Are You Self-Employed or a Business-Owner?
Posted: January 21, 2014 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment
Are you self-employed or do you consider yourself a business owner? The difference between these two titles is often difficult to navigate, as it can be much more than the amount of people you employ. While neither title is more accomplished than the other, you may want to ask yourself “what do I really want to be doing in my role in the coming years?” Do you want to continue to grow your tactical skills set, or manage those who carry out the work of your business?
As I have discussed in many of my previous blogs, owning your own business regardless takes discipline, hard work, but most importantly, direction. Clarifying what type of business will help you in creating your vision and setting the stage for growth plans moving forward.
I’ve outlined below two sets of questions, aimed at helping you bring clarity to your business. Try to keep track of how many you answer “yes” or “no” to so you can tally your sores at the end of the exercise.
1.
Did you require an investment to begin your business?
Could your business run for a month without you?
Do you require formal marketing and promotion to gain new clients?
Is your role focused around expanding your business?
Is having an office space required for running your business?
2.
Is your location flexible? Mobile?
Do you make decisions around demands of your industry?
Are you carrying out the work of your business yourself?
Do you trade hours for dollars?
Does business run according to the output of your skills?
Do you harvest multiple business opportunities and tasks?
If you answered, “yes” to more questions in Set #1, you consider yourself to be more of a business owner, where you are taking steps to grow your business and have it run independently of your direct effort. If you answered, “yes” to more questions in Set #2, you may consider yourself to be self-employed and prefer to hone your craft and increase your skills set to reach your audience.
Whether you are a business owner or self-employed, what kind of role do you want to play in your business in years to come? Would you like to eventually be more hands-off? Or continue to be the driving force behind your business’s success? I look forward to your thoughts below!
Enjoying the Process of Improvement in 2014
Posted: January 7, 2014 Filed under: business, Business Plan, Goal-Setting, Leadership, SMB | Tags: 2014, commitment, goal-setting, good habits, New Years Resolutions, results, Success 1 Comment
With 2014 officially underway, we are filled with a sense of renewed ambition and commitment to make this year the best yet for our businesses and ourselves. With the long-standing tradition of making New Years Resolutions, we might feel compelled to draft up a long list of lofty goals for the year. If you’ve done any kind of goal setting in past years, however, you might have been disheartened after a few weeks when you felt the commitment to your goals waning.
How do you continue to achieve without setting yourself up for disappointment? With 30 years worth of experience supporting business-owners, I have found that strict goal-setting puts undue emphasis on the end result. Instead of binding yourself to a goal that is months down the road, here are a few suggestions for you to see progress by enjoying the process of improvement.
- Develop productive habits: It takes approximately 2 weeks to implement a habit, so it will take that long for a change to become routine. Small habits make up your every day so start small, like completing your admin work first thing in the morning to get it out of the way. Commit to making your habits good ones.
- Choose a theme for the month, or year: Instead of setting narrow goals, try choosing a theme that encompasses what you want to achieve. Looking to increase productivity in the office? Try introducing the theme of “Do it Now” with your employees and then encouraging your team to share the moments where they decided to tackle something in the moment instead of putting it off. In everything your business does, aim to do it within the framework of the chosen theme.
- To be consistent, you must BEGIN: If the end result is the focus of goal setting, we may think we have all the time in the world to complete the goal and therefore, may put off actually beginning the process of change. Instead, focus on beginning your habits now – don’t wait! – and watch how those small steps add up to big change.
You’ll soon see how small change can yield big results and with every day as a new opportunity to begin something, cement a habit or work within your theme, you will find yourself more motivated because success is within reach.
Wishing you the best of luck in your endeavours in 2014! Looking forward to your comments about goal setting and what kind of progress you want to see this year.
Philip Spensieri 