Focusing On Success With My Alpaca Business

I just read an interesting article from Daily Good titled Switch: Don't Solve Problems--Copy Success.  Reading the examples were enlightening and validating for those of us that use positive reinforcement training methods.  It was also a great reminder for me in looking at my business model.  The economy being as sluggish as it has been for years now has made it challenging at times to stay positive.  I'm constantly analyzing what is working and what isn't.  Sometimes the challenges seem overwhelming on how to fix things especially where the economy is concerned.  So many things are outside my control.  The government doesn't seem to have any sense of urgency to get their act together and do their jobs and find solutions, the news media seems to only focus and dramatize the negative.  It is better ratings to have drama and doom and gloom.  Closer to home, it has been depressing seeing so many liquidating their farms and alpacas.  I've been tempted to advertise saying, Staying In Business Sale! 

For those of us that need to see  a positive way out of issues, what avenues do we have to find our solutions?  About two years ago, I consciously made a choice of not waiting for the government or others to make the economy better.  I had to find my own way of making things a success.  I took a hard look at my business and all the things I was doing for it.  I found I was trying to do so many things.  I got into retail and buying wholesale alpaca goods for resale, I was spinning up my fiber into yarn and trying to sell it, I was breeding my alpacas and having open farm events regularly to try and market them, I went to shows, I did so many things trying to see what might stick and bring in some good income into the farm and market my animals.  It was one of the worst years financially I've had to date too.

Reading this article helped me understand why that year was so bad.  I was acting more out of desperation and I had gotten away from what I was really good at doing.  I rarely went out to train my alpacas, I didn't talk about training, I didn't do that much energy work with them either.  I was doing my chores and saying hello to them but I was working on fumes trying to keep all the plates spinning that I had going.  After working very hard on an event and having my worst sales to date, I decided I had to regroup.  This was NOT working.  I examined all the things I was doing and asked myself is this me?  I wound up changing a lot of things and going back to what I know I'm good at and what I'm passionate about.  I started reading clicker training blogs to get myself inspired and went out working with my animals again.  My sales started to pick up.  I had one project that had been put on the back burner while I tried all those other means of creating income and I decided to make that project one of my most important, high priorities to work.  This past week, I completed that project.  It has been a life-long dream of writing a book.  It has been years of writing and editing, but it has finally been published.  Alpacas Don't Do That hit Amazon yesterday.  New doors are opening as I work on those things that are right about my business and working.  I'm not focusing on fixing what is wrong but focusing on what is right just like the article described.  It is nice having that validation and reading how others, especially successful companies are using that philosophy.  I'd sure love to see that way of thinking and doing business spread.

To encourage you to think this way, I'm going to ask you a question.  What is going right in your business or life? 

I will start.  What is right about my business is my wonderful, exquisite fleeced alpacas and my great clients that buy my animals, products and services.  What is right is that I accomplished a long held dream this week! 

Ok, your turn!

Doing Energy work with Jasmine is what is right about my business and life.