What does it take to be a successful online business owner? You just need to become the person you are meant to be.

Let’s start with the truth: If your business isn't where you want it to be right now, and you’re not hitting the financial goals you've set for yourself, it’s because you haven't become the type of person that achieves those things. 

The real secret to success is reinventing yourself to become the person that has a thriving business, to become a person that does the action that generates a seven-figure income. Contrary to what most gurus tell you, buying their system course or reading their book won't do transform you. But I want to show you how to reinvent yourself.

How to Reinvent Yourself – Even During a Crisis

I used to tell people I wanted to be an entrepreneur. That was my goal, but my actions did not match what I said. For me, I had to work on reinventing myself, and that meant changing my behaviors. All behavior change really starts with making a change in your attitude and your mindset. 

Get Rid of Negativity to Become the Person You’re Meant to Be

For me, the start of changing my attitude required getting rid of negativity. That the first big step for a lot of people. There are specific strategies that I've used to break free from negativity, and they'll help you reinvent yourself whether you're in a crisis or not.

The first thing we have to do when we're looking to break free from negativity is to start tuning out the media. We have to be very selective about what we put into our minds, which means you need to protect your eyes and ears. 

Now, I'm not saying that you should bury your head in the sand and not be aware of what's going on. You should absolutely be aware of what's going on around you. Make sure you have all the information that you need to make smart personal and business decisions. But you shouldn't be spending your entire day scrolling through Facebook or glued to news channels. That is not how to combat negativity, right? 

You need to go on a new kind of diet – a media diet. You take in enough information to stay adequately informed about current situations but then invest in paying attention to more positive influences. Listen to a podcast or read a book on running a successful online business. Watch some Ted talks that combat that negativity you hear from everywhere else. When you combine those positive information sources, cut down on your general media consumption, and start consuming more mindful and success-oriented media that will help you break through that negativity.

Success leaves clues. So, when you look around, listen to those positive things and pay attention to entrepreneurs that are where you want to be. Those are the types of people that you want to listen to and pay attention to.

Protect Your Time, Environment and Energy to be a Successful Online Business Owner

The second thing we want to do is protect your time, your environment, and your energy. This requires that you pay attention to what's around you in your working environments. 

If you're a creative person and you're going to create something of meaning or value, you have to be purposeful in maintaining the right setting. 

Do you have an environment that makes it easy for you to actively create every day? 

If you're a writer, do you have an environment set up that makes it easy for you to sit down and write every day? 

If you're an entrepreneur, do you have an environment set up that allows you to focus and get work done right then and there? 

Creating a productive environment means you’ve prepared and set up ways to really protect your time, protect your environment, and protect your energy.  

But it is not just about your physical environment. To be the person you are meant to be and run a successful online business, look at the people you are surrounding yourself when it comes to time and energy. 

Are you surrounding yourself with any people that are consistently or maliciously negative? 

You know the type that when you tell them about your dreams, when you talk to them about what you're trying to do, all they do is find holes and shoot you down. Always telling you every way things won't work. You need to cut those people out of your life, and if you can't cut them out of your life, you just need to not talk to them about what you have going on in your business. 

One thing that I would highly recommend you do as well is look for mentors, mastermind groups, or online networks with other people with similar interests and goals. Get in those groups, participate, and engage and befriend those people. It does help when you know that you're not the only one with these goals and dreams. You’ll find joining a tribe really helps you to move forward.

There Are Goals – and then there are SMART Goals

You also want to make sure that you get really smart about our goals. One of the best things that I learned as a restaurant manager was using SMART goals. For those of you that don’t know, S.MA.R.T. is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-based. (Deep dive and learn more about SMART Goals.) Make sure when you're setting goals that you're following that SMART goal format. 

Right now you should head over to TomGaddis.com, click on podcast Episode 5, and go to the show notes to download a smart goal worksheet in PDF format that should help you out.

Making sure the goals you are trying to achieve are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-based is really crucial. A common mistake many new entrepreneurs make is setting their goals just way too high. Their goal is to make seven figures! Having a goal of making seven figures is great, but if you haven't even made a dollar online yet, that's a pretty unattainable goal. 

If the ultimate goal is seven figures, backtrack and set realistic goals that pave the way to your ultimate goal. 

What goal can I set right now that will help me to make $1? 

Think of it this way: If I can make $1, I can make $2, I might make $2, I can make $4, I can make $4, I can make $8. 

Creating huge, unattainable goals will set you up for frustration and failure. So really break your goals down into those SMART steps of being hyper-specific, attainable, and time-based so you can measure your progress and make improvements. 

Kill the Commitment Phobia to Reinvent Yourself

The last thing we have to do to get through the negativity and reinvent yourself is you have to commit. And I want you to do this right now. While you're reading this and feeling motivated to make a change. 

You have to commit to taking responsibility for everything in your life, right? You need to take responsibility for your focus, for your progress, for taking action. If you’re not happy with your life and current circumstances, you have to own that you probably had something to do with that. 

Stop the self-pity.

Stop the complaining.

Realize this truth, “I got myself into this, and I can get myself out of it by committing to move forward.”

Bonus Tips on How to Reinvent Yourself Even During a Crisis

MONEY LOVES SPEED. When you're looking for things to do and you're working out your business plans, the faster you can get ideas implemented and start taking action, the better. 

INCREASE YOUR OUTPUT. Look around and discover ways to increase your output. As soon as possible, consider how you can start building a team. I think way too many people wait to start putting a team together, and they wait too long. 

ALSO READ: Now is Still a Good Time to Start a Business – Crazy, right?

The Path to Success is all about Changing Behaviors 

There's going to be resistance, right? But if you implement these things, it will help you work through it when it shows up. So now that we've gone through those steps, here's what an action plan for TODAY.

[  ] Make a plan and start implementing the things we discussed on this podcast right away.

[  ] Download the smart goal worksheet. 

[  ] Get some smart goals set up, and more importantly, start taking action on those goals. 

It's really easy to be excited when you're first starting something, but it's the long haul that matters in entrepreneurship and building a successful online business. If you don't do these things, you can be quickly sidetracked when you run into that negativity, or you come up against failure. The first sign of resistance can knock you down, and I don't want that to happen to you. 

I’ll leave you with a quote from George Bernard Shaw, “Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” 

And that's what I want to help you to do. Make sure you tune in to the next episode of the “What's the Secret” podcast so we can continue that journey together. 

This blog is part of the “What's the Secret” podcast. Subscribe below, so you don't miss an episode.