In March, I celebrated 34 years in business. What started as a word processing business at home, developed into a thriving virtual assistant business and then morphed into more of a PR and marketing business. I love being an entrepreneur and part of the thriving home-based business industry. During that time I also wrote and co-wrote 6 books on how to start a business and those are still my pride and joy. But owning a business sure is different than it was all those years ago – for the better. When I started it wasn’t as popular as it is now. In fact, according to a recent article on Forbes, “Freelancers already comprise 35% of the U.S. workforce — or 55 million workers in the U.S. — and they are expected to reach 43 percent of the workforce by 2020.” That’s great news!
Over the years, I learned quite a few things. Here are just a few tips from my time in business.
5 Top Tips for Entrepreneurs to Know to Excel in Their Business
1. It ain’t all pretty! Yes, I’ve had weeks where I was literally on cloud nine. Things were clicking, clients were happy, I was amazing, etc., and then I’ve had weeks where if anything could go wrong it would. Guess what, that happens to most businesses. The key is to enjoy the good days and when the bad arises, fix it quickly and move on. No dwelling on it. I learned quickly that if I paid too much attention to the negatives, more negatives just kept coming. However, if I stopped and reflected on how I could do better or even how to let go of something that happened, I soon was on top of my game again. And I love being on the top of my game! An article in Home Business Magazine confirms that as well when it says, “Live in the present – worrying about what mistakes you may have made in the past or beating yourself up for goals you haven’t achieved is holding you back now. What will help is if you focus on living in the present moment and doing what’s in your power currently to meet your objectives.”
2. It can get lonely. The older I get, the more I crave real interactions. And not necessarily in person connections, but even on the phone or via Skype. Just so it’s a real person and we are chatting. As a virtual assistant, I totally understand and love the virtual aspect of working with clients and others virtually, but I still crave the personal connection. I recently did some project management work and had the pleasure of talking regularly (on the phone and Skype) to others. It rocked. So know that this is part of a business, however, you have control to change and create more opportunities to reach out and talk. Networking helps. A recent article on AllBusiness confirms the power of networking. It states, “Love it or hate it, networking in business is essential. Whether you are an independent contractor; a home-based business owner; or have a fully-fledged presence on Main Street – networking can get you out of the day-to-day silo of business ownership and help you overcome your sense of isolation.”
3. It gets boring. Yept, I said it. There are times that doing the same ole, same ole’ just doesn’t float your boat anymore. That excitement you had just isn’t there. When that happens, be proactive. Change it up. Now I’m not saying that you should be changing services all the time cuz you had a bad day or two. Nope! What I am saying is if it doesn’t feel right anymore and you really aren’t enjoying your business, look elsewhere for things to do. Add new services or perhaps new clients in a different industry. You want that excitement in your business and sometimes even minor changes work. And often it’s just acknowledging that you want a change to see it. Take action steps and see how powerful you feel even doing that.
4. It gets real. Boy does it ever. And if you haven’t planned accordingly, it can be detrimental to your business. Say a client is late in paying or you lose a client or two which you counted on for bills. (The mortgage company isn’t going to care what your client promised. They want paid.) Or the big event you’ve been working on doesn’t pan out like you planned and all those months of planning and hard work goes down the drain. It might even be something like you end up real sick and your business is booming, but now you are unable to keep up. So no matter what the circumstance, the first rule of thumb is not to panic. Take the situation and come up with solutions that you can implement immediately. This might require paying for ads or working late into the night to market more. It might mean reaching out and finding help. Just take the next right steps. There’s no time to sit and brew over those lost opportunities. Act fast and see how quickly you can turn things around. And when you do, write down what you did. Why? Because it can happen again and if you have it written somewhere you can just implement the plan again. Also, focus on goal-based investing. According to a recent article in Home Business Magazine it states, ”Every entrepreneur must prioritize their finances, which is why they should focus on goal-based investments when running a start-up company. It will require you to make decisions based on achieving your goals.”
5. It can get ugly. This is very similar to it can be real, but a bit deeper. Now hopefully this one never happens to you, but you should be aware it can. There might be times that your clients aren’t a good fit and you need to move on. Or perhaps your awesome team member starts missing things and their work isn’t great anymore and you are faced with that difficult talk of saying“Hey, what’s up and what can we do about it?” And finally, what about if you haven’t back-up successfully and lose your website or face computer issues and lose yours and your client’s work. (I’m sweating and knocking on wood as I write this!) What can you do? Be the boss you need to be and take the right course of action for your business. If you have to part ways with a client do so in a professional and loving way. Have that talk with a team member and truly listen to what’s happening with them. Then see if you can come up with a solution. For back-up and computer issues, here you need to be pro-active. Save more than you need to. Back-up in the cloud. And if something does happen, if professional help is needed, get it sooner than later.
Owning your own business can be one of your greatest joys in life. Hopefully these tips will help you ensure more good days than bad.
