While I was developing one of the first spas in the world for men, and throughout the two and half years that I was running the business there was one prevailing attitude.

That prevailing attitude was ‘This business can’t fail.”

The concept of my small business was to create a place where men could enjoy personal care services designed to help them look and feel their best in a comfortable, masculine environment.

How could a business like that fail?

And, by the way, the business hasn’t failed.

It was the relationship with my investors that failed.

Because I believed that my business could not fail, I made certain decisions – decisions that I would not have made if I felt that the business could or likely would fail.

In other words, I expected abundance, not scarcity.

I expected lots of clients, a steady stream of revenue, and success.

And because I expected success, I created a company that could succeed.

I founded my spa for men on three key watchwords: commitment, consistency and continuity.

I wanted a staff that was committed to the business, offering services of consistent quality, in order to create continuity with our clients.

To achieve that, I had to hire and retain good people. I could not afford to have a revolving door of service providers. If I did not retain my staff, I could not achieve the Three C’s that were the cornerstone of the business: commitment, consistency and continuity.

And that meant I had to pay my staff right from the beginning -before we had any clients. If I had only paid them a “fee per service”, with no services to deliver, they would have left within couple of days.

The belief that the business could not fail informed virtually every decision that I made.

Paying the staff an hourly wage was just one of them.

If you are thinking of starting your own small business, to if you already have a small business, are you expecting abundance or scarcity? Are you playing to win or not to lose? Do you believe that your business cannot fail, or that it likely will?

Your belief system will determine how you develop and run your business.

If you have investors, as I did, you had better make sure that they share your belief system.

“Are we playing to win or playing not to lose?”

Make sure everyone has the same answer.

Alan Stransman founded one of the first spas in the world for men in downtown Toronto. He also wrote a book about that entrepreneurial venture/misadventure entitled “Don’t Let Your Dream Business Turn Into a Nightmare”, which is currently being adapted into a case study for use at the M.B.A. level by Canada’s leading business school. There is more information about the book and testimonials from readers at http://www.mybusinessnightmare.com

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