Posted by Cash Miller on June 8, 2010 under Business Opportunities, Entrepreneurship | 
I wouldn’t trade an office for the chance to ever work at home, Ever! Over the past decade there has been a proliferation of opportunities to work at home. Big companies allow it, small businesses allow it. And there is an abundance of home based businesses that entrepreneurs can choose from if you want to be your own boss. And on the surface working at home seems like a great idea. Well you can have it. I’ll deal with the commute and long hours working at an office. My office is my home away from home. And if you’re wondering why then I have a simple two word answer for you. It’s quiet!
Home more often then not means family. And family means interruptions. Loss of concentration. Lost hours that should be spent working. You have dogs barking, kids crying and spouses yelling. If you have a family then your house is a hectic place most likely. People always seem to need your help. Frankly there are just to many distractions going on for a person to get any work done.
Distractions wear on you mentally. You realize how much productivity you are losing each day and every hour. The work you need to get done piles up every day. And eventually you get frustrated and then you get angry. It can hurt relationships. You’re always in a bad mood and you blame your family for the work you’re not getting done.
Your office should be a place of tranquility. For an entrepreneur an office is an extension of your own persoanl space. You can create a working environment that you are happy with and makes you feel at home. Surround yourself with the little things in your life that give you some enjoyment. Personalize your space. And remember even if you have employees and must share your space it’s ok. Because you can always tell your employees to leave you alone. That’s harder to do with your spouse and kids.
If you love your work then you should enjoy your working space. Working at home comes with problems, unless of course your single. And if you work in an office each day then you also can leave your work there at the end of the day. Which means that when you do go home you should be able to enjoy spending time with your family.
Your family has a space all its own and so does your work. Working is for the office. It may seem a bit retro nowadays but I’m not trading my office in for the chance to work at home, Ever!
Originally posted 2010-04-19 01:40:18. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
Posted by SteveSmith on under Business Planning, Management, Marketing |
If you are dedicated to your business, you are probably surrounded by minutia on a daily basis. It’s the little things that are easy to do, fun to do or provide a hideout from the more important things that must be done. However you define it, minutia is the bane of every small business owner that struggles to grow revenues in a marketplace that has kicked the traditional forms of marketing to the curb.
Why is minutia such a detestable yet comforting area to occupy ones time? It has to do with the feeling of overwhelm that is created when the subconscious has too many things to juggle. Your brain is the largest, most powerful computer on the planet and its memory access is unlimited. So when the list of tasks gets out of control, the mind takes over and begins retrieving everything associated with your list in an attempt to get you to focus on the things you need to do. The only problem is the mind has no way to prioritize the list, so everything gets equal weight which means everything needs to be done NOW! Feeling overwhelmed yet?
When business owners start feeling this way, the first reaction is to protect the sanity and focus on easy tasks that bring immediate reward- the minutia. Unfortunately, focusing on the simple, probably unimportant areas f your business simply reinforces the fact that these are important to your subconscious, thereby perpetuating this cycle, over and over again. Instead of making progress by the end of the week, the list is even longer and there’s even more important stuff to be done.
Recognize that the only way to resist the comfort of spending time on small, unimportant tasks is to actively focus on the big stuff. And, do not assume that you must handle it all yourself. If you are going to stay ahead of the daily operations of your business, you must learn to assign the list; either to others or to a specific time slot when you will do it.
One way to gain control over this debilitating behavior is to write down everything that needs attention. Go ahead, make the list as long as you like. Just record the actual task; nothing else. Then, go back and tag every item that can or should be done by someone else. Don’t worry if you don’t have ‘that certain someone’ to do it, tag it as such.
Next, identify all items that have to do with producing revenue. These activities need to get the highest priority. Everything else falls in the minutia category and should be sidelined until your top revenue producing tasks are completed. If some of the minutia are things only you can do, set aside brief periods throughout the day (no more than 30 minutes) and knock off a few at a time. Then get back to the heavy lifting!
Practice this technique regularly and you will train your brain to focus on the important things and resist the need to run and hide when your business starts to overwhelm you.
If you would like to watch a free video on how to ‘Change Your Brain to Change Your Outcome’, click this link and select webcast #1. http://www.businesscoachingthatworks.com/OrangeCountyCaliforniaBusinessCoachingResources.html
Originally posted 2010-04-05 16:35:26. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
Posted by Cash Miller on under Uncategorized |
Welcome to the SmallBusinessDelivered.com Author’s Blog. If you’ve taken the time already to visit www.SmallBusinessDelivered.com then you already know that we have some great author’s sharing their insights and experiences with our readers. What’s even better is that all of our author’s are business coaches working in various fields helping small business owners every day. And now through our blog many of them will be sharing their day to day experiences with our readers even more regularly. I do hope all of our readers and our authors find real value in this blog as I want it to become a real resource for small business owners and entrepreneurs to use in the search for entrepreneurial success.
