Mind You Business
I know we are used to quoting this idiom when we want to tell someone to stop poking their nose into our affairs when they should be concentrating on theirs. This idiom tends to dump the bunk at others, for example, we say “my life is none of your concern.” But we hardly say “your life is none of my concern.”
It is just like pointing a finger at others and has four points back at us. As we tell others to mind their business we should also tell ourselves to mind ours. Either in a good or bad way, if we look closely we would have caught ourselves leaving our business to attend to that of others.
As entrepreneurs we fall into this trap daily, there are so many things demanding for our attention, each wanting a piece of our flesh; family, friends and personal affairs. These are not bad things on their own but if equilibrium is not placed on them they may distract us from other important things. You might have heard that distraction is an attraction in the opposite direction like procrastination is the thief of time, their intention is to disarm and rob you.
One of the hardest things to mind in business is your own, but it is the best thing to do.
Looking at what others are doing, comparing them with yours will put you on a fast track to retrogression. Yes, I agree, you need to look at your competitors, figure out what they are doing and not doing, your eyes need to be on the market to know trends. However, after you’ve gotten this information it is what you do with them that will determine if you are minding your business or not.
Minding your business as an entrepreneur is to place what you do on your top priority. It means to concentrate your attention and aptitude on it. When you mind your business, focus your time and energy on what you do, you will be amazed at the level of progress you will see in your business.
A Danish Proverb says, “When one minds his own business the work is done.” When you become too busy minding other people businesses, you will have little or no time to mind your own and your business will suffer for it.
Under the first official one-cent piece of United State currency called Fugio Cent, is the inscription, inscribed by a successful businessman Benjamin Franklin “Mind Your Business.” the image of a sun and the inscription combined to form a rebus which is interpreted as “time flies, do your work.”
Business is a journey and every man must travel at his own pace and time, there is no exact formula. What works for one business might fail for another business. So you need to go to work finding what works for you. It is good to learn from others what they are doing in their businesses but mind your own. The hat does not always fit.
An Italian Proverb says “let every fox mind his own tail” It is good you know how they started, what inspired them and what keeps great businesses and entrepreneurs going but after you’ve known all these, you have to fit that story into your own experience and not allow the story fit you into its own experience.
You can’t give your business part-time attention and expect a full-time result, it does not work that way. In minding your business as an entrepreneur one of the first things you need to do is to know from the beginning what products and services you want to offer, who needs them, how to get customers to buy them, how it will be delivered to customers and how much you will charge for it.
Successful people never worry about what others are doing. They are not distracted at what competitors are doing, they grind their grill, have faith in their ideas and seek out superior strategies to achieve their goals.
Focus on your focus. dedicate your self to what you do and only use what others are doing as a tool to do more or do better.
Your business is your business and their business is their business, When next you catch yourself minding their businesses rather than yours, stop and ask yourself, who will be minding your business when your minding theirs?
