Don’t just do it, do it right!
From a tender age, most people, especially girls, used to keep a good diary and were actually faithful in posting stuff. Back then, you would make all the fuss in the world about how annoying your mom is and how pissed off you were at your best friend or even boyfriend. With maturity, you would come to note down your everyday experiences ranging from new adventures and random experiences during teenage. Then, slowly, you got busier and busier and had lesser time for your diary. This is where ‘divorce’ actually happens leaving the dear old book at the mercy of dust in some old shelf. Well, all these are under the assumption you owned a diary.
Can you remember the reasons that made you so faithful to your writing? Can you remember how liberating it was to just free up your mind and pour your heart on paper? The taste of freedom from the comfort of your bed! If you never had that experience, it’s not too late.
It stands to reason that some of you may generally be adamant to this option especially with the digital takeover the 21st-Century is witnessing. “Archaic,” as some of you may call it, forgetting the age-old saying, ‘Old is gold.’ Others may fail to see the connection between keeping a journal and running a solo business. You might also be completely blank as to what exactly to include in your journal!
We got you covered dear reader. Assuming your life is a business, then, a journal comes into play as the business plan by which your life operates! An Intuit Research indicated small businesses experiencing an annual growth rate of 3.3% from 2016 to 2026. This in actual numbers is a rise from 30 milion businesses to over 42 million in the next decade. Will this wave leave you behind? Let’s kick it off on a high note with things you could include in your journal, which would go a long way in establishing yourself as a solopreneur.
Questions a Journal Could Answer
- What step have you made today towards improving your business? (could be large or small)
- What’s been accomplished in the past week or month?
- Have you made any excuses of late and have they hindered you from new opportunities?
- What strengths have you gained so far and what weaknesses are limiting you?
- How are you planning to address them?
- What values do you associate yourself with? Are they hindering you from growth and development?
- Are people proud of your strengths and abilities? Envious even? Do they think you should change a thing or two?
- What are your short and long-term plans? Remember this could change even with time. How have they evolved with time?
- What unique thing are you bringing to the table for the world to notice?
- How are you coping with your challenges and what kind of help do you require? From whom exactly and how do you intend to approach them?
- Who is holding you steadily along the way? How are you planning to reward them if you haven’t?
- Who do you need to let go of and why?
- What exactly do you need to give gratitude for?
- How are you giving back to the community?
The list is endless. Remember that this is a personal journal, and as such, you could include anything you want to. The above list can be a good starting point nevertheless.
Why All the Trouble?
But why go through all this fuss? I mean, it’s not as if someone is paying you to write and furthermore, on a daily basis!
- You probably own a blog, even if for your business, or have owned a blog once in your life. If not so, chances are, you’ve read someone else’s blog. Difference between a journal and a blog; you might not really want to get every Tom, Dick and Mary into your very personal space – what you do when no eyes are on you. A journal, on the other hand, is an unbiased, stack reality of your journey, in this case, your business journey. It gives you a reliable platform to track your own growth. Tell me you don’t need that surely!
- A journal is a canvas for brainstorming. Remember noting down every little idea that comes to head? You, therefore, can go through each page and asses the ones covered and the ones pending. You also need to keep up with the changing times as a solopreneur, and a record of this will go a long way in improving you and your business.
- Adapting a daily journaling experience gives one peace of mind. Remember you will experience daily challenges in the form of rueful and angry customers, uncooperative employees, fluctuating market cycles, changing demands and prowling for clients and investors alike, just to mention but a few. These will weigh any normal person down. Pouring your thoughts in a journal gives you some relative peace. Moreover, you get to record your reflections on all your thoughts and perhaps state guidelines on how to go about them. This will be a motivating factor in future in case faced with similar ordeals.
- Enhance your productivity on a daily basis. Remember what we said before? This is your ‘business plan’. It should give you a clear course of action and a way to go about amending your mistakes. Whatever you set your mind to, it ensures you don’t reach a place in your life and forget where you came from. Basically, a journal is a sure way to assure you of your developments. You’re not in the same position you were in the previous day. Now, who in their right minds wouldn’t opt to have an enhanced culture of productivity?
- A journal tells your story. Since time memorial, people have craved for a piece of an amazing story. You obviously see yourself and your business somewhere in the next 10 to 20 years. You are the only owner of your business and hence, you are best placed to tell this story. Having a personal record makes it so much easier to do this. The struggles your business has gone through, the achievements, the disappointments you’ve met, the milestones! A business with a great story behind it not only attracts innovative employees and abled investors, but it also brings in loyal customers who develop an attachment to you.
- Remember this is the root home where your vision and mission is. Even before transferring these thoughts into an actual business plan, they should have gone through your journal first. With time, you have the ability to visualize further recognizing even greater possibilities for your business.
- Not only does a proper journal help you develop your writing, but you also become more self-aware. You perceive better what works for you and your firm and what doesn’t. You get a deeper understanding of both your positive and negative energies, making you better equipped in handling them.
Conclusion
It’s good to recognize how much times have changed. With everything going online now, we risk losing books and paper in the next century. But what is already in existence on paper will be there even in two centuries, unless they get destroyed accidentally. You want to leave behind a great legacy after you’re gone, and probably your business will still be present – with your child(s) in the management team. Leave them something solid to always have your name in their mouths. Grab yourself a journal today and start writing. You can even get a classy journal custom made just for you.
What’s keeping you from making this step right now?
