Why Smart Entrepreneurs Stay Stuck

Most entrepreneurs aren't stuck because they're lazy or unskilled — they're stuck because they can't see what's holding them back. In this episode, Bernie Gallerani breaks down the blind spots that quietly cost business owners years of growth, income, and opportunity. You'll learn why effort alone won't get you there, how your ego and identity filter out the answers you need most, and what it actually takes to start seeing what others already see in your business. If you've ever said "I should have done this years ago," this episode is for you.

Transcript

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Hello, everybody. This is Bernie Gallerani bringing you another episode of Success Is Not Convenient. We've got a fun one for you today. Um, this is one that I've lived my business by and have had a lot of clarity in for myself. There's not a lot of clarity in the topic because it's called your success with blind spots, but to identify that there's a lot of things that you can accomplish in your life and you just don't see them yet. They're actually around you, um, but they're blind spots. And I have a story, I should say, of a of a coach who was talking with me one day, and I was challenged a little bit with making a decision to switch a particular coach from one to another. And I really liked the person that I was working with, um, but I just didn't feel like the person was taking me to the spot that I needed to go. So um, through the conversations with a good friend of mine who was also a coach, shared with me, hey, listen, if you switch coaches, um you can always go back, right? I mean, so what it learning things from new people. And so I then kind of ventured into the conversation with the current coach that I was having at the time about basically leaving them and going to have another coach help me grow my business. And it's fun because that coach didn't want me to go and convince me to stay. And so the friend who was also a coach uh said, uh, how did it go? And I said, Well, you know, it's really interesting because they're gonna be better now. Because I had a conversation with them and they told me that they would be better. And I love what he said. He goes, Bernie, he says, you can always go back to the coach, but don't rob yourself of the ability to learn something different from this particular new coach that I wanted, which wasn't the person who I was talking with. The person who I was talking with was also a coach, but they weren't trying to get me to go to them. So that was, I was really kind of emotionally attached, I think, to the coaching and the relationship that I had with that particular person. So make a long story short, I ended up just firing the guy and then ventured out into a new coaching relationship with somebody different. And after about a month, I could see that it was absolutely the right choice to leave my current coach who had been working with for a few years to jump over into somebody new for a different conversation. What was fun about it though is I actually talked to my friend after about a month, and I said, you know, I cannot believe um how much better I feel with this new conversation with this new coach. And I said, I'm a little disappointed in myself because I wish I had seen it sooner. And I love what he said. And he goes, listen, man, it was just a blind spot. You didn't see it until you saw it, and it just wasn't time for you to see it yet. So I thought it'd be fun to talk a little bit about blind spots in our life, our success, and in our business. And there's all sorts of blind spots that we cannot see. And so I want to bring you this episode today to talk a little bit about that. And what I mean by this is a lot of things that are going to change in your life, your business, your income, your relationships, the leadership style that you have, you don't see them when they're right sitting in front of you. It's not because you're dumb and it's not because you're lazy, but because you're not aware of them yet. It's like when you buy a new car. You never noticed that car before when you bought it, and suddenly you start seeing that car everywhere. As my friend used to say, it's kind of like the yellow bug theory, right? You don't ever really notice a yellow Volkswagen bug until you actually buy one, and the next thing you know, you start seeing them all over the place. See, those cars were always there. You just weren't tuned into the process. You weren't tuned into them because you really weren't looking for them. And then all of a sudden, you buy it and you're like, wait a minute, there's that, there's the car. I just bought that. Oh, you you thought you bought something unique and everybody else now has it. Isn't that weird? See, success works the exact same way. There are opportunities and there are habits and disciplines and strategies, conversations, truth sitting right in front of you every single day that could change the trajectory of your life. And yet we don't see them. And then one day something clicks, and you say, How did I not even see that before? And that was what I went through with this coaching relationship is I didn't see it. I know I felt it, I knew it was out there, but I never really saw it until I made that change. And then I had a big aha moment. And that was like, wow, the best decision I ever made was getting rid of that particular coach. Not that that coach wasn't great, but I was emotionally attached to the situation. I wasn't using the idea to launch my business in a different area. I was more uh built in at that particular time in comfort than I was in ability to grow. See, you can't see what you're not ready to see. And that was in my situation. I wasn't ready to see it. One of the hardest truths about success is this you cannot see certain opportunities until you become the person capable of recognizing them, recognizing it. Like you think you want it, but you don't even see it. It's almost like a ghost that's right in front of you, and for some reason you just don't see it until all of a sudden it appears. Let this sink in for a minute. And that means the opportunity might already exist, the solution might already exist. The next move in your business might already be obvious to someone else, but to you, it's still invisible. Isn't that weird? Like somebody can see your situation and give you a solution to get out, but yet you haven't even seen it yourself. You ever had a conversation with somebody where they're like, why don't you do this and this and this? Or why don't you think about it like this, this, or that? And you're going, wow, I never even thought about that. But once it was mentioned to you, it actually made nothing but sense. See, that's