Become Uncomfortable to Increase Income

Become Uncomfortable to Increase Income

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Why you shouldn’t read this or any other article written for your industry:

You’re as happy as a bee in a bonnet, and you don’t need anything.
You hate change, because it makes you uncomfortable.

Why you should read this article or any article written for your industry:

You want to be happier personally and to improve your income.
You’re ready to change for the better, take suggestions and face challenges.

Did you know that everything that you are, how you live, and your income level is because of how your mind is programmed? For most of us, this directly relates to the income of our stores. More than likely, if you don’t change your programming, ten years from now, you will be exactly where you are today. Before I give you some suggestions on how to change this, let me explain mind programming.

Have you ever gone to a motivational or other training seminar, and you leave feeling extremely exhilarated and ready to make a difference in your life? The first three days afterwards, you’re consciously making the desired changes that you learned. The next week, you’re right back where you were before you attended this informational training.

Why is this happening to most of us, when a few people make the changes they want? The reason is that they somehow changed their minds’ programming. The mind is a very complex computer. They knew this, rebooted and installed some updated software. One can consciously implement measures to change programming, or "scripting." There’s a lot to this, but following are the basic concepts.

Let’s say that you were born in a household income that today is equivalent to $50,000. Your comfort zone is approximately $10K in either direction. Then you have mind programming that will keep your personal income between $40K and $60K.

Now something happens that brings your income below its comfort zone. Let’s say that an employee steals $10,000 from you, or you have several errors on taking in packages, and the claim payments are coming out of your company’s pocket.

As you can see from the dip in the graph above, these financial circumstances brought you below your comfort zone. Boy, oh, boy! You jump on these quickly! You start doing audits on different positions regularly. You set up a formal training program for your employees. To increase your sales, you decide to add crating services. Whatever the reason for your losses, this is what happens when you drop below your comfort zone: You get motivated to get yourself back into your comfort level. You work and work and work until you feel comfortable once more.

But here’s the clincher. What happens when you exceed your comfort zone? Let’s say that a competitor closed, and now you’re getting all of their business.

Just as it makes you unconsciously uncomfortable to go below your comfort zone, going above it does the same. You unconsciously will sabotage yourself to bring you back into your zone. You start complaining because you’re tired from the extra business, so your employees complain, and some of your customers leave. Now you’re finally getting some calls coming in on crates. However, you’re really scared to build one (deep inside of you, of course). The prospective customers call you, and you "unconsciously" procrastinate on providing quotes, or you "unconsciously" quote too high because you "unconsciously" didn’t compare your prices to competitors. Ah, yes! We’re keeping ourselves comfortable, avoiding anything that is unknown to us.

So what’s a packaging person to do? How do you change your comfort zone? Again, these are only the basics, and you should apply these to your personal life, as well as to your business.

Be aware of your comfort zone.
Bust yourself. Be consciously aware of the things that you do to sabotage your success, and stop doing them.
Reprogram your scripting. You can do this through visualization and practice.

Let me give you an example of how this has worked for me to give you some ideas of how to reprogram yourself. Draw examples to yourself. Years ago, I used to be an Assistant Food and Beverage Manager for a large suite hotel, but I needed to make more money to support my lifestyle. I worked snow days and holidays, and I constantly looked at how to improve my department. As I saw areas that could be improved and if I couldn't do it, I sent suggestions to the department heads who could do something. Even though our wait staff was good, I wanted them to be exceptional, so I wrote service guidelines and started a fun, active training program. Personally I met with all of the meeting account contacts to insure their satisfaction.

Soon I was promoted as Director of Meetings and Banquets, and among other accounts, I secured a major training account for the hotel (UPS training for supervisors . . . an omen of future work). Because of the success of my department, I knew that I was up for the next promotion, which was Director of Sales. I was terrified because I was an operational person, not a sales person! I couldn’t see myself taking the initiative to meet major contacts of Fortune 500 companies. Unconsciously, I sabotaged myself by being a few minutes late to the interview, I was tired from not getting sleep the night beforehand, and I was very nervous and unsure. My competitor was determined to get the position . . . and she did.

The next few months, I went out on my lunch breaks and walked the halls of some of the surrounding businesses. Always I would go to the ones that intimidated me with their Italian marble flooring with inlaid carpeting and glorious fountains, and I would talk to people who worked there as we met in the halls. I would lay in bed each night and visualize myself talking to CEOs, then my boss handing me a very sizeable commission check. Each week I would try to read a book on being a sales person. Soon, I was out on my own doing a few cold calls for my department, even though that was not in my job description, in addition to visiting my meeting accounts on their turf.

Persistent to improve my financial programming, I worked on a personal level with myself. I knew that I needed a nicer car. So I started taking care of my old car as if it was a Porsche. I got professional advice on corporate appearance, and I got out of a relationship that I knew was wrong but was comfortable.

Four months later, I became Director of Sales, and six months later I bought a great car. Within two years, I was promoted to Director of Marketing. Now I’m addicted to taking on big challenges, since I continually bust and reprogram myself. If it works for me, it will work for you.

Much of the credit for my drive to succeed comes from my Mother. Give credit where credit is due. Even though we had very little money, she told me constantly that I was smart and could do anything that I wanted to do. Be aware of how you program your children and employees, in addition to yourself. Be aware of your "self talk," and make it positive.

My advice to you is to step away from the day to day operations, and write a new business plan for yourself. What will bring you a larger net income? What steps are necessary to make it happen? Devise a plan to take these steps.

For example, all of us know that getting out of our stores to meet other merchants and local businesses is a great way to increase your income, but few of us do it. Also, many of us know from customer requests that we can add other services, but we don't because we don't think that we can. If others can do it, you can.

Also, treat your store as if it was making twice as much. Do your employees wear a standard uniform, is pursuing new business a standard, is it organized, stocked, and clean, etc.? Finally, work on yourself, since your business will only be as successful as you can imagine yourself and it to be.

Fran Scarborough