$100,000 a month - What's Your Expectation?

It's January 7, 2005 as I write this and I've just returned from a 2 week holiday interstate - visited my home state of Tasmania (off the bottom of mainland Australia). Whilst I was there I spent a fair bit of time with two of my oldest friends and it was an enlightening time.

You see, one of my friends (Bill) has a successful business. He first started it about 6 years ago. Back then it was a one-man show. As Bill said, he struggled along for the first year or 2.

Now Bill earns $100,000 profit each and every month. He employs 16 people and his turnover is in excess of $5 million.

The other mate of mine has had a business going for 2 years. And it's not doing so well. He makes a profit of $35,000 a year - at least he's making a profit (many businesses take much longer to become profitable).

But I have a feeling it's about to do better.

You see, this second friend (I'll call him Ben) started to realize something as we sat there fishing on a friends boat.

• He's just as smart as Bill.
• He's just as well educated (they took the same classes and left school at the same time).
• He started his business with the same amount of money.
• He had just as many skills as Bill did when he started.

I could see before my eyes Ben's realization that he too could be successful in business. His expectations rose from making $3,000 a month to $10,000 a month. All because he had a chat with Bill.

"If I can do it, you can too."

All because Bill showed him it could be done. Kind of "If I can do it, you can too."

Expectations can be like goals. Set one and you'd be surprised how easy they are to achieve. After all, if you don't have a plan and goal for your business, you have to accept whatever comes along as your due.

It doesn't have to be like that.

Make a goal. Create some expectations. Plan your actions. Then take action.

If things don't go as planned, change them. Move around. Try something different. Be outrageous. Be crazy. Do something exceptional.

Just don't accept failure as your due. There are a lot of people out there doing great in business who don't have your skills, talent or enthusiasm.

Brendon Sinclair