Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

By Steve Krupnik | January, 19, 2010

This quick message today has nothing to do with pawnbroking - although it does have everything to do with success in your business. Last weekend I took my wife for the very first time to an auto race track for a motorsports event. No - she's not a gearhead like me - but we had the opportunity to attend and I wanted to show her the racing facility where I spent most of my youth competing in various forms of motorsports.

I had not been to this track in nearly 10 years and although there were still many familiar faces and people who were genuinely happy to see me again, there was a new promoter at this facility who I do not know. It's documented that this promoter has had a difficult time in the past couple of years putting cars on the track and fans in the stands. Last weekend I found out why.

Because even though I didn't speak with him or get a chance to meet him during the event, I did find out one thing about him firsthand. He has a poverty mentality. How do I know this? Easy, my wife and I attended the drivers meeting in the pits before the event started. I was giving my wife the opportunity to experience such an event from the driver's side as well as the fans side.

After the drivers meeting, I said to my wife "I do not know who this promoter is, but unfortunately he doesn't have a chance at succeeding in the long term at this speedway." I told her this because during the drivers meeting while the promoter was explaining the payoff to the drivers, he looked at everyone sincerely and publicly stated that all he was trying to do was keep the lights on and pay the taxes and insurance. Are you kidding me?

Because if that's really all he's trying to do I can pretty much guarantee you that this is the most he will ever accomplish. What a waste of time and effort. The reason I'm telling you this story is because I want you to realize that how you think about your pawnshop business and what you say about your pawnshop business is every bit as important as what you actually do in the business. Be careful how you think, and be careful what you say.

Because your thoughts and words become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The reason for this is because - essentially, we hate to be wrong. So if you think something is true in your business - accurate or not - you take the appropriate actions to make sure what you're thinking is correct. You may occasionally find yourself thinking that your pawnshop is limited to X amount of a loan base. Or maybe you think you can only do X amount of sales per month. Possibly you feel you can only attract one type of customer.

And if you're thinking this way, or even worse, speaking this way, guess what - you are correct. The best possible way to expand your pawnshop business is to start by expanding your thoughts. Anything is possible if you make it possible. In the Pawn Shop Advisor(tm) coaching program I outline many systems that some pawnbrokers - because of their thinking - didn't feel would be successful or even possible in our industry. They were wrong.

But actually for themselves - for their pawnshop business - they were correct. The Pawn Shop Advisor(tm) http://www.pawnshopadvisor.com/main.cfm provides you with many new ways to think about your pawnshop business. In this program I pull back all the curtains and show you how I made my pawn shops the busiest and most profitable pawn shops in my state. You can do the same for your pawnshop business - at least you can if you believe you can.

Keep your eye on the target and your mind on the goal,
Stephen Krupnik
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