I coach and consult with many small businesses about starting or buying, and then running a small business. We work together on streamlining processes, hiring staff, developing a marketing strategy to allow for increased income to pursue their dreams. But there is more to understand than the nuts and bolts of running a business.

Small business owners and entrepreneurs have different mindsets. Many small business owners transitioned from being employed in a business similar to the one they now own – and in many ways they STILL see themselves as employees. Entrepreneurs, on the other hand, are more likely to start businesses from scratch, think big, plan for a sale of the business, or start multiple businesses at once. They work on their business looking for opportunities today and in the future.

The small business owner tends not to work on their business but rather they work in it and get very married to it. The downside is that when the economy gets tight the small business owners often end up in survival mode. For the entrepreneur, the down economy is just another opportunity waiting for them.

How can a small business owner change this mindset? Take some time to sit down and envision what you want your entire life to look like, to feel like and how your business fits in with that picture. Write it all down. The more details of this future you can tease out, the better. What does an average day look like in your future? How much money does your business need to make for you to move into thrive (vs. survive) mode? How would you spend that income? Or is it free time that most lures you? How do you feel in this world? Don’t spend much time on the “how” right now. Focus on the “what”.

Most business owners have a strong gut idea of what they really want, but practical thoughts bring them down. When detailing your life’s vision in writing, skip being practical. The “how’s” can what. Take time to focus on the “what” for now. Don’t pressure yourself with timelines. Just getting a detailed vision down on paper can be enough to help you bring it to reality.

When you’ve written a detailed vision of what you want work and life to look like, it is important to feel it. If part of your dream involves a new car, what does the steering wheel feel like in your hands? How does that book you wrote look and feel? Professional athletes do visualization all the time. Tiger visualizes his perfect putt hundreds of times before he actually makes it. They work with coaches to help them with this process. Why shouldn’t this work for you?

What’s your big vision, the one you hesitate to share with anyone? Are you married to your small business, afraid of economic change? Start changing your survive mentality NOW. Think like an entrepreneur: BIG.

With 30 years of consulting experience, Steven Schlagel offers training and coaching for startups, entrepreneurs and small business owners. Check his site for more articles to increase your success!

categories: entrepreneur, small business owner, motivation, visualization, success, vision

Success Networks International was launched on January 1st of 1996.

In the course of the last fourteen years, we’ve done many things wrong. We’ve tried things that didn’t work and sometimes stayed with them longer than we should have.

We’ve missed opportunities and were slow to take advantage of some that we finally did.

But in the long haul, we apparently did more things right than wrong. Only one in nine businesses makes it to their tenth birthday and then go on to their fourteenth.

None of this could have happened without great members.

What follows are some of the key factors responsible for us being able to celebrate over a decade in business.

1. We knew what we wanted. Our vision was pretty clear: build a community of people from around the world who want to be successful. We wanted to be a trusted resource for information, inspiration and ideas that help people and organizations operate at their best.

The way to achieve this wasn’t always clear, but we were open and flexible about making it happen. We were mission-driven and vision-powered.

2. We kept our overhead low. We had to. We didn’t have any money to invest. We weren’t sure what was going to work so we couldn’t afford to spend much on something unless we were sure it would. Perhaps we could have done better if we’d grown faster, but not having any business debt and keeping our overhead to a minimum has really paid off.

3. Whenever possible we over-delivered on our promises. We kept our promises and practiced FTA Energem #4: Give More to Get More. We kept our word. We did our best to meet every deadline. I still maintain my commitment to double the value of our membership program every two years.

4. We practiced CANI-Constant and Never-Ending Improvement. I studied the masters. I studied marketing. I studied the Internet and affiliate marketing. We were constantly looking for and trying better ways to deliver our products and services-faster, less costly, easier.

5. We used the power of the master mind. I had a master mind-sometimes several-throughout the years. Some were project- or subject-specific and others were just plain good support. We also partnered with others in real win-win joint ventures.