To start our blog off I’d also like to welcome the first of our contributing authors. Art Consoli, Caroline Jordan, Julissa Fernandez, Steve Smith and Peter Mitchell.
Regards,
Cash Miller
Editor
www.SmallBusinessDelivered.com
Originally posted 2010-04-04 20:51:39. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
Posted by SteveSmith on under Business Coaching, Uncategorized |
Do you have goals? Have you been able to achieve them? If your answer to the first question is ‘No’, then you need not read any further.
Goals are like great ideas… they are worthless unless you are serious about achieving them. Your goals are what you truly want from your business, your relationships or any of life’s pursuits that you have committed substantial time and resources towards. So why do so many people fall short of achieving what they say they really want?
First, let’s understand what goals really are. Goals are measurable end results that are time specific. They require plans, objectives and action steps to complete. They should be relevant to something that is important to you. They should be results you really want. When a goal is achieved, you should know it without question. Now, back to the second question; “Have you been able to achieve yours?”
When business owners fall short of their goals, it’s often attributed to depleted resources or harsh economic factors. And while these conditions may challenge the ability for some business owners to reach what they have set their sites on, these are only effects. The usual cause is a loss of commitment to do what is necessary to achieve the results they initially planned for.
As a small business coach, I work with many business owners who are well intentioned and truly desire the outcomes they profess. Unfortunately, their ability to consistently pursue the ’often times’ long road to success leaves many of them without hope of ever seeing their goals realized. Frequently, this could mean missing a certain revenue milestone, not being able to expand by hiring the right employees or not having the equity to sell the business and retire. All are significant goals that typically require a commitment to planning and action in order to realize.
So what can you do if your most important goal seems too lofty or out of reach? First, go back and revisit the reasons for setting this goal. Was it something significant enough to change your life (major weigh loss, financial freedom, successfully launching and establishing a business you’ve always dreamed about). If your goal does not alter your life or your living standards enough to envision what things will be like once you are there, commitment to do what is necessary over time will be tough to maintain.
Next, review your plan for how you intended to get there. Were your expectations in line with the complexity of the goal? Did you get others who have already accomplished what you want to review your plan for soundness and outcome predictability? Many times, your best intentions or greatest desires may overlook all the steps necessary to reach what you have committed yourself to. This is one of the main reasons people never achieve their weigh loss goals. They simply don’t realize what methods work best or the time needed to effectively and permanently shed the pounds. In the business world, the usual area that is underestimated is the approach required and time needed to develop a consistent, predictable client list.
Finally, if your initial ideas and desires are sound and you correctly assessed what was needed to meet your goal, you may be lacking the support to keep going long enough to stay the course and achieve the results you want. As time passes and you continue to struggle with each area of your plan, commitment can start to wane. Left unrecognized, hope begins to evaporate and before you know it, you have lost the real passion you had to reach what you always wanted. You simply give up and move yourself to the sidelines while others you know move forward to their own finish lines.
Many people don’t understand coaching and see it as an admission of failure. Contrary to this notion, people who get coaching are considered more committed to their outcomes than most. The idea of achieving something you may never has accomplished in your life or business required doing things you have never done. Those business owners who realize this fact and pursue help to learn and execute the necessary steps recognize that an investment in them, trumps all other investments they could make in programs or infrastructure. They realize that until they are able to master the process of continually accomplishing each step of their pursuits, little else will have as significant or lasting an effect.
Coaching is simply a method of assuring that your focus, your efforts and the decisions you make along the way are in sync with the outcome you want. Once you realize that having a business coach can guide you along a path headed toward a predictable outcome, you only need to determine that the outcome is worth the investment and that you are coachable!
If you are tired of having to continually re-do your plans, rethink your strategy or put your goals on hold because your resources continue to decrease because of trial and error methods, make the commitment to get help. If finances are the issue, do the math on the investment versus the desired outcome. A 10 to 1 return is not uncommon. I have seen much greater results in terms of performance, confidence and peace of mind from business owners who were motivated to do what was necessary to achieve what they always wanted.
Whether you consider coaching for your small business or continue to go it alone, don’t wait to have this conversation with yourself. Continuing to do the same things over and over will only insure you get the results you have now. If you have been at it for a while without any signs of progress, waiting longer will only jeopardize the benefits of coaching. Having a coach will speed up your momentum if you have enough to work with. Waiting too long may mean your only decision is whether or not to file for BK.
Originally posted 2010-04-12 21:18:27. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
Posted by SteveSmith on under Business Coaching, Business Planning, Entrepreneurship, Marketing |
The state of our economy has caused more than just loss of financial wealth, home ownership or job security. It has created a tsunami of people starting their own businesses. With the job market casting out thousands of highly skilled workers, technicians and professionals every day, many are finding it incredibly difficult to replace these positions somewhere else.
It seemed like a good idea at the time!
