No doubt, you have experienced the fun of trying to figure out an acronym. Those confusing “letter words” that don’t make sense when you first see them and will often initiate a covert Google search in order to decipher it. Our cyber communication usually includes an LOL, or an LMAO, or a BRB, or a YOLO, and even the odd WTF but what the heck is PMA? And why is it so important? Read on to learn how the power of positive thinking can accelerate your business success.
What the heck is PMA?
PMA is the acronym for “Positive Mental Attitude.” Now, one would think that is a pretty simple and obvious element in the recipe for success. However, it can surprisingly be very elusive to find or maintain. There are numerous PMA impediments that can happen in any enterprise, which can ultimately negatively affect the success and the future of a business.
4 keys to achieving business success
Positive mental attitude (PMA), or the power of positive thinking, is the primary agent for achievement. It can actually be the difference between a business that thrives and a business that fails. Here are the basics.
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Maintain perspective and clarity.
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Believe in yourself.
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Learn from your experiences.
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Find opportunity on the horizon.
Ready to put the principles of PMA to work for your business? Let’s go!
1. Maintain perspective and clarity
Many challenges occur when starting or running a business. You have to keep all of these in mind:
- Marketing
- Sales volume
- Technical issues
- Manufacturing
- Distribution
- Financial bookkeeping
- Insurance
- Legal matters
- Import and export regulations
- Logistics
- Customer service
This list can become overwhelming quite quickly, and make you wonder why you ever went into business in the first place.
When you feel discouraged or overwhelmed, it’s important to put everything into perspective. Remind yourself of your “why” — why is your idea so relevant? Why is your product or service so important? And why are you passionate about manifesting your idea? This will help to keep your PMA on track as well.
If you need assistance with this, it can be very helpful to use the services of a business coach or someone with experience to mentor you. Join an entrepreneur group! Go to business networking events and never be afraid to ask questions. Stay focused by writing down your daily, weekly and monthly goals and sticking with them.
Use an accountability partner to keep you motivated. And finally, just take a breather when you need it. A grownup “time out” can really clear your mind and refuel your PMA!
2. Believe in yourself
Many startups start, and many startups fail. Much of that can be attributed to the loss of the very important PMA that you need.
For example, you have a great idea for a new business or product, and you decide to take the plunge to make your dream a reality. Awesome!
Initially, you are full of excitement and ideas that are fun to work on as you begin to build your new venture.
But then you hit a small business bump in the road. Not a big deal, because you are full of PMA at this point and you cheerfully find a way around it. You still feel confident about your idea but then oops … you hit another bump.
At this point, your PMA level can start to decline. But you believe in your idea so you continue to build your new business and then suddenly you hit another bump — perhaps an even bigger one. This is about the point that all of the problem solving to make your idea into a successful business takes its toll and the power of positive thinking goes AWOL. Your PMA has gone astray, and your dream business idea feels crushed. For some, it’s quitting time.
Photo: Polina Kirilenko on Unsplash
Sometimes the market does dictate what works and what doesn’t work, and you will have to accept that. But just because a product or a service doesn’t launch like a rocket, doesn’t mean that you are not capable of trying again. This is where your PMA can save the day. PMA is a “belief in yourself,” not just in your product or service. And when you believe in you, that can make all things possible, including your business success. This is the true entrepreneurial spirit in action.
3. Learn from your experiences
You might need to evaluate your business idea and make some decisions. If you use your PMA when you do this, you will accept that the setbacks are meant as an education, to show you how to do things even better than you originally planned. But you will not quit! Instead, you might need to try some different ways to present your business.
I initially launched my dream product idea using the traditional path of finding a distributor who would get my product into stores nationwide.
Apparently, my distributor did not share the same vision as I had for multimillions in sales and my product sat in their inventory along with hundreds of other products, just waiting for some store owner to give it a try on their shelves.
After an entire year went by, I questioned the lack of sales and effort and cancelled my agreement with the distributor. I know my product is good and sells, so I had to question the selling channel. I made the mistake of trying to succeed in the brick-and-mortar environment, using an unmotivated selling agent who was taking a hefty commission to sell my product, instead of relying on myself.
Was I initially discouraged when my product wasn’t selling well? Yep! Did my PMA level drop? Yep! Did I think about quitting? Yep! But, I didn’t. And, I learned a lot from that experience.
4. Find opportunity on the horizon
Instead of giving up on my dream, I kicked my PMA back into action and started to teach myself that eCommerce is the way of the future as billions of products are sold annually now over the internet.
Consumers love to shop from the convenience of home.
There are many great online stores that are happy to accept product submissions. They don’t have shelf-space restrictions, or rental and employee overhead so that your product is triple the price that it should be. They also give you more opportunity to feature your product, as you can include pictures and explainer videos on your product page. Your product won’t just sit on a shelf gathering dust.
You can have your own online “store” by creating a fabulous website (I use GoDaddy for my website service) where you can detail everything about your product or service and control your business much easier this way. There is 24/7 business support, multiple marketing opportunities, easy logistics for business operations and more! And there are plenty of affiliate marketers now (online sales people) who are happy to promote your product or business for a small commission, which is a win-win for all involved.
The power of positive thinking is unstoppable
Your dream success is out there. Believe in yourself and the reason you started your business in the first place. You’re still going to face challenges on your entrepreneurial journey, and there are going to be days where it feels like the only solution is wine and chocolate. But I promise you — solutions to business challenges do exist and you will figure them out. Just remember to always use your P(ositive) M(ental) A(ttitude) and believe in yourself and what you know you can accomplish!