6. We hung in there. We were-at least for the most part-consistent and persistent. We tried to be a plow horse and not just a show horse. We kept what worked and dropped what didn’t. And we did it every day.

7. We stayed focused on what mattered. Especially over the last couple of years, we’ve had good metrics. You can’t change what you don’t measure and understand. And we’ve developed scores of ways to monitor every aspect of our business. Interestingly enough only a small percentage of these are financial.

I do my best to focus on three things every day:

Increasing exposure and traffic.

Enhancing real and perceived value to our members.

Improving our systems and organizing and automating what we do so it works better.

We’ve learned a lot in the past 120 months and we expect to learn even more in the years ahead. We’ll do our best to share our findings with you.

Michael Angier is founder and CIO (Chief Inspiration Officer) of SuccessNet.org and helps people and businesses grow and prosper. By being a Diamond Club Member of SuccessNet you can expect to reach new heights of achievement by creating the support structure you need to accomplish your objectives. SuccessNet Diamonds SuccessNet.org

Lasik eye surgery is the procedure that helps you permanently correct your vision. People with astigmatism, nearsightedness, and farsightedness can benefit from the results delivered by this simple, routine procedure.

Vision is often restored to 20/20. Some patients may only be restored to 20/40. As a point of reference, in the United States you are legally allowed to drive a vehicle with 20/40 vision as it is not considered to be a significant enough vision impairment to require correction.

In order to really understand whether the procedure is right for you, an evaluation by a qualified Lasik eye doctor is necessary. There are certain eye health requirements that you must meet before having the procedure done.

When you go in to the Lasik eye center for your procedure you can expect to be given a local anesthetic, and often a sedative to help keep you calm. Most patients are a little nervous.

Lasik eye surgery is a procedure to reshape the misshapen cornea. A slight slit is made allow access, but most patients experience very little discomfort and can start to notice better vision within 24 hours.

One of the main considerations for whether Lasik procedure can work for you is the overall health of your eyes. Diseases of the eye other eye health problems can rule you out as a potential candidate at this time.

The good news is that you will not have to watch the procedure happening despite the fact that you are awake for it.

The better news is that you are not likely to experience pain afterward and your vision should start to improve within the first 24 to 48 hours. Some patients find that it takes two days before their vision has improved enough for driving. Care should be taken to adhere to your Lasik eye doctor’s instructions.

Lasik eye surgery is still surgery. It is better if you can relax at home for a few days. Your vision will improve, but you will need to give it a full 7 to 10 days before doing any physical exercise or lifting heavy object. The blood vessels in the eyes need to remain as calm as possible in order for proper healing to take place.

Avoid lifting heavy objects and try to take a couple days off from work. You won’t be uncomfortable, but you will need to be careful the first week or so after the surgery. You don’t have to sit home and do nothing all day, but you want to make sure that you don’t do anything strenuous. Lasik eye surgery is a whole new start to your daily vision.

As you develop clear vision, you will experience a whole new sense of freedom. It’s uncomfortable to sack out on the sofa and watch a movie and contacts can be a chronic irritation. The corrective procedure known as Lasik is still the answer to permanent vision correction.

This means that all of the cleaning, propping up and mending that is required with glasses will no longer be necessary. Refractive Surgery This only happens in extremely rare instance though and the doctor will have a contingency for it. The only draw back to lasik eye surgery is that there are some problems that can occur.

Many people have been seeking out Lasik eye surgery as a way to treat the eye problems that they have. The treatments are being done in Lasik eye centers around the world and are generally very good when it comes to the results. There are however some cases of complications that do arise.

One of the most commonly seen complications is that of dry eyes. It is easily treatable with special drops that are designed to help remedy this problem. It does need to be treated as it can have detrimental effects on the Lasik eye surgery that was performed.

The situation with dry eyes can be something that occurs before you even have the procedure. There are people that will not be permitted to have the Lasik eye surgery just for this reason. Generally speaking it is found in people after the surgery and clears up in the time it takes for the eyes to heal.

