Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa September 2018 | Page 62

INSPIRATION
5 ways
to grow your
business success
Take control of perceptions can help entrepreneurs
BY DESHUN DEYSEL
F
ew people know more about overcoming obstacles,
both real and perceived, than professional moun-
taineer and businesswoman Deshun Deysel. Deshun
chose to tackle the highest obstacle in the world - twice. As
the first black woman to climb Mount Everest in the SA
team that planted South Africa’s new flag on the summit of
Mount Everest, Deshun fulfilled her childhood dream. She
went on to scale five of the seven summits.
 Now Deshun musters the passion and perseverance that
she applied to pull herself up to unthinkable heights to help
others do the same. Today, she sees climbing mountains as a
metaphor for making the impossible possible.
 As an entrepreneur and businesswoman, Deshun knows
first-hand that building a business can be one of the tough-
est mountains to climb. And she had unique and exciting
guidance for the Entrepreneurship To The Point audience to
help them along their own business journeys.
 Deshun’s five ways that perceptions can help you reach
new heights as an entrepreneur:
1. Believe in yourself, the world perceives
you as you perceive yourself
Often, we need to change our own perception of what we
are, who we are, and what we can do, before we can change
the way the world sees us. You have to teach the world how
to treat you and that starts with your own perception of
yourself. Believe in yourself. Regardless of the support and
resources you have, no one is going to get you to do some-
thing if you don’t have self-belief. The success or failure of an
entrepreneur can rest on this alone.
2. Don’t let others’ perceptions become your
truth
When Deshun still only had the tiniest inkling that climb-
ing a mountain was something she could do, much of the
i nformation she found around her said she couldn’t, with
messages like “people like you don’t do that” or “girls don’t
do that”. She cautions: “others’ perceptions become your
truth if you hang onto them, and that truth will stop you
from reaching your vision. Mute out the voices that tell you
it’s not going to happen. If you want to accomplish some-
thing but there is no evidence of its possibility around you,
people may laugh at you and it can make you look ridiculous.
Your dream isn’t going to fall into your lap; go out and find
it. In the absence of evidence follow the clues. Be hungry for
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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 SA Real Estate Investor Magazine
it. Hunger is the essence of entrepreneurship. Pull yourself
to your own vision; we are capable of the most incredible
things.”
3. Learn to manage your own perceptions
and thoughts
Reaching our goals is often no walk in the park, but
they’re also not impossible to achieve. However, one of the
biggest obstacles along the way is how you manage your
thoughts and perceptions when things go wrong – the panic,
doubt and negative voices. Deshun believes it is important
to slow down mentally , see the obstacle for what it really
is, and then tackle it, even if that means going back to go
forward. She encourages entrepreneurs to challenge their
own perceptions by having high-impact conversations and
choosing who they listen to carefully. “Tune out the negative
voices and make time for truthful mentors and guides”. 
 4. Teach others how to perceive and treat
you
“I have had to teach the world to treat me as a mountain-
eer,” confesses Deshun. “When the journey gets hard, if you
give up, you are also giving up opportunities. People are
watching how you come through the storm, how you make
it through when there are no resources. Dig deep when the
storm comes. Your actions teach people how to perceive you.
The better we become at our businesses, the more we are able
to show people how to treat us”. For Deshun’ s first Everest
expedition, she had to qualify for the team. The second time
round she was invited. 
 5. Extend your perception of success be-
yond the summit
When scaling the world’s highest peaks, getting to the top
doesn’t make you the best. “You need to be the best at the
bottom, or else how will you get to the top? When you reach
the pinnacle, youonly get to enjoy a matter of minutes there
before descending, so if you are only focused on the summit,
what happens after the goal is achieved? Most accidents on
Everest happen on the way down. Many climbers don’t see
the goal of getting back home safely, only getting to the top.
People collapse on the finish line of the marathon. It used
to be that sprinters ran for the finish line, now they run be-
yond it. Set your goals beyond getting to the top.