50 Things I wish I’d Known Before I started By Business (part 1)..
Are you interested in owning your own business at some point? If you are and if you are feeling a little overwhelmed by all the information around you…here’s some of the top things you should look into or at least think about. These are the things I’ve learned about business..either by making the mistakes myself or by observing others do it..
So if there’s a business owner dying to come out within you or if you are already a business owner trying to understand how to take your business to the next level…grab a cup of coffee and let’s begin!
Here’s part 1 of the top 50 things you need to know before starting your own business.
1. It’s not easy — It really isn’t easy being the boss (and the employee at the same time). You’ve got to make tons of decisions and you’ve got to make them fast. Being your boss and earning as much as you want sounds like a ton of fun but the road to get there, my friend, isn’t quite easy.
2. You need to take full responsibility — People who like pointing fingers and playing the blame game need not apply. If you want a successful business you’ve got to say “Oops…my fault!..Now let’s fix it by doing so and so…..”
3. You need to put in long hours — It’s like pulling all nighters to get those college essays done again…
4. Time is your best friend or your worst enemy — Time Management = your key to success in business. You’ll be wearing so many different hats that without proper time management skills you’ll drive yourself (and your family, clients and employees) insane.
5. Organize, Organize, Organize — No matter how skilled you are at finding your personal files and clothes, owning a business means the number of files you need to manage has just gone up by atleast a factor of a 100. Organize, Organize, Organize! Your mental peace depends on it.
6. Your Emotions begin to depend on business profits — Try to watch for the grumpy lack of sales days. Other people around you may not understand how passionate you are about your business and how that’s affecting your emotions. My best advice is to catch yourself every time this happens and try to emotionally detach yourself from your profits. Your relationships depend on you being able to do this!
7. Shutting Your Computer will Sometimes feel like Pulling the Plug on a Loved one – High Stress time? Own an internet business? Having to turn off the computer can be stressful and equally challenging when your family won’t go away from your office until you turn the little monster off and spend time with them again. They are probably right….besides, you need a little break too!
8. Don’t lie or make false promises – Besides this being a good moral practise and good ethics. Tell you what? I’ve encountered several business owners who’ve lied to me and the sad thing is as a business owner you have so much going on that you don’t even have time to keep track of your lies. So, just speak the truth all the time..it’s a lot less stressful.
9. It takes time to build momentum – Building a business isn’t easy, gaining momentum isn’t easy and it takes a lot of patience and courage to sit through the agnozing waiting period.
10. Don’t get emotionally attached to your products and services — Let the market be your judge. I’ve had to walk away from a lot of business ideas I’ve had, a lot of product and services I’ve created …even the ones that looked like they’re doing well. And that can cause an incredible amount of stress…and please stop calling your product or services “my baby”…that just increases the attachment you have and makes it harder for you to walk away.
11. Keep an exit strategy — As mentioned above, walking away from your ideas is one of the most stressful parts of being an entreprenuer. Make it easier by keeping an exit strategy, which means building your business/services etc so they can be sold or taken care of in your absence. Remember, you’re in business to enjoy life and NOT to be held a prisoner inside it!
12. Identify your support group — There are going to be times when all you want to do is run away screaming, there are going to be times when all you want to do is sit down and sulk and that’s exactly when you need your support group. This is a group of individuals you can count on to comfort you and tell you to hang tight when you feel like running away. This can include your friends, family, mentors, significant other, or other business owners who you’ve built a lot of trust with over a number of years.
13. You’ve got to be Up, Up, Up for the people you hire — Your employees are not your support group. You are the leader in your business and what happens when the leader walks around acting defeated? Everybody loses focus.
14. Go out and meet people – Running a business by yourself is lonely, uncertain and scarey. Meet people, call up other business owners and chat up! It’s a great way to start a friendship and even a profitable partnership.
15. You Must fully commit yourself to your business growth — Even if it’s a home business you need to set aside the hours you want to work and work during those hours. Laziness can kick in and that will kill your chances of growth.