the blind spot. People think success is about finding the answers, but a lot of times success is really about seeing what other people don't see yet, or seeing what you don't even see. And that's what's really good about having really good people and smart people around you, is they can give you ideas and solutions for things that you have never even thought about before. But once they bring it up, you're like, well, of course that makes sense. I can't even believe it took me this long to come up with it. Except for you didn't come up with it, someone else did. See, and that's why two people can be in the exact same market, whatever business that you're in, you can be in the exact same market, the exact same time, the exact same industry, the same city, the exact same economy, and one person explodes and the other one stays stuck. You know what I'm talking about? Your competitor down the street or somebody else that's doing really well in their business, and yet you still can't get out of your own way to succeed, but yet the competition down the street is thriving. It's not that they're smarter, they just see things differently than you see them. And so, what are you gonna do to try to get out of your way of being more aware? See, it's not always effort, it's awareness. It's being aware. Effort does not always reveal success immediately. This is where people probably get the most frustrated, I would guess, because we are taught to work hard, stay consistent, and keep pushing and don't quit. That's the mentality that most of us have. And all that is true, but here's the part people don't like talking about. Effort does not always immediately reveal the right answer. You can work very hard in the wrong direction. You can repeat the strategy that used to work, but doesn't, for some reason, doesn't work anymore. You can stay loyal to a system that is outdated, you can keep adding more effort when the real answer is changing your direction. Sometimes the breakthrough does not come from working harder. Sometimes the breakthrough comes from finally seeing it differently. See, that's the blind spot. You keep doing the same thing over and over and over again, and you're pushing yourself against the wall and you're getting frustrated, and then all of a sudden you get this vision. You're like, wait a minute, guys, this just happened to me recently. I was fighting and fighting and fighting the way I wanted to do it, and I had to just change how I looked at the situation. See, this is the scary process and scary thought because most people would rather work harder than admit that they might be looking at the problem wrong. Are you looking at your situation in every angle possible? Are you so tied into your belief system that you're doing it one way because you think that's really the only way to do it? Or maybe you think it's just the best way. So this is why blind spots exist. Blind spots exist for a few big reasons. First, identity. You see the world based on who you think you are. If you think you're small, you're missing the big opportunities. If you think that you're not ready, you won't take the shot. If you think that you have to control everything, you won't delegate if you think no one can do it as well or as good as you. You'll never build a team, you'll never build an organization. Your identity filters what you see as possibility. I'm gonna say this to get again. Your identity, who you identify yourself as, is filtering what you see as as a possibility or what is possible. Your ego is one of the biggest creators of blind spots. Your ego, your ego, your self-righteousness, your belief in what you believe is right. What I've learned in growing the business that I have is that I realize that it might work for a season, but if I don't continually keep getting out of my way, if my ego, and and and by the way, my ego has been in the way of a lot of things in a lot of different times in my life, and if you let that get in the way, then moving forward is impossible, right? As my mentor always says, get rid of the E and just go. See, because ego says the answer must come from me. I already know the best way. And if I don't think of it, it's probably not that good. It's probably not that good. If it's not coming from me and I don't already know it, it must not be an effective way. I don't need any help. I just need to push harder. See, ego doesn't just make people arrogant, it makes them blind. See, comfort. Let's talk about comfort because people keep looking for solutions that fit their personality. I love this one because I hear it all the time. Oh, that's just not me, right? That's just not my personality. Hard workers try to solve everything with more work. Thinkers try to solve everything with more strategy and more control. Hard workers try to solve everything with more work. Thinkers try to solve everything with more strategy. Controllers try to solve everything with more control. But sometimes the solution is just better people. That's what I love. Better people, better systems, a lot better communication, better patience. You have a lot of patience. You need to have a lot of patience to own a business. You need to have better focus within your business, or just telling the truth about what's not working. Have you guys like maybe looked at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself, how do I just be honest with myself about where I'm at? But if the solution feels uncomfortable, people ignore it, and then it becomes a blind spot in your life. This is the whole thing about like we have the answers in front of us. It goes back to that. We said that yellow bug theory, right? It's there. Your solution to your problem is there. But if our ego is in the way, we can't see it. Guys, I'm telling you, this happened to me multiple times, multiple times. And the more I'm in business, the more I realize that I'm actually the problem in my business. I'm the reason the business doesn't grow. It's not because of the economy. Good or bad, it doesn't make any difference. My business will be exactly what I want it to be based on how I maneuver through the challenging times. The dangerous part about blind spot is not that they exist. Everyone has them. Every single person has to deal with them, every entrepreneur. The danger part is that they are usually obvious to other people before they are obvious to us. This goes back to what I was saying about people saying, why don't you do it this way? Why don't you do it that way? You're like, oh, I never thought of it that way. It's obvious to others. See, other people can see it. Your business bottleneck, your relationship problems, your hiring problems, your attitude problems, your communication problems, your discipline problems, all