Did you know that how you feel about money will have a positive or negative affect on your business success? Growing up did money come easily to you or do you have to work hard for it all the time? Were you given pocket money as a child whilst your friends did a paper round to earn their treats?
How we grow up thinking, feeling and acting towards money affects how we view it as an adult and even more so as a business owner.
If you are looking for inspiration on how to make the most of your business and catapult your success then you better start planning.
Other than winning the lottery, do you expect or hope profits will come to you without putting the time or effort into your business to ensure it is commercially viable? Note to reader. You will be extremely lucky to see an increase in your bank balance using that strategy. Equally unlikely to see a gain is the business owner who puts all their time and effort into a stagnating business without making any changes despite seeing no progress.
The above are recipes for a failing business and are examples of an owner with no clear vision, direction, strategy or plan. They are just running an idea on hope.
If you are looking for inspiration on how to make the most of your business and catapult your success then you better start planning. Whether you’re making cupcakes at your kitchen table or managing a team of 20, you need a clear plan for the way forward. If you have not done it already, then it’s time to create your own pathway to business success.
but in my experience, passion alone is never enough to run and grow a successful business.
Being a staff member of a readymade business means you have a boss in place who has done all the hard work already. They have taken the time to look at the market, see what sells and what flops; implement the training; identified the strategy and direction of the company, all the while watching their bank balance soar and their employees stick to a set wage putting all their efforts into topping up the boss’s pension and yearly bonus.
The aim as a self-employed business owner is more than just being your own boss. You have to fill up your own pension fund and make enough profits to create your own ideal lifestyle. And you cannot do this without a clear, compelling strategy.
Stop! Take time out and find out if you are working to the right plan for your business. Have you undertaken any further research to see how the market is changing or what trends are emerging in your sector? Have you taken a course to recharge your skills? Have you sat down with your accountant to check the figures? All of these things matter if you are looking to make a success of your business.
It may sound like a lot of effort doing the things you least enjoy in your business, but in my experience, passion alone is never enough to run and grow a successful business. It’s important that you leverage your talent and skill with the strategic information and expertise of those who have done it, read the book and worn the t-shirt to help you avoid the costly pitfalls of business.
Stop procrastinating if you’re heart’s desire is to take that leap of faith and run your own business. Show courage and take your business dream off the shelf.
Without a ‘Big Boss’ setting goals, you need to learn how to inspire and motivate yourself; not just within your passion, be it for knitting, music, baking or singing but with sound business knowledge and skills. Let me assure you one without the other is rarely going to make you your long term fortune.
So whether you have dipped a toe in the self-employment waters and swiftly retreated back to a steady but unfulfilling salaried position don’t give up. Revisit your business and learn from the setbacks and start again. Many of today’s greatest business owners suffered costly mistakes but they evaluated what went wrong, put in new processes and bounced back with greater resilience.
Too many of us are living within a self-imposed glass ceiling whereby they cannot see a way to get more out of life than a just over broke (JOB) income. Stop procrastinating if you’re heart’s desire is to take that leap of faith and run your own business. Show courage and take your business dream off the shelf. All you need to know is where you want to go, what is next and how you are going to get there!
Of course the world around you is unpredictable, so why would it be any different in business? Just create your own safety net. When I first started out I kept telling myself if the business didn’t work out, there was no shame going back to work if I needed to supplement my income. It took me ten years to realise I was not going back to a 9-5 job anytime soon.
Remember, with any journey, there is no harm in asking for directions.
It’s time to create a clear vision of your business success; develop a robust action plan and then just do it! You will meet challenges along the way, but it’s a great way to fine tune your strategy and try again and again and again.
No matter how developed your business is, if you have stalled and you are needing a way forward then it is like being a child again, looking to those who have gone before you to find the answers.
Find yourself a mentor, join a mastermind group and start networking with people in business. Don’t copy a “tried and tested” formula because something which works for one business may devastate another! As you work on your business you will develop the confidence to know what works best for YOUR business.
So in closing, always know where your business is heading, why it is heading in that direction and how you are going to get there. Remember, with any journey, there is no harm in asking for directions.
Using the information and techniques in chapter one of “7 Deadly Mistakes To Make In Business” you can soon be on your way to running the business you always dreamed of instead of the one you simply ended up with. Download the full version at www.soniabrown.co.uk