Surrounding Yourself with Successful People Blog

 I am a big fan of Jim Rohn, a personal development and motivational speaker.  One of his most famous quotes is: 

"You are the average of the 5 people you spend time with".  

When I heard this quote when I starting my first business, it really got me thinking. 
If that was true, I needed to make sure that I surrounded myself with the type of person I wanted to be like.  

So I asked myself the question -  What were the qualities of the people who I want to spend my time with?

I wanted to be around people who were passionate, motivating, inspiring, smart, funny, and caring.  I had a strong desire to be around really positive people who didn't let things get them down or get in their way.  

With this in mind, I really started to listen to what people were saying around me.  What came as a bit of a shock, was when I paid attention, a lot of people I met during the day were very negative. They were negative about the economy, about their work, their kids, their relationships, even about themselves.  This was a real eye opener for me.

When I would tell people about my dreams, sometimes I was met with negative statements:

"Why do you want to that for?"

"Did you know most businesses fail?"

"If you start a business, you will have no life!" 

I found it really interesting.  Why was everyone so negative?  

There was so much fear!  I can understand it.  A lot of people have had bad experiences.   The media perpetuates these fears as well.

So I decided I needed to spend time with people who were already successful in business and learn what their secrets were.  I sought out mentors from across the world who were running the type of business I wanted to run and asked their advice.  I travelled to LA and paid to spend 4 hours with a coach I had been following online.  I paid for coaching and mentoring and discovered that each time I invested money, it came back to me at least 5 fold.  I did and continue to do a lot of personal development and the thing I learnt,  is the more I invest in my personal development, the more successful I become.  

By spending time with more successful people, I found that my business goals which appeared almost impossible to me, was not hard for them. They challenged me to enlarge my goals.  My current mentor has created two $100 million companies so when I tell him my goals, they seem very achievable to him.  He guides and directs me and challenges me to think bigger. 

So here I am about to launch my corporation, with 3 companies under it and now with talks of several more.  It is projected to exponential increase over the next few years with financial projections into the 7 figures.  Now, I don't say this to boast - but to show you the power of spending time with people who build you up and challenge you.    

So now I wanted to ask you a question?  

What are you going to do to play bigger?  Are you going to seek people who lift you up and support you?  Are you going to get a coach or mentor who is going to help you step up to that next level?  

It is all in your reach.  You just have to believe that you can reach your goal, be prepared to do the work and surround yourself with people who believe in you too.  

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEBSITE?  You can as long as you include this blurb with it:  Women's Entrepreneur and Mentor Mireille Ryan teaches women how to build a business that they love. Get her FREE audio, "The Secrets to Building a Business You Love" atwww.mireilleryan.com