While many people simply succumb to the lack of job offers and give up trying, an increasing number of committed people elect to try their hand at going into business for themselves. Some do this because the job market seems overwhelmingly depressed and starting or buying a business seems like a direction with equal odds of success. Others see the current market shifts as an opportunity to satisfy a long pent-up desire to be their own boss and make their own fortunes. Regardless of the reason, more people today are taking the plunge into business self-ownership than at any point in recent history.
Isn’t Entrepreneur just a generic term for having your own business?
There are many terms for people who go into business for themselves: sole proprietors, self-employed individuals, small business owners or entrepreneurs. While these all seem to capture the individual who decides to have their own business, they are not the same.
Take the term entrepreneur. It has a fancy ‘European’ sound to it but is it a substitute for the other terms? When you decided to take up your own torch and go into business for yourself, did you think of yourself as a ‘Entrepreneur’?
If the term ‘Entrepreneur’ is vague to you or you have shied away from associating yourself with it because you were unsure of what the term implies, here are some guidelines to think about. The term entrepreneur simply means: one who has an idea and takes the financial risk and accountability for the outcome of their pursuits. The real meaning can be better understood in the characteristics an entrepreneur should possess in order to achieve the results they desire.
So, are you an entrepreneur?
Do you see yourself in any of the characteristics listed below? This list is by no means all encompassing but it will give you the ability to check yourself to see if you possess the characteristics that make one in today’s marketplace.
Desire to succeed:
The true entrepreneur never gives up in their quest to reach the benchmark of success they have set for themselves. The real test is not in being successful but in being willing to do it again if the 1st, 2nd or 3rd attempts fail.
Determination & work ethic:
Their relentless desire to succeed is fueled by a ‘dogged’ work ethic. They think nothing of putting in 15+ hours a day pursuing every aspect of their idea. While this level of determination is all but a requirement in the early phase of getting your idea off the ground, it can also be a blind spot in terms of being able to set priorities and stay focused on specific activities that drive accomplishment.
Having an innovative mindset:
Few business ideas today are truly revolutionary. Most are an adaptation of an existing idea. The entrepreneur will frequently borrow an existing business model and make significant improvements to it in order to create a niche that they can grow. They are constantly looking for ways to realize their dreams by innovating what’s already in play, even when they’re not sure that the market is ready for it.
Willingness to go it alone:
Entrepreneurs see opportunities differently than most people and will pursue a course of action that maybe unclear to close friends or family members. Frequently, their community will question their motives, ambitions or even sanity in an attempt to keep them from being hurt by their unshakable quest to see the venture to completion. The true entrepreneur understands this level of ‘loving scrutiny’ and presses forward despite the lack of perceived support for what they see very clearly as their road to financial freedom.
Acting on creative ideas and solutions:
This is one of the key factors that separate entrepreneurs from all other well intentioned business people. Entrepreneurs have an ability to find creative solution to situations that appear daunting and take action on them; sooner rather than later. Their ability to see unique approaches to the opportunities they take on enables them to act on decisions that are critical to the project’s continued momentum. The downside of this ‘go-getter’ mentality can be a pattern of frequent and unneeded ‘trial & error’ because not enough consideration is taken to research and test an idea before jumping into it with all four feet.
Making decisions in the absence of complete information or solid data:
At the beginning of an idea, there may not be enough information available to comfortably decide on a particular course of action. The entrepreneur knows this and is confident in making decisions under these circumstances. They recognize that intuitive thinking or ‘gut feelings’ play a role in forging ahead into the unknown and see this as exhilarating as pursuing the idea itself. The entrepreneur knows that there is no better way to kill a promising idea in the early stages than to become paralyzed in the decision making process.
Jack of all trades:
The entrepreneur knows how to do many things. They also know how to improvise and find others who can fill in their knowledge or skill gap with whatever is needed to keep moving forward. And while this ability to juggle and assimilate to a variety of situations enables to entrepreneur to keep things in motion, the downside is often an inability to accurately assess a true area requiring expertise outside the entrepreneur’s capabilities. In some cases, critical decisions may be made hastily or incorrectly causing unintended setbacks.
In the end, it comes down to this:
While all these attributes are essential ingredients for today’s ‘dyed-in-the-wool’ entrepreneurs, the one main characteristic that separates them from all others who participate in business is their ability to take risks! When most people are confronted with risk (or even hear the word risk) they typically think in terms of what they might lose or how they might be hurt as a result. The entrepreneur understands that reaching previously untouched goals requires risk and they accept this as a condition of achieving success. In the face of a failed attempt (and there are many), entrepreneurs will use the experience as a benchmark for learning before setting their sights on the next phase of their efforts.
So, whether you fit the definition of entrepreneur, sole proprietor, self employed business person or small business owner, take the time to clarify your vision for your business and be ready to experience a world that is unlike any other profession around. The mixture of exhilaration, uncertainty and daily directional changes is not for everyone but if this is your call in life, pursue it as you would life itself!
Originally posted 2010-10-04 21:08:34. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
