How To Succeed In Business 2021

By Kim Nagle

The best place to go for small business owner advice is … to other small business owners. Who better to you how to succeed in business than a successful business owner!?

Even though I am a seasoned business coach myself, I learn so much from other entrepreneurs who have identified their truths and are willing to share them. I have the pleasure, through my business, to work every day with women who are kicking it in their businesses, regardless of what’s going on in the world around them. I find strength in my own business planning and strategy as I work alongside these individuals. And, I figure if I hear bits of wisdom from these fine entrepreneurs, I ought to share it with you!

Although I don’t even claim to know everything when it comes to business, some of my favorite entrepreneurs have been learning from my successes (and failures) all their lives. After all, they witnessed of my own business endeavors, it’s nothing short of a miracle that all three of my children own their own businesses. Today, we visit with Mandy, my oldest daughter and owner of Ask Mandy Faldet Exp Realty, about how to succeed in business.

Since she was a teenager, Mandy (Nagle) Faldet and I have shared routine “coaching calls” to talk through the hard days and celebrate the good ones in both of our businesses. Mandy got into business for herself at age 21, and despite growing up with business coaching programs literally happening in the family living room, she’s had to do her own learning and experimentation, too. Today, she is a successful realtor and a respected real estate consultant.

Mandy shares the truth that most people want to work with someone they can trust. Oftentimes – especially 18 years ago, when she was getting her start – “someone they can trust” looks like a middle-aged man in a business suit. Always blessed with a youthful, feminine appearance, Mandy had to work extra-hard to find her unique position that made up for the natural biases potential clients had against her. She attributes her success to a commitment to lifelong learning, which has helped her prove that she knows what she’s talking about.

Mandy shares her formula for success, rooted in The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson, a concept of compounding small, routine habits to create big results over time. To create a “Slight Edge,” Mandy explains, entrepreneurs need to make and stick to their DAMN plan, even if something else feels more pressing or sounds like a more enjoyable agenda. As she says, “It won’t work if you don’t!” This truly is about developing and committing to a business owner mindset.

She shares with us her own top business coaching tips for new entrepreneurs (and those who are more seasoned but hitting a slump):

Get on a diet

Mandy believes that a healthy mind fuels a healthy business. In order to be productive, the brain has to be fed and nourished with positive, fruitful content, from blogs to books to podcasts. When she’s seen her own productivity dip, Mandy shares that she’s noticed her media diet has been filled with junk – social media scrolling, Netflix binges and various other distractions.

Make success second-nature

Even after 18 years in business, Mandy admits that she still occasionally “falls off the productivity wagon.” In order to get back on track, Mandy says it’s important to come up with a list of three non-negotiable tasks that, once accomplished, can be counted as a collective win on the day. Small, built-in victories will create a craving for future success and serve as motivation to keep moving forward, focusing on what good habits are forming, rather than on the bad ones that have accumulated.

Gather your ass-kickers

Another ticket to Mandy’s success has been partnering with allies who will kick her backside for specific reasons. But no coach – no matter how seasoned and successful they are with other clients – can help an entrepreneur who isn’t honest with them … or themself!

Stick to The DAMN Plan

Although she has yet to read my new book, The DAMN Plan For Finding Freedom, Love, Love And Money In Your Business, which releases later this month, Mandy knows well that a dream without a plan will never awaken. But, even in the midst of a global crisis, a well-laid plan can pivot in order to make dreams a reality and fulfill goals. The secret, though, she said, is that business plans should be fluid based on routine re-evaluation to ensure they’re still the right plans. She can say this because, as a realtor, she was successful in 2020, despite months of barriers preventing house showings. When she realized things weren’t going to change soon, she revisited her plan. In her dually self-employed family suddenly facing home-based learning as the result of COVID-related school closures, Mandy had to re-align her work/life balance. She realized that the years she’d spent pouring into her own knowledge about real estate had equipped her well to educate others, and re-defined her business’s goals and moved from selling homes to educating buyers. For several months, she has focused on the real estate consulting side of her business, including Ask Mandy, a blog helping consumers prepare for upcoming real estate purchases until the housing market sprung back this winter.

No excuses — ever! 

Like me, Mandy sticks to a no-excuses mentality to find her self-discipline in business. Brian Tracy’s definition of self-discipline in his book, No Excuses, has helped her get through the pandemic and various other business roadblocks over the years: “Doing what you need to do when you need to do it, regardless of how you feel.”

If you’d like a taste of the coaching that initially showed Mandy how to succeed in business, I encourage you to schedule your FREE 30-minute coaching call with me! You’ll be DAMN-sure be glad you did!