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Discipline, Dedication, Consistency, Practice!

A. Louise in her Letterman's Jacket at age 17.
A. Louise in her Letterman's Jacket at age 17.

OK, full disclosure… I was a band geek. Like lived, breathed, ate, slept marching band throughout highschool. I was a clarinet player until the middle of my sophomore year in highschool & then i transitioned over to trumpet along with one my best friends & then i became section leader til i left the band in my senior year. At the end of every practice we called out these four words:

Discipline, Dedication, Consistency, & Practice.

Now as a teenager these words didn’t mean a whole lot except that if we didn’t do the drills right or if we messed up the music, or if we looked sloppy on the field, we either had to do it again, or run a lap (some of my classmates actually made a song about it). As an adult, specifically as a business owner, those words mean SO MUCH MORE & yep, i’m about to explain it to you. 😁

Discipline

As a business owner & even as an employee you need discipline. You have to be able to set rules for yourself & keep them in place otherwise you’ll never achieve the goals that you’ve set for yourself.

For example: You need the discipline to get up in the morning on time so you can get to work on time, so you can get paid. As a business owner, you have to have the discipline to complete the service or the product that your customer paid you for so that you can stay in business.

If your goal is to get out of debt, you have to have the discipline to not take on any NEW debt while ACTIVELY taking the steps to get rid of the old debt, otherwise you’ll never be free.

Dedication

This one should be easy, but it’s a lot easier said than done. Being dedicated to yourself, your business, your life, & your family means SHOWING UP for them. It means that even when you have other things going on in your life, whatever it is that you’ve dedicated yourself to takes priority.

If you’ve dedicated yourself to your spouse (which you should if they’re your spouse) then no matter what the outside opinions of your relationship are, its between you, your spouse, and God.

(I’m a Christian, if you don’t practice Christianity, replace God with your own deity- but you get what i’m saying)

If you’re dedicating a piece of yourself (not your whole self- not recommended) to your business, then you need to have the discipline to set aside an alotted UNINTERRUPTED time to work on it. Your business isn’t going to grow without you!

Consistency

Yo. All of these words are extremely important, but CONSISTENCY is KEY. Like not the little Key, but the BIG KEY, the Key that opens the door to all the other doors. Why?

Cause when you show up for your business on a consistent basis, your customers will show up for you.

BOOM. Mic Drop. Walk off stage.

Like seriously. when you’re consistent in providing 10 star service, when your consistent in providing quality product, when your consistent in giving sound advice, when your consistent in talking about your business, advertising your business, and being there for your business. Your customers will do the same for you & your business will grow. It will take time, but soon, people will start to seek you out because of your consistency.

Practice

Honestly, as a teenager & even as a kid; this is the one word that made the most sense. Practice. Practice. Practice. You have to practice. NOBODY was great  “just because” we all had to practice.

Professional athletes still go to PRACTICE once they sign the contract- they don’t just walk into a game. Fine arts artists still PRACTICE new techniques to make their art speak their message. Culinary artists still PRACTICE new recipes to perfect them. So why do you think you don’t?

Here are some things to practice (that apply to everyone)

  • Introducing yourself & creating the hook to make people want to know more
  • mingling
  • time blocking
  • turning your phone off
  • not checking your email 50-leven times a day
  • going outside
  • drinking water
  • giving thanks (not just to God, but for everything- when someone slides to the side in the grocery store so you can walk past- say thank you)

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