Service: Keystone for Growth?

What makes some entrepreneurs wealthy and successful, while others struggle to survive?

In a word, habits.

Forget what the economy is doing -- up or down, that's not the determining factor. There were plenty of successful people in the Great Depression, and plenty of failures in the recent boom years.

Your success stems from what you think and what you do. And most of what you think and do stems from your habits.

Psychologists estimate that approximately 95% of the thoughts you have today are the same ones you had yesterday. Yikes.

And as much as 45 percent of our actions each day are habitual. We run on autopilot for much of the day, day after day, week after week, month after month ....

That's the power of habit.

To get better results in your business, you need better habits.

But not all habits are created equal.

In the book, The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg offers powerful reasons why some habits are more important than others.

These so-called keystone habits "have the power to start a chain reaction, shifting other patterns as they move through our lives," writes Duhigg.

Keystone habits influence how we work, eat, play, live, spend, and communicate. Keystone habits start a process that, over time, transforms everything.

This, then, is the answer of where to start: focus on keystone habits, those patterns that, when they start to shift, dislodge and remake other habits.

Get that? Keystone habits can change other habits -- and change your life.

Now. If you're looking to grow a service business, sales career, or other entrepreneurial venture, what keystone habit(s) should you adopt?

You might think sales or innovation. And you might be right.

But sales skills take months or years to sharpen. And innovation can be a tough slog.

Here's an idea: Why not make service a keystone habit for growth?

Service has propelled businesses like Nordstrom, Southwest Airlines, Disney, Starbucks, and Zappos to outrageous levels of success.

Zappos, in particular, has profited wildly from making service as a keystone habit. Zappos is literally "Powered by Service" -- it's their corporate motto. And #1 in their list of 10 core values is this: "Deliver Wow through service."

Stories of Zappos customer service are more than the stuff of corporate legend. They are a big reason why Zappos, which sells the ultimate commodity -- shoes! -- reached $1 billion in sales in only 8 years, before being bought by Amazon in 2009.

So, to sum up: Your habits make or break you, in business and in life.

Keystone habits, like keystones in bridges, are little things that support bigger things. The right keystone habit could support massive growth in your business. And you might want to make service a keystone habit in your business -- it's free to deliver and makes everything better.

Meanwhile ... if you want to put an end to "feast-or-famine" syndrome in your business, grab your free Client Cloning Kit here.