Once you've started a small business of your own, you find yourself being challenged more, not just by the ins and outs of your business, but also by your personal agendas. One advantage of having your own business is that you make your own decisions. However, you are responsible for all the consequences of your own decisions and you have nobody else to blame. If you are a newbie in the small business industry, you may still be adjusting and one small mistake may discourage you to advance.
Another advantage is that you manage your own time. You can easily cancel an appointment to attend to your children's school events, or to go to a personal romantic date. This time management may cause procrastination and slow down your progress. You don't have a boss that will reprimand you when you get caught surfing the net or chatting with other people about non-business topics, or when you've left things undone.
With all this control in your hands, you may find yourself having difficulty in developing and advancing your business fast. Here are some tips that can bring you a new perspective in time management and help you succeed in growing your small business.
Do not wait for things to get better. When times go bad in your small business, don't slow down or stay "status quo" and hope for things to get better, because they won't on their own. You make things happen, and only you can make things better.
Set SMART goals. It's not enough to picture yourself at the top, saying "I want to be 1 Million dollars richer by 2013." You need to make plans along with your goals, and these plans have to be SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound).
Stay away from toxic relationships. When relationships go bad, both business and personal, you bring it to your business. Bad relationships cause good people to make bad decisions. The people we hang out with have an impact on how we think and behave. If we associate ourselves with good people, we got carried along with them by their reputation, and they influence our thoughts positively. The same goes when we hang out with negative people.
Embrace time management. Do not waste a lot of your time doing minor things. Start managing your time effectively. If necessary, delegate tasks. Make the best use of your valuable time, all the time. When you need to do something, do it "right now".
Manage your attention. How you spend your time is determined by where you direct your attention. Where we direct our attention and how intensely we keep it focused to produce the desired results, show how effective we are. Once you have mastered focusing your attention to more important matters, you will find yourself spending your time effectively.
Spend less time watching TV. Spending your idle time on idle activities will not help you to be successful. If you spend 1 hour of your evening reading management books or studying sales and marketing, you are already ten steps closer to success.
Focus your idle time in an area you don't know much about. If it's learning sales, marketing or advertising strategies, take some classes to improve those business skills.
Fix or replace. If something is not working well, fix it. However, give yourself a time limit in fixing things, and if it can't be fixed, replace it. There are things that you will know right away if it doesn't need fixing but instead needs replacing. You have to be conscious of how much time and effort you put in fixing things, and how much you will save if you simply replace it. I remember one businessman who is very sentimental about his first hard-earned car that he didn't want to replace it. He did buy a new one, eventually, but he kept using his first one as a back-up car. When the car was several years old, he kept fixing it, replacing parts, having it repainted, etc. But what he did not realize is that the time, effort and money he wasted fixing it, when he could have just bought a new one.
Talk to people. New connections open new opportunities. Unless you are well-known, people won't be knocking on your door to form partnerships. You have to go out to connect with others as often and in as many ways as possible.
Spend less time on social networking. You might find yourself spending countless hours tweeting and checking on your friends' Facebook updates. Unless it is for business, social networking makes you unproductive. When used correctly, however, social networks like Twitter and Facebook for business can help you achieve amazing results. Do not put a lot of time in something that gives you just a little business back.
Look at your business with fresh eyes. It is easy to lose our focus on what we do over time. We have to refocus and review our initial goals and plans. Look at it with fresh perspective, taking into consideration the things you learned along the way. Adapt and make changes whenever possible. Hire a coach, work with a partner or buddy to gain a fresh perspective.
Ask questions. Accepting that there are things that you do not know is the start of growth and learning. There is no shame in not knowing. Asking questions make you smarter, and learning will make your business stronger. Anyone who is serious in their business or career is committed to a life-long learning.
There you have it
Twelve perspectives that will help you grow as a small business owner and have the added benefit of growing your business in a powerful way.
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Chris Makell, creator the "6-Figure Small Business Incubator guides entrepreneurs to be in the truth of their business so that they experience "real" freedom, with ease. Get your complimentary list of time saving tools at http://www.chrismakell.com/resources-2/top-10-resources/
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