clear on their needs first.

3. Shake it off.

There is a time and place for sticking with the tried and true. If you want to achieve wild success, you must be willing to step out of the safe zone and shake off what no longer serves you. As an entrepreneur, you put your heart and soul into your business. After all, for many small business entrepreneurs, you are your business. Just as the seasons change, each year brings new insights, revelations and growth opportunities. The persona, alliances and methods that once served you may have changed seasons. Are you

Sandboxes fascinate me. You can live in a concrete jungle yet right there in the middle of city smog, metal swing sets and wooden benches is a box containing sand imported from well, who knows where?

Watching children at play in those sandboxes is especially delightful. The sound of their giggles, the way they work so intently to build their castles or other castle-like architecture with such great focus they don’t see or hear what’s going on around them. Adorable. Not so adorable when you consider that as we mature into entrepreneurs, many of us treat our business as though we were still playing in the sandbox.

The sandbox feels safe. The boundaries or safe zones are clearly identified by the four corners that make up the box itself. You can bring tools with you when you enter the sandbox but once you’re in, you pretty much stick to playing with what you’ve got. There is no question that you can have a successful business in the safe zone. However, to create wild success you’ve got to stop building sand castles and begin building your empire!

Here are four steps (there are more!) to get you out of the safe zone and into the Wild Success Zone ™:

1. Know what you want.

Nothing is greater than having clarity of purpose - the reason you jump out of bed each morning anxious for what the day brings. As a child you were asked, “what do you want to be when you grow up?” Now that you’re all grown up (well, not entirely I hope) ask yourself, “what do I want the rest of my life to stand for?” Your personal brand, business systems and overall structure are designed around the answer to this question.

2. Be clear on your motives.

I recently read that entrepreneurship is all about being of service and I couldn’t agree more. An entrepreneur has the opportunity to sniff out what a market needs and/or wants, then creates a solution to satisfy that need/want. If the solution does in fact satisfy the need (and assuming a strong brand and promotion is in place), you’re on your way to hitting a home run. Do you ever feel like you’re spinning your wheels in your business? You might be stuck in the safe zone – creating services or products that you think your market wants. Your intention comes from the right place but if you are truly going to serve others, you must be clear on their needs first.

3. Shake it off.

There is a time and place for sticking with the tried and true. If you want to achieve wild success, you must be willing to step out of the safe zone and shake off what no longer serves you. As an entrepreneur, you put your heart and soul into your business. After all, for many small business entrepreneurs, you are your business. Just as the seasons change, each year brings new insights, revelations and growth opportunities. The persona, alliances and methods that once served you may have changed seasons. Are you c

gh we were still playing in the sandbox.

The sandbox feels safe. The boundaries or safe zones are clearly identified by the four corners that make up the box itself. You can bring tools with you when you enter the sandbox but once you’re in, you pretty much stick to playing with what you’ve got. There is no question that you can have a successful business in the safe zone. However, to create wild success you’ve got to stop building sand castles and begin building your empire!

Here are four steps (there are more!) to get you out of the safe zone and into the Wild Success Zone ™:

1. Know what you want.

Nothing is greater than having clarity of purpose - the reason you jump out of bed each morning anxious for what the day brings. As a child you were asked, “what do you want to be when you grow up?” Now that you’re all grown up (well, not entirely I hope) ask yourself, “what do I want the rest of my life to stand for?” Your personal brand, business systems and overall structure are designed around the answer to this question.

2. Be clear on your motives.

I recently read that entrepreneurship is all about being of service and I couldn’t agree more. An entrepreneur has the opportunity to sniff out what a market needs and/or wants, then creates a solution to satisfy that need/want. If the solution does in fact satisfy the need (and assuming a strong brand and promotion is in place), you’re on your way to hitting a home run. Do you ever feel like you’re spinning your wheels in your business? You might be stuck in the safe zone – creating services or products that you think your market wants. Your intention comes from the right place but if you are truly going to serve others, you must be clear on their needs first.

3. Shake it off.

There is a time and place for sticking with the tried and true. If you want to achieve wild success, you must be willing to step out of the safe zone and shake off what no longer serves you. As an entrepreneur, you put your heart and soul into your business. After all, for many small business entrepreneurs, you are your business. Just as the seasons change, each year brings new insights, revelations and growth opportunities. The persona, alliances and methods that once served you may have changed seasons. Are you

ss Zone ™:

1. Know what you want.

Nothing is greater than having clarity of purpose - the reason you jump out of bed each morning anxious for what the day brings. As a child you were asked, “what do you want to be when you grow up?” Now that you’re all grown up (well, not entirely I hope) ask yourself, “what do I want the rest of my life to stand for?” Your personal brand, business systems and overall structure are designed around the answer to this question.

2. Be clear on your motives.

I recently read that entrepreneurship is all about being of service and I couldn’t agree more. An entrepreneur has the opportunity to sniff out what a market needs and/or wants, then creates a solution to satisfy that need/want. If the solution does in fact satisfy the need (and assuming a strong brand and promotion is in place), you’re on your way to hitting a home run. Do you ever feel like you’re spinning your wheels in your business? You might be stuck in the safe zone – creating services or products that you think your market wants. Your intention comes from the right place but if you are truly going to serve others, you must be clear on their needs first.

3. Shake it off.

There is a time and place for sticking with the tried and true. If you want to achieve wild success, you must be willing to step out of the safe zone and shake off what no longer serves you. As an entrepreneur, you put your heart and soul into your business. After all, for many small business entrepreneurs, you are your business. Just as the seasons change, each year brings new insights, revelations and growth opportunities. The persona, alliances and methods that once served you may have changed seasons. Are you

g of service and I couldn’t agree more. An entrepreneur has the opportunity to sniff out what a market needs and/or wants, then creates a solution to satisfy that need/want. If the solution does in fact satisfy the need (and assuming a strong brand and promotion is in place), you’re on your way to hitting a home run. Do you ever feel like you’re spinning your wheels in your business? You might be stuck in the safe zone – creating services or products that you think your market wants. Your intention comes from the right place but if you are truly going to serve others, you must be clear on their needs first.

3. Shake it off.

There is a time and place for sticking with the tried and true. If you want to achieve wild success, you must be willing to step out of the safe zone and shake off what no longer serves you. As an entrepreneur, you put your heart and soul into your business. After all, for many small business entrepreneurs, you are your business. Just as the seasons change, each year brings new insights, revelations and growth opportunities. The persona, alliances and methods that once served you may have changed seasons. Are you

clear on their needs first.

3. Shake it off.

There is a time and place for sticking with the tried and true. If you want to achieve wild success, you must be willing to step out of the safe zone and shake off what no longer serves you. As an entrepreneur, you put your heart and soul into your business. After all, for many small business entrepreneurs, you are your business. Just as the seasons change, each year brings new insights, revelations and growth opportunities. The persona, alliances and methods that once served you may have changed seasons. Are you changing with it or are you getting in the way of your own success?

4. Do it afraid!

Moving out of your comfort zone isn’t easy. Frankly, only a select few have the courage to step out of that sandbox. Is it scary? You bet! Is it gratifying? Absolutely! What I’ve learned about fear is this: fear is an emotion, a feeling that you either let control you or you control it. The choice to build more than sand castles is completely yours. There are myriad of tools and resources to help you conquer the fear and play bigger than you thought possible. As secure as the safe zone is, the wild success zone ™ is so much better. Come on step inside!

© 2006 – Liz Pabon. All rights reserved.