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Years ago many consultants, speakers and authors taught that we must work on our weaknesses in order to succeed. Then there was the period where we were told to only focus on our strengths. The fact is, we must know both our strengths and weaknesses in order to fully position our offerings to our market. It is crucial to be completely and totally honest about your strengths and weaknesses. Don’t overlook this step, especially when it comes to weaknesses, because you will want to find ways to compensate for them in order to fully serve your clients. For example, if your weakness is not having the time or skill to write your own advertising copy, you can hire someone to handle this. If you are not a techno whiz, you should get help with that. Acknowledging where you lack skill, knowledge, or experience is more productive than trying to be someone who wears all the hats. If you are just starting your business, you may not have the budget to outsource the tasks you are weak at, but as you grow your business it will become necessary in order to continue growing and remain on the leading edge. In some cases we may not be able to honestly evaluate what our weaknesses are. This is where a great mastermind group or a mentor comes in. With the right group of people, where there is trust and the promise of confidentiality, you are in a great position to uncover those things that may be blocking your success. It’s the same with a skilled mentor and/or coach. Finding someone you can confide in, trust and allow yourself to be vulnerable with can make all the difference in the world. The challenge for some may arise when allowing themselves to be vulnerable is their weakness. In this case, it’s a matter of stepping outside of one’s comfort zone. To really succeed at anything we have to pull back the curtain and closely examine that which will move us forward and that which will hold us back. A simple process is to get a piece of paper, draw a line down the center and label one column strengths and the other weaknesses. For a minimum of one week keep this close by and as you think of what could fit in either column, write it down. At the end of the week evaluate the list and determine what you need to work on and what you need to let go of. For example, if you have spent time trying to figure out a technical issue, and you are not tech savvy, but you never asked for help simply because you are too proud to ask for help, and the time you spent on it was not productive, this is an area you would want to consider outsourcing. Say you found that you are lacking in giving instructions to others, this is an area you would need to get some guidance in so that you can turn this weakness into a productive strength. It’s really a matter of getting really honest with yourself. Honesty that will make all the difference in the world to the success of your business.
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