16. Track your numbers — You gotta track your income, expenses, return on investments for everything you do.
17. Take care of your health — Your business depends on you. (It’s a scary realization to have..I know)
18. Be coachable and seek out mentors, coaches — Having a mentor and/or a coach increases your accountability, gives you more confidence and helps you learn faster. That’s exactly where you want to be.
19. It’s addictive – At some point in your business you get addicted to the “high” of getting things done and making things happen and that will cause tremendous withdrawals during your family vacations. Solution — keep a way to stay informed about your numbers so you can get your “high” anytime you want 
Or just find a way to cure your addiction and let me know when you’ve found one.
20. Manage Information Flow — How many business owners does it take to change the lightbulb? Depends on how much paper work they are buried in. Information gets crazy when unmanaged. The simplest thing you can do right now is to setup an “IN” and “Out” tray for information..whether it’s mail, paperwork, some cool website you found. Everything that doesn’t help you do what you are trying to do right now can be thrown into the IN tray for later use.
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Are You Waiting for the “Right Time”?
Just a quick (but important) topic for today…
I was listening to 177 Mental Toughness Secrets by Steve Siebold this morning and one of the secrets he talks about is the whole waiting for the “right time” syndrome.
I must admit I was quite hesitant to embrace the idea of not waiting for the “right time” when I first heard about it. It sounded like the greatest betrayl of our intuitive feelings!
That was a couple years ago…my thoughts on this topic have changed a lot since applying some of his strategies into my life AND in working with a lot of people who’re struggling with procrastination…
And here’s the scoop…
Intuitive feeling is a good thing but when waiting for the “right time” stops you from achieving your goals…it’s probably not an intuitive feeling, it’s usually your fear of failure or perfectionism tendencies acting up!
And that’s exactly where most of us get stuck! We have a goal and then we end up listening to this feeling that says “Uh…not today”
Well here’s a quick way to get over the “not today” argument… Listen, the “right time’” is never going to come down and knock on your doors…it’s something YOU have to create..
Falling victim to the “right time will come and will eventually motivate me to get this thing done” will just put you into a panic mode when the deadline’s too close or worse yet, it will prevent you from achieving your major goals..
So the next time you’re waiting for the “right time” feeling…try this…Just get started on the work…
Counter-intuitive? You bet!
But here’s the deal with this…
The hardest part of feeling good about what you’re going to do is to overcome the inertia of doing it…it’s the inertia that creates the “maybe this isn’t the right time” feeling to try to keep you from not doing it. (Remember Newton? A body at rest remains in rest..)
Just try it!
(and let me know how it goes)
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What’s Your Reason for Procrastination?
Do you ever procrastinate? And does that make you feel horrible sometimes? Yep, same here!
Wouldn’t it be nice to kind of say…”Well you know what, I have a perfectly valid reason here for procrastinatinating and here it is…XYZ…”
Wouldn’t you love it to relieve that whole horrible feeling that comes from not doing what you know you’re supposed to be doing at the time when you’re supposed to be doing it…
I know I love that! In fact, tell you what?
Getting rid of that horrible nagging feeling is such an important step towards getting off your own back…which surprisingly (or not so surprisingly) also motivates you to get up and get stuff done. I don’t want to go into the whole mechanics of why this works (that’s for a later blog post).. But, for now…I can tell you it has to do something with recognizing why you’re procrastinating and acting to fix it!
You see…when most of us procrastinate..we sit down and feel horrible about it but don’t seem to be able to do anything about it! I know it feels horrible and it kills self confidence faster than anything else!
One of the easiest ways to get out of this procrastination — feeling horrible — and feeling trapped cycle is to take a close look at your procrastination habits and try to understand why you procrastinate and where…
Ready?
Get a piece of paper and a pen
Draw out two columns
On one side write down the tasks you’ve procrastinated on recently (or the ones that still bug you)
On the right write down why you think you procrastinated…
You’ll discover some really cool patterns and learn a lot about yourself..I promise!
And, the most important thing is..you’ll be a step (a big step) closer towards breaking free of your procrastination..
Sound good? Let me know if you had an “aha” moment or any other breakthroughs with the exercise!
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