The first year after you start a business is pivotal. Not only can it set the course for the future of your business’s success, but it’s also the time where a lot of businesses fail. There are many reasons for this, but I think that failure in the first year of business can be avoided!

I’ve been a mindset and business coach for a while now, and during my career I’ve noticed four main factors that I believe determines your success as a business owner. So if you want to avoid your business failing within the first year, then I think the four tips below will really help you out!

Number One – Be Open Minded

One of the biggest enemies of a business owner is closed mindedness. Because if we close our minds and aren’t willing to let new ideas, opinions, and concepts in; then we risk our businesses paying the price. The best CEOs are the ones that embrace change and new knowledge.

For instance; trends change frequently, and depending what industry you’re in, it could really affect you if you’re not willing to embrace those changes. A brilliant example is the evolution of social media, as one of the main advertising tools for businesses today, knowing how to navigate the current social media climate could make all the different in your sales.

Another way that open mindedness can come in handy is that it gives you the ability to adjust your strategy after you hit a hurdle, or even make a mistake. However, if you’re closed minded, then when there’s a bump in the road you won’t be able to figure out how to get past it as efficiently (if at all).

If you don’t feel like you’ve mastered open mindedness, then the best way to achieve it is to be mindful. Next time you’re confronted with something new, carefully monitor how you react to it. If you catch yourself reacting negatively without really giving it a chance and thinking it over, then correct yourself. Over time, you’ll start to be open minded naturally.

Number Two – Be Willing To Have Uncomfortable Conversations

It’s a well known fact that, as humans, we want to avoid uncomfortable conversations as often as possible. But unfortunately, as an adult and especially as a business owner, sometimes you can’t escape from these situations anymore if they relate to something important. And if you do try, you might see some serious consequences.

As an example; an uncomfortable conversation as a business owner might be someone complaining about a product, a business partner disagreeing about a course of action, a bad review about your service, etc. All these conversations have to do with things that nobody would really enjoy hearing, but sometimes they have to be said.

And you’ll notice that within these examples, each of these conversations contains potential value. Maybe after hearing a complaint, you could improve your product; perhaps your business partner is right and something needs to change in your strategy; and the bad review could propel you to improve customer satisfaction.

But you’d never be able to uncover those valuable insights without listening first. Obviously these are just examples; but you’ll come across your own versions of uncomfortable situations as you grow your business, so just be aware to embrace them rather than avoid them.

Number Three – Be Aware Of Your Current Self Leadership Style

When you’re in charge of a business, your qualities as a leader are extremely important. And if you break down your leadership style, it really starts with self leadership. Various people have various self leadership styles, and identifying yours can in turn help you figure out how to better lead your employees or just manage your business.

But what is a self leadership style? Well self leadership refers to understanding who you are as a person, figuring out what you want out of life, and working towards your goals. So your self leadership style is just the way in which you go about doing that.

Sometimes our self leadership styles even develop over time, which is why it’s important to routinely check in with yourself and identify which self leadership style you’re using currently. Trust me, this will give you a better understanding of which type of leadership you want to use in terms of your business.

Number Four – Heal Your Inner Child

This last tip is once again related to a form of self awareness, but it has to do with improving your mental health and doesn’t directly correlate to business. So before I go into what exactly I mean by this, I just want to explain what it has to with your business’s success.

Mental health is something that not many business owners take into consideration, with the exception of if it becomes out of control and begins to obviously affect your decision making. But one thing I’ve learned to recognize is that your mental health is probably playing a bigger role in the success of your business than you realize.

Really stop to think about. A lot of times, we control every aspect of our business. But what controls many aspects of us? That’s right, our mental health. So if we’re mentally healthy and on stable footing, we’ll be controlling our business that much more efficiently. Which is why paying attention to your own mental health is really important, even in terms of your career.

But now, going back to the original point… healing your inner child. Our young lives mold us into what we are today in many ways, and one of the ways it does so is by leaving behind little bits of our inner child. This inner child might provide us with a source of joy and lightheartedness; but if it’s still carrying around trauma and pain from the past then it could do the opposite.

If we haven’t taken the steps to heal our inner child then it could affect many parts of our lives; we might hold prejudices, have outdated beliefs, or be in so much inner pain that we aren’t the best versions of ourselves. And all of these things could negatively impact our business.

So that’s why I highly suggest that you take the time to really understand your inner child, and heal it, if need be. I promise you’ll see the benefits; not only within your business, but also in every other aspect of your life.