strategic planning, so your decisions need to be proactive. The 4th way to make sure that your business is built to last, is to consider whether this decision that you're making is gonna help in the short term and the long term. And my advice is to always play the long game. Sure. You might get faster results today with 1 strategy, but they may not be sustainable or scalable. If you build your business in a way that will generate fast cash, fast impact, all of those things, then guess what? You're likely using strategies that aren't actually going to be something that you can maintain.

 

You're gonna end up burnt out with a business that's making money. You're gonna be hustling every day to bring in more. Instead play the long game. Building a business that lights you up is a long term business. It's a long term strategy, and that might mean that you have to sacrifice in the short term in order to build repeatable, automated, sustainable results. So the next time you've gotta make a decision in your business, I want you to make a decision based on what's the right thing to do. I want you to make your decision based on faith and not fear. I want you to ask yourself if this is a reactive decision or if you're looking ahead and making a decision for the future, and I want you to consider whether this is the right thing in the short term or the long term, make sure that you're playing the long game.

 

These are the 4 ways that I filter every decision that I make to make sure that I'm building a business that's gonna be around next year. It's gonna be around 5 years from now, 10 years from now. Too many people are building businesses the closed down in a matter of a year. The statistics are staggering how many businesses actually close and don't make it. Build your business to last.