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I googled the meaning of the word belief:

  • The mental act, condition or habit of placing trust or confidence in another (www.thefreedictionary.com)
  • Acceptance of a fact, opinion or assertions as real or true without immediate personal knowledge (www.ardictionary.com)

In other words, believing is a decision to trust someone or something when you haven’t experienced it yourself. My eldest son has always learnt by doing things himself. When he was about 2 years old he was watching me iron the clothes. He pointed at the iron and said in baby talk “that”? I said “It’s an iron and very hot. Mustn’t touch or it will hurt”. The words had barely left my mouth as I turned to reach for another piece of clothing and he quickly reached up and touched it because he wanted to see for himself and guess what….it hurt! This way of learning has caused him grief from time to time but he quickly adapts and improvises. I have a great deal of respect for his courage.

When I was growing my bookkeeping business there was no “template” to follow and no colleague was prepared to share their secrets with their competition. So when I engaged Peter Cook as my business coach we met weekly to plan strategies and to discuss issues. We’d decide on a logical solution to the issues and I would test it. Then we would meet the next week and discuss what worked and what didn’t. We’d change the things that didn’t work and improve the systems that did. I met with Pete every week for several years, then fortnightly, then monthly for years after that. There were many times we discussed whether it was possible to grow a PROFITABLE bookkeeping business. Of course, now I KNOW it’s possible because of my experience, but there were times the only thing that kept me going was the belief Pete had in me and my determination to make it happen.

If you had a crystal ball which showed you, without a doubt that you were going to be successful you’d know for certain that you would not fail and that the hard work was worth it. You wouldn’t need to “believe” it because you had proof. No challenge big or small would diminish your enthusiasm, in fact overcoming hardships would make your story all the more powerful. You would play flat out.

Unfortunately I don’t have a crystal ball, but I do have the template to grow a profitable bookkeeping business and I’m happy to share that with you because when you are successful you help me fulfil my mission to empower business owners around their finances. However, just because you have the tools to be successful doesn’t guarantee that you will. Sorry. It still takes commitment, determination, passion and an unwavering focus in your Vision. But there’s another thing. To make the most out of the tools you need to make a decision to believe in someone or something other than what you have experienced.

So what do you believe?