Most of us want to grow our businesses, but many of us watch and see others explode into internet celebrity status while others struggle to even pay their monthly hosting fee.

But there are reasons why some people are not seeing the results that their skills and talents would warrant, because their mental infrastructure and programming are not in line with where they are in their business.

These are the 7 biggest reasons that they may not be seeing the growth that some of their peers are seeing:

1. Having a “Wing It” approach to their business

The biggest problem when new entrepreneurs are in the early stages of their business is that they take a “try it out” attitude with their business. Meaning they will “try it out” and then get serious if they start seeing success.

The problem with this approach is that if you do not take the business seriously, you will never have any results. This creates a never ending circle of businesses that this person starts, but never actually gives their best effort for and continues to be stuck in the exact same place that they started.

Give your business a chance by committing to it. I’m not saying you quit your job day-one, but you also cannot be just trying it out. Start working on it in your free time, make it a top priority and do the action steps you already know how to do; and you will start seeing the results.

2. Limited interaction with successful people

The old school method of becoming a millionaire was work hard, save your money and eventually you could become a millionaire. But now the path is massive action, massive knowledge and connecting with the right people.

By now you’ve heard the cliché that you are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with. And that is true, which is why having access to those individuals who have reached the incredible feat of making six or seven figures is crucial. By learning from them you can cut out years from your business to get to both of those income levels.

So what is the best way to get access to these people? There are two good options:

Live Events: For example, the recent World Domination Summit had plenty of these types of people there. In September I will be attending Ryan Lee’s FreedymFest. Pick an event that will have successful people there and make it a point to connect with them.

Online Courses/Masterminds: By joining a course or an online mastermind you will have access to people who are further along the path than you are. By developing relationships with them they can become mentors, affiliates or even partners.

3. Being too comfortable

This is mostly for people who have a job, but these people are too comfortable with their middle class lifestyle to cut back and invest some of that money into growing their business.

You are going to need to invest money into your business, for a website, web hosting, autoresponder, training & coaching, and eventually into traffic. But if you’re not willing to give up buying another pair of shoes this month or a new electronic gadget that won’t help you build a business, then you are holding yourself back from success.

Be willing to sacrifice some of the comforts of the middle class so you can reap upper class rewards.

4. Fear of monetary success

Some of you are probably looking at that description and wondering how someone could be afraid of making more money. But greater income also brings greater challenges.

Some people will end up sabotaging themselves because they cannot even fathom writing a six-figure tax bill (even though they are making six or seven figures). Or they know they do not have the discipline to save their money to pay taxes and end up subconsciously sabotaging themselves to make less money.

Another example is having to pay a high level accountant rather than paying $50 to the local HR Block guy. But we must understand that these are good problems to have, as it means our businesses are growing.

5. Uncomfortable telling people what to do

For your business to grow you will need to be directing people towards certain actions or even flat out telling them what to do. This could include employees, clients, or email subscribers. If you cannot tell them what they need to do, you will never build anything.

Just think about all the ways you may have to tell someone what to do:

• A call to action in an email or direct mail marketing message (i.e. opt-in to your email campaigns or clicking a link to an interview or article of yours)
• Telling an employee a task that they need to perform
• Telling a potential client that they should buy from you

All of these are essential to your business. The people who can’t do this may have a number of reasons for not doing so (i.e. lack of self esteem or worrying about what other people will think), but you need to be able to take charge and give direction to both your audience and your team.

6. No mental toughness

Too many people simply lack the guts to make it big. There are many reasons why this could be the case:

• They get easily distracted or thrown off course and struggle to get back on track.
• They simply do not work hard enough to get where they want to go.
• They always have an excuse for when things don’t go their way.
• Maybe they’re just the type of person who easily quits.

Whatever the reason, these people will continue to trip themselves up every chance they get. Instead of this, take control of your life, give your business the effort it deserves, and if there is a market for it, then never give up.

“Pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever.”  – Lance Armstrong

7. Having a huge vision for what you’re doing

Entrepreneurship is an intense journey, similar to the proverbial roller coaster ride. Despite venture capitalists obsession with “hockey stick growth,” most businesses rarely have such a linear trajectory. So you need to have a HUGE legacy in mind when you’re going through the ups and downs, or you’ll never make it. Because when things get tough…you’ll quit. Even if you have guts, you have nothing to fight for.

When you know exactly where you’re going, and why you are doing it, you’ll have that extra gear when you’re sick or tired or just feeling lazy to get stuff done. Your vision has become your mission, and it is one of the top priorities in your life (up there with your faith and your family).

When you have this vision you will track it ruthlessly. You’ll know the exact capacity of your business as it stands now, and also what it could take on immediately before becoming overwhelmed, and most importantly what the next steps are to get closer to that ultimate goal.

Thank you for reading my article! What mental hang-up is stopping your business from growing?