Increasing your small business wealth starts by challenging the way you think, according to decamillionaire and personal growth expert Mike Agugliaro.
Agugliaro’s strategies challenge you to think and behave differently to create a new identity that can help increase your small business wealth.
“You will never get to $5 million or $10 million with a $1 million mind.”
The Blueprint
While some use elbow grease to pull up their bootstraps, Agugliaro does it with his mind. He walked us through his 8-step blueprint during our webinar where he shared advice from 30 years of business ownership experience.
The Gap
The first step is identifying the gap between where your small business wealth is now and where you want it to be. However, before you identify the gap, you have to choose exactly where you want it to go.
Agugliaro advises to be specific with the destination. What level of wealth do you want to achieve? Is it only monetary wealth? What’s the exact number of dollars you want to profit?
Solidifying a start and endpoint makes it easier to change how you create wealth for your small business.
Belief Systems
There are two belief systems, current and new. And your current beliefs won’t get you to your goal. Agugliaro’s advice? Change the way you think. He says, whatever you tell your mind repeatedly is your belief system, and it’s used to create your reality.
Although, when your mind is being pulled in several directions trying to run your business, it can be difficult to focus on change. We recommend writing it down.
The psychology of achieving your goals by writing them down is more than fortune cookie wisdom. A study on New Year’s resolutions found participants were 42% more likely to succeed when they wrote down their goals.
Wealth Behaviors
Just like belief systems, your current behaviors aren’t getting you any closer to scaling your small business wealth. Agugliaro said you should take on new behaviors to create new patterns and habits that frame your new identity.
Finding out what the right behaviors are requires reflection, Agugliaro says. Reflect on past experiences that brought you closer to your goals. Then, use the same passion and frame of mind to lead you to new behaviors.
He gave an example of a smoker:
If you’re quitting smoking, don’t say, “I’m quitting.” Say, “I don’t smoke.” The first response is the identity of someone who still smokes occasionally. The second is someone who’s a non-smoker, with an implied never-have, never-will identity.
Three Ps of Wealth
Passion. Purpose. Power.
Passion and purpose feed off each other. Passion makes you excited to wake up and fulfill your purpose, and fulfilling your purpose is something you’re passionate about. These two give you the power to reach your small business wealth goals.
“If you’re not passionate about what you’re doing and you’re complaining about it all the time, you’ve got to get out of it quick.”
What if you’re struggling to find passion or purpose due to a lack of growth? In addition to implementing the previous blueprint steps, Agugliaro suggests redefining what you’re doing as something that increases your level of mastery in another facet of your business.
Even if it’s not what you want to be doing now, find passion in fulfilling a purpose to perfect another tool to use later on your professional journey.
Who and How
Surround yourself with the right people is business advice on par with location, location, location. However, Agugliaro believes it’s not just who, but how you spend your time with them.
Your inner circle typically includes your spouse, best friend, business partner, etc. You need to align your inner circle with your thoughts, behaviors, habits and more. You’re looking for understanding and support, not permission, Agugliaro says.
Once your inner circle is aligned, move one more circle beyond and expand to your employees, church or local groups to engage with others who share your passion for your small business wealth goals.
This will create a culture around you that helps you move toward success.
Wealth-Building Energy
The more wealth you want to build, the more energy it requires, Agugliaro says. Be the creator of your own economy, he adds, and raise the energy it takes to run and grow your business to the level needed for your new identity.
How do you find all this energy when battling between the daily grind, establishing new behaviors and engaging with your circle? When complacency and lack of will set in, do what Agugliaro does. Ask yourself, is it worth letting this own my life right now?
If you stay feeling this way, it creates an aftershock in your professional and personal lives. When things look bleak, muster the energy to build your small business wealth by reframing your thinking.
Elevated Wealth Thinking
A lot of thought power and mental gymnastics are required to claim a new identity by changing your beliefs, habits and more. Elevate your wealth thinking using these three tips:
- Become more aware of your sphere of people, your energy level and your habits
- Consume and apply new knowledge from peers, mentors and experts
- Model the actions, behaviors and trains of thought of other successful people
Secret Ingredient
Agugliaro’s secret ingredient is defining your new identity, specifically, the “inner you.” How you think, talk, act, etc. You must see yourself as the wealthy small business owner you want to be, even if it doesn’t match your bank account yet.
Once you choose your new identity, use the blueprint to replace regressive thoughts, behaviors and environment.
Free Your Mind and the Rest Will Follow
Agugliaro and En Vouge are aligned when it comes to the power of the mind.
The road to small business success is often poorly paved and replete with perils. Overcoming all sized obstacles takes tenacious willpower that can only be achieved with a strong mind.
Want more? Watch Mike Agugliaro’s Thryv webinar for his Decamillionaire Blueprint to grow your small business wealth.
