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Success Coach: Main Ingredients for Small Business Success 

Success Coach: Theory of Success 

Any credible success coach would have to recognize that the driving force behind small business development and success is persistence. Promoting persistence or tenacity in the face of the inevitable difficulties which you will face in trying to establish and develop a small business should always be the "bottom-line goal" of any success coach worth his/her salt. 

Many people look at personal skills and abilities and try to determine which are the most fundamentally important to business success. While many special abilities may be important, there are many talented or highly skilled underachievers. A talented success coach should be able to assist in maintaining focus and perseverance in spite of the many distractions and difficulties faced by the entrepreneur or small business manager. 

Success Coach: What are some of the main ingredients which help the small business manager to persevere in spite of obstacles and difficulties? 

I would believe a good success coach would have some awareness of the research of the eminent psychologist Martin Seligman. Dr. Seligman was the first to recognize, research and develop the concept of learned helplessness. Learned helplessness is based upon the theory that if an individual has no control over the outcome related to their efforts that they will give up and in effect “learn helplessness”. When individuals learn helplessness they usually no longer attempt what they have been trying to accomplish.  

Dr. Seligman found that the best antidote to this "learned helplessness" phenomenon is an optimistic attitude. He found that what determines an individual's attitude of optimism or pessimism has to do with the internal explanations that we give ourselves as we have good experiences or misfortune. Ultimately he found that the most optimistic individuals basically internalized an increased level of personal control over their circumstances over many of the good experiences in their life, but were also able to externalize some of the more negative experiences as not being totally their fault. Although I am oversimplifying the components of optimism and pessimism, the underlying premise is related to how we use this "internal locus of control" and/or "external locus of control” to explain our circumstances to ourselves. A good success coach should be able to help an individual understand the mitigating circumstances, and focus on this internal dialogue that we all constantly experience. 

Success Coach: The evidence for Optimism: 

This theory of pessimism and optimism has been research extensively.  Metropolitan Life Insurance company has done extensive research utilizing measurements of optimism in selecting its sales force and has quickly regained a more powerful position within the life-insurance industry. This measurement has been found to have great utility for use in business and industry, education and athletics. 

Success Coach: Summary

Fortifying an individual’s sense of optimism and their ability to persist in the face of the constant obstacles that all small business owners will face, should be the goal of anyone performing the role of mentor or success coach.  Optimism will drive the sense of determination necessary to succeed in our modern business world. I believe it was Albert Einstien who said that “Genius is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration”. Persistence will always be the driving force of success.

By Paul Susic MA Licensed Psychologist Ph.D. Candidate President/CEO Susic Psychological Consulting P.C.

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