of this is all tied. It's all tied in to you, your lack of growing. But from your seat, everything you're doing feels logical. That's why blind spots are expensive. They cost people years of their life, they cost people businesses, they cost people relationships, and they cost people growth. If you can't identify that you are not the solution to your long-term success of your company, it's really conquering the blind spots. And a lot of times, conquering the blind spots, most of the time, is hiring really good people that see what you don't see. Not because they weren't working hard or you weren't working hard, but because they can't see what was actually holding them back. We can't see it. Success often becomes obvious in hindsight. Have you ever noticed that when people finally figure something out, they say the same thing every time. I should have done this years ago. This was right in front of me. Why didn't I see this sooner? This changed everything. That success revealing a blind spot that used to exist. Have you ever had a time where you said, God, I wish I had done that before, or God, I can't believe it took me that long to get there, and I can't believe that it wasn't more apparent. It was just a blind spot. That's all it was. Most breakthroughs feel obvious after they happen, but invisible before they actually happen. I know you guys have all had times in your life where that's happened. And this isn't important because a lot of people quit in the season where nothing makes sense. And this is always the frustrating part because I work and train entrepreneurs, and they quit before they can ever get off the ground because they just have a ton of blind spots. They think because they can't see the answer yet, it must not exist. But sometimes the answer is already there. Your eyes just haven't caught up to it yet. You know, I had a I had a um a guy that I I know who wrote a book called Sales Velocity, Matthew Ferry. And he's God's, I love that book. I read it, I can't even tell you how many times I read sales velocity. You I recommend anybody uh read that book. But he talks about, he goes, everything you ever wanted is like a river and it's actually flowing right past you. Everything you want, everything you want is actually within grasp. You just don't see it. It's a blind spot. And when you start identifying it, this is why I always recommend to people go out, write out your goals, what you want to accomplish, put them down on paper, put up a dream board about all the things that you'd like to see in your life because they will show up. See how to find your blind spot. If success is a blind spot, then the smartest thing we could do is start looking for what we don't see. What we don't see. Looking for what we don't see. Maybe what we want, but we don't see. We need to start looking for it. We need to identify it. We need to tag it. We need to name it. We need to look all the time for it. Here's a few ways you can do that. Ask better questions. What am I not seeing right now that I need to see? What truth am I avoiding? Like what keeps repeating in my business or my life that maybe is frustrating me that I need to make a change in? Where am I working hard but not moving forward? What would someone better than me do in this particular situation? Like, what are what would an entrepreneur who has done a lot of successful things look at your business and go, well, why don't you do this, this, this, and this? Look for what irritates you. A lot of times, the advice you don't want to hear is exactly what you need to hear. Borrow other people's eyes, coaches, mentors, leaders, partners. Other people can see things in five minutes that you've missed for five years. It's fun because I hired a new growth leader inside of my company, and this person has brought in a lot of thoughts and ideas that I had never even thought about. And it's really made me look at my business a little bit differently. It's always good to get opinions of really great thought leaders, get opinions of other really great business people. You can get an opinion from somebody who's going to bring you down, tear you down. That's not who I'm talking about. Find someone who's inspiring, who sees your business at a different level. Stay in motion all the time because clarity does not come from thinking alone. Clarity actually comes from action, reflection, and adjustment, and action again. So these are really interesting things when you think about blind spots because we all have them. Everybody has a blind spot. We just are lots of blind spots. We just need to try to uncover them. See the next level of your life, your business, your income, your leadership, it may not require a miracle, it just may require awareness. Success is often not about doing something completely new, it's about finally seeing something that was always already there. Always there. It's sitting in front of you. See, the answer to your problems and the solutions to moving it forward is actually in front of you right now. You just don't see it. And the people who win are not always the people who work the hardest. They're the people who learn to see sooner. So you got to pull off those fake, fuzzy, you know, unclear glasses. See the problem sooner. See the opportunities sooner. See patterns. See people differently. That's the question. Because what you cannot see can still control your results. Success is a blind spot until the day that it isn't. Guys, I know this is an interesting topic for a lot of us, but I will say that we must never ever think that our problems are not curable. Our problems are actually, our solutions to our problems are actually sitting right in front of us. And I want us all to look at that as you're listening to this and you look around. I want you to look around and I want you to just go, gosh, you know, Bernie, it sounds easy, but I don't see it. It's there. Best quickest advice I can give you. Go talk to a mentor and share with them the biggest struggle you have. And maybe go outside and if you're own a company, go hire somebody who where this is the job they do is taking you from point A to point B to point C to point D, right? To keep growing you at a level of an area that you can't even see. I hope everyone's found value in this today. If you have any questions, thoughts, concerns, anything like that, we would love to talk to you. Please give me a comment below. Please hit the subscribe button, the like button. We'd love that. And I just want to say thank you for everybody who is listening to this today. We don't take this for granted. We appreciate every single time uh that we get a chance to show people these videos. So thank you very much for all of your guys' help and support. Everybody have a great day.