Other known things can result from the surgery such as the flap that is made in order to get to the area of the cornea. It can have various things happen to it that do not appear until after the Lasik eye surgery has been completed. This is not so much common these days as there are far more advanced techniques that the Lasik eye doctors use during the surgical procedure then there were in the past. The doctors are also far more experienced with performing the procedures as well which also makes a big difference.

Some people will suffer from infections that they contract after the surgery. Once again the Lasik eye doctors will prescribe drops or an antibiotic type of ointment that can be used to help clear up the infection that you have. Thankfully this is treatable most times without any further problems.

A very common thing that happens to people after Lasik eye surgery is that they have a very high sensitivity to light. This usually goes away as the healing process moves on. In rare instances this can be something that will linger on well after the healing process should have remedied it.

One rare complication that can be seen after having Lasik eye surgery is that the results that you get will not be a permanent thing. People that use reading glasses are more likely to be the ones affected in this manner.

Farsighted people are also at risk of having this happen to them. If this does happen there is a chance that you may be able to have Lasik eye surgery again, this is generally after many years.

These are just a few of the many complications that people can encounter when they have Lasik eye surgery. Looking around the internet and reading about the side effects and risks can help alleviate any concerns that a person may have when it comes to having this surgery performed.

The more a person learns about Lasik eye surgery, the more that they will understand. It is of utmost importance to find a highly reputable Lasik eye center to deal with. You also will want to ensure that the Lasik eye doctor comes with high recommendations as well. By doing this you will be putting yourself at a far lower risk of having some complication appear down the road.

These are your eyes that you are dealing with after all. You need to ensure that you are aware of all the possibilities before you step foot into a Lasik eye center to have the surgery done.

Everybody wants to have the trouble free vision that they had when they were children. Lasik eye surgery promises to make that a reality for a growing number of people. Many wear glasses and contacts, but the number of those unfortunates is diminishing rapidly because of the perfections of the surgery. Using concentrated beams of photons, doctors are able to reshape the eye so that it has the acuity that it once did.

The fact that lasers are used has not seemed to bother many people because they are happy with the results.

There is not hospital visit, no hospital room or operating expense required. The procedure is done in the offices of the doctor and it is a quick in and out type of a deal. The doctor, or his nurse, will inject the patient with a small amount of anesthetic to dull any pain that can occur during the visit and then the doctor makes very fast work of the operation.

The visit is just that quick. There is nothing more for the doctor’s office to do but schedule a follow up visit about a week away.

There may be some things that could go wrong in the interim so the doctor needs to check and make sure that the lasik eye surgery has allowed your eyes to stay as good as they were when you left the office. After a very rapid examination you are on your way.

The one issue that many people have had with the surgery is that it may be painful. The procedure itself is actually painless even though the lasers are used.

If you want you can have the pictures after the doctor is finished and you have gone back for your follow up visit. Your eyes are spread wide to accept the instruments that the doctor’s use for the procedure, and most people have a very surprised look on their faces because you can see the laser coming, but you eyes are immobile. They are great to show to people you know.

With every new operation or any type of medical procedure is that there have not been any studies conducted as to the long term effectiveness of the lasik eye surgery. Unfortunately, those studies have not yet been any studies done because the operation is very new in terms of procedures. People want their doctors to tell them that they will be able to keep the twenty-twenty vision their entire lives. Unfortunately, doctors cannot be entirely sure that it will last because there are not yet enough cases that that were performed a long time ago.

Some people are also still worried about the cost. Since it is still considered an elective surgery by most insurance groups, you will have to foot the bill by yourself. The procedure is relatively inexpensive compared to other surgeries and hospital stays, but it can still set you back several thousand dollars.

People will find a way to have the thing done when they decide that they are tired of the poor eyesight, glasses and contacts.

Most of the time lasik eye surgery will not deter people from getting the procedure done. There may be some associated issues, but they are relatively minor compared to the hoped for benefits.