Have you ever bought a new car and suddenly started seeing that same car everywhere?

Perhaps you’ve decided to buy a red car.

Before making that decision, you hardly ever noticed red cars on the road.

But suddenly, they’re everywhere!

You see them driving to work, parked at shopping centres, at traffic lights and even in your own neighbourhood.

So, what’s happened? Have thousands of people suddenly decided to buy red cars?

Of course not.

The red cars were always there.

The only thing that changed was what you were looking for.

Welcome to what’s commonly called the Red Car Theory.

What does this have to do with your business?

Everything!

The Red Car Theory illustrates how our attention is influenced by what we focus on.

Our brains are constantly bombarded with information. We simply cannot process everything happening around us.

Instead, we tend to notice things that are relevant to our interests, priorities and expectations.

Psychologists refer to this phenomenon as selective attention and frequency illusion.

And here’s where it gets interesting for business owners.

If you’re constantly looking for problems, you’ll find problems.

But if you start actively looking for opportunities, you’ll begin noticing opportunities that you previously overlooked.

The opportunities may have been there all along.

You just weren’t looking for them.

Are you focusing on problems or opportunities?

Let’s consider two business owners operating in exactly the same industry.

Both are facing rising wages, increasing costs, difficult customers and growing competition.

Business owner A spends most of their time worrying about the economy, government regulations, staffing problems and how difficult business has become.

They continually focus on everything that’s going wrong.

And guess what?

That’s largely what they see.

Business owner B faces exactly the same challenges.

But instead of focusing entirely on the problems, they start asking different questions.

• How can we attract more profitable customers?
• What additional products or services could we offer?
• How can we increase sales to our existing customers?
• What systems could we introduce to improve productivity?
• How can we use AI and technology to reduce costs?
• What opportunities are our competitors overlooking?

Both business owners are operating in the same economy.

Both face the same challenges.

But one is looking for reasons why business is difficult, while the other is looking for ways to make business better.

Who do you think is more likely to succeed?

Your focus influences your results

Here’s something I regularly see when working with business owners.

Many are so caught up in the day-to-day demands of running their businesses that they rarely take time to look for opportunities.

They’re busy putting out fires, dealing with staff, responding to customers, managing cash flow and handling the next problem.

Before they know it, another week, month or year has passed.

And very little has changed.

Being busy running your business is not the same as building a better business.

That’s an important distinction.

• If you want to increase profitability, you need to actively look for opportunities to improve your margins.
• If you want to grow sales, you need to focus on finding new customers and generating more business from existing ones.
• If you want to improve cash flow, you need to look closely at debtors, stock levels, pricing and payment terms.

And if you want a business that doesn’t depend entirely on you, you need to focus on developing your people, systems and processes.

What you consistently focus on influences what you notice, the decisions you make and ultimately the results you achieve.

Here’s my challenge to you

For the next 30 days, I want you to try something different.

Every morning, before getting caught up in emails, phone calls and the usual daily distractions, ask yourself:

“What is one opportunity I can identify today that could make my business more profitable, more efficient or more successful?”

Write it down.

Then do something about it.

It might be following up a potential customer, reviewing your pricing, improving a process, contacting an old client or investigating a new opportunity.

It doesn’t need to be revolutionary.

Small improvements, consistently implemented, can produce extraordinary results over time.

Imagine identifying just one worthwhile opportunity each week.

That’s 52 opportunities over the next 12 months!

You won’t pursue every one of them, and not every idea will work.

But even if only five or six produce meaningful improvements, what could that mean for your business?

The bottom line

The Red Car Theory isn’t about positive thinking magically producing results.

It’s about directing your attention towards the things that matter and then taking action.

Opportunities don’t automatically turn into profits simply because you notice them.

You need to act.

And that’s where successful business owners separate themselves from everyone else.

So, the next time you’re driving down the road and notice a red car, remember this:

The opportunities you’re looking for may already be right in front of you.

The question is whether you’re paying attention.

Stop spending all your time looking at what’s going wrong. Start looking for what you can make go right.

Your business results might surprise you.

Contact Indigo Financial on (08) 8212 8585 if you need help with understanding any of your accounting, taxation and business development needs.