Here’s a valuable lesson to reflect upon as you stride into the new year…

The key to success in marketing, business, and life in general hinges on mindset.

How so?

Let’s take a look at a comparison in mindsets that illustrates this point perfectly…

My cousin is one of those total overarching types. Georgetown grad with a Duke MBA employed for a dozen years at the Deloitte, an internationally renowned consulting (who recruiter her while still in undergrad). And she’s also married with three little boys under four years of age.

So, it stands to reason she’d have overarching friends. Like her friend Leighton…

The Success Mindset

Born with a progressive, degenerative disease, medical professionals predicted Leighton’s life would be filled with closed doors.

Yet, Leighton attended a mainstream high school, graduated with honors, and attended college, earning a degree in graphic design.

After several years working for a top Atlanta design firm, Leighton launched her own business, and it’s grown into a thriving, highly regarded enterprise.

Leighton is also married, and she and her handsome husband have a beautiful daughter.

Meanwhile, attending regular schools, having a career, getting married, and especially having a child were all seen as out of Leighton’s reach.

But not only are all of these things a reality for Leighton, she’s also long outlived the projected lifespan for someone afflicted with her disease.

The Failure Mindset

On the flip side, I have another close relative with similar circumstances to Leighton, who’s leading a markedly different life. I won’t disclose the nature of the connection, because that would give this person away.

She too was born with a progressive, degenerative disease. Wheelchair-bound since birth, she had a dozen surgeries to treat her condition in the first two years of her life. And she has additional surgery every few years to mitigate the impact of her aliment.

She never regularly attended mainstream high school. She started college, online, but never completed her degree. She lives at home with her parents with no desire to move out or establish her own, independent life. And her only truly consistent companion is her very cute, but aging dog.

Sadly, she has no job, no career aspirations, no passions, and no real purpose in life.

And to make matters worse, she sits day-after-day, bitter and brooding in her childhood bedroom. Steadily stacking up an ever-growing mound of resentments.

No doubt the dichotomy at play here is obvious…

Two women with similar disabilities and similar circumstances.

One refuses to let her “limitations” define her. While the other has resigned to her limitations defining her.

The difference between the two?

Mindset.

The same thing happens all too often in marketing…

Professional service businesses that embrace marketing grow and thrive.

They invest in optimizing and maintaining their website. Use email marketing to nurture leads and cultivate relationships. And they leverage social media to extend their reach.

In turn, they see results, including growing client lists, more closed sales, and increased income.

While businesses that avoid marketing — certain it’s some sort of alchemy beyond their grasp, or abandon their efforts if they don’t see immediate results — languish.

These folks reach a plateau in growth and development at best. And see their business swirl down the drain at worst.

To sum it up…

Whether you’re facing a disability, a debilitating ailment, or struggling to grow your business — Your success or failure is ultimately determined by your mindset.

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