A bit late (holiday shoppers are crazy people!), so let's get right into it.
Can you imagine operating your business in crisis mode - for 15
years?! From his book,
Work the System, Sam Carpenter did just that.
Sam suggests asking 2 primary questions about how
you currently operate your business:
1. If the business you now operate is to survive the down-times, and
even become tremendously profitable, must it become
hyper-efficient? and
2. If you are to have personal control and freedom, is it true
that your business must be able to operate without your
moment-to-moment input?
Around here we call it
being organized and not rapid response
fire fighters.
Do overs sucks rocks, eats into time better spent
doing other things and creates a stress level you can't imagine.
The great thing about being organized you can spot time wasters a
mile off. So, if you find yourself constantly putting out fires,
now may be as good a time as any to take a look at your systems.
2009 is right around the corner, so why not put a few systems in
place to make it worthwhile for progress in your business.
Here's a few questions to ask yourself that might help in
planning what will take you through any downturns or upswings
outside your control......
- 1. If I stick with this, can I be among the best at it?
- 2. If I commit for the long haul, will the time and effort it
involves be worth it?
- 3. Should I decide to quit, are there better things I could focus
on that are more profitable?
- 4. If I decide to quit this (whatever it is) right now, will I
regret it for the rest of my life?
- 5. Finally, other than the time and money I've already put into
this - What is preventing me from quitting?
Answering these questions for yourself,
without others opinion on
what is right for you must be a decision you can live with in the
morning.
Bottom line, your decision will come down to only three options:
Stick, Quit, or Reinvent.
Reading
Pam's blog this morning on striking a balance between
being a
mensch and paying the bills, it became clear that something
isn't working in my business systems.
I had to ask myself a hard question: Would I continue to do
something 15 years (except for raising kids) when it was
obviously not working?
Thinking about this since my last post, I've noticed that the
'tag description line' for this blog has changed 4 times since
it's beginning in 2005.
That's a long time to not know where
the hell you're going!
My intent was to share little known resources and information
available online to help solo entrepreneurs keep their sanity
while operating a business.
With so much free information online, what I didn't consider
during the planning was how to make money from my efforts?
Passion got me started and kept me going, but it's
making money
that makes it a business!
Ultimately, I blinked. What that means is when it came time to
target who this information was for and really make this a money
making proposition, I froze.
It should have been the #1 thing on my list before I started this
blog and at least 2 of my other ventures.
What does this have to do with you and your business? Maybe
nothing but I'm still seeing many
solo entrepreneurs running on
passion and working two jobs to pay living expenses.
So I'm asking for your honest feedback. What do you think the
primary focus of
The Solo Gazette should be going forward?
A. Just a list of resources for operating a home-based business?
B. Motivation on operating a solo business?
C. Success stories of real solo entrepreneurs?
D. Something different? Be specific please.
As a
Working Solo Entrepreneur, tell me your thoughts and what
you think would make this blog more useful for you in the coming
year. I really want your feedback.
That's it for today and I leave you with this -
A year from now you may wish you had started today~ Karen Lamb
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