Business Toolbox for Solo Entrepreneurs

Last night I facilitated a meeting with about 100 women business owners for NAWBO-Orange County in which we talked about the decision, to grow or not to grow. There was clearly a tension between the desire to grow and the fear - and assumption - that doing so might very well have a negative impact on one’s personal life. I’m happy to say, not for all, but many.

There seemed to be a difference in one’s outlook depending on the stage in life of the person. Women growing their businesses with children at home were more likely to be concerned about becoming overwhelmed. Women whose children are now out of the house were looking to the next phase of their lives, thinking about continued growth in their business as an opportunity to give more back to the community, or work on new projects.

I was glad to hear talk about the things I know will allow you to continue to grow in your business without having a detrimental impact on the rest of your life. Like popcorn, women mentioned;

Set goals
Plan
Raise rates
Consider alternative business models - there’s more than one way to grow
Delegate
Make sure you’re doing the work you do best

I’d add, believe it’s possible!

Last week I was introduced to an ebook (edited by Rebecca Fine) based on a book written in 1912 by Wallace Wattles called The Science of Getting Rich. It’s Think and Grow Rich condensed, yet enhanced. You don’t have to dig through it for “the secret,” he lays it out for you. The writing is precise, requiring you to think.

The reasons given to explain why it’s ok to want to get rich (in body, mind and spirit) make a lot of sense to me, and have returned me to a self I knew long ago. I did not realize how much I’d lost touch with my internal optimist, and my personal orientation to what’s possible for all people until I read the dandy 70-page ebook.

Here’s an excerpt from the chapter, How Riches Come to You: “All that there is of possibility is seeking expression through people.”

Wattles’ commentaries on ‘the news,’ on a healthier disposition towards the real function of government, on providing more value than you receive in payment, and the need to stay focused on what you want no matter what appears to be going on around you are liberating.

I could say more, instead, I offer you this link to get a copy for yourself.

I’ll be interested in your comments to this post after you read it.

You might rightfully wonder how the two are connected. An article by David Roberts in the May 2008 issue of Fast Company magazine made some interesting points about all this. He opens to say that “American employees put in more hours and take fewer vacations than just about anyone else in the industrialized world, and our individual ecological “footprints” are much larger.”

Reading his article on the heels of my April Dare to Teleseminar, Dare to Take Vacations, brought a big smile to my face. Yes! Yes! This is what I’m talking about.

It’s about much more than vacations. It’s about our habits of working for hours on end. It wastes our humanity and it wastes our environment. Think about it. If you have a job your daily trek to work consumes oil, gas, electricity and produces who knows what kinds of waste as well. If you’re like me and the many people I work with, and you work from home, it’s a little better, but not if you work, work, work. You’re likely to have your computer on for 18 hours a day, and use a few lights here and there. It’s a lot less energy than is used to house a bunch of individuals in a building for hours on end, though.

I leave you with this to consider. According to Roberts, 52 years ago, in 1956, then Vice President Richard Nixon said that the four-day workweek was “not too far distant.” Research for Dare to Take Vacations revealed that Americans are working 30 days more a year than they did in 1976. What happened, my friends?

Focusing is one of the biggest challenges for today’s entrepreneurs, especially those of us with very few people on our team, and responsibility for the majority of our business functions.

Reading and writing is one of the things that help me focus. I’ve committed to starting my business day, 4 days a week, by either reading, writing or both. While doing so last Friday, I came upon an article in “Fortune Small Business” published by American Express, “Yoga Helps me Focus.” Michael Green travels a lot for business. He discovered something called Bikram Yoga and has since committed 10 hours a week to its practice, no matter what city he’s in.

I share this with you because Michael discovered that, by committing to engaging in this personal activity each and every week, the details of running his business are less overwhelming. Not only that, whereas he used to do everything in business himself, he’s since hired 3 people to back him up and he’s delegating more. He’s also raised his rates by 25% and revenue was up 30% over the previous year. Those are results worth noting!

I think that increasing your ability to focus starts with your belief in your right to do so. If you don’t believe that you can take 10 hours a week for an exercise program, you won’t. If you don’t believe you cant set aside 5 hours a week to read and/or write, you won’t. You’ll say you’re too busy and that you’ll do these things when you can…but you won’t. It takes a bit of faith to regularly scheduled an activity that’s not “work.” But, what if it’s a key to focusing?

Until you decide that these are things that make you better at what you do, days and weeks will go by because you WON’T have the time. When it comes to focusing, you have to make the time. Isn’t this why you went into business for yourself anyway, to have the freedom to create a lifestyle that allows you do do things you want when you want?

What better way to learn how to focus than to regularly schedule an activity that requires you step away from your computer and your phone? First of all, it’s going to require you become more efficient during the other hours. Secondly, whatever it is you choose to do, especially if it’s something that nourishes you, it’s probably going to help you make better decisions.

Every month I lead a free monthly Dare to Teleseminar. The topic for March was Dare to Focus. Even though the date has passed you can still get the recording. Just follow the link to Dare to Focus and sign up to get access to the recording.

Make it a great one!

I can’t believe I’ve become something of a technology geek, but I have. I am certainly a fan. It makes it possible to work from home, and gives me the ability to set up my work environment so that it really works for me. I can work from my desk, from my sofa, at my kitchen table, and in my backyard.

I do 98% of my work on the telephone with the support of email communications. I spend a lot of time on my computer; sometimes more than I want to. A few weeks ago I was suddenly overwhelmed. I review marketing plans for people in my Get Clients Now! tele-class programs. With 2 programs running, I had a lot of plans to review on top of my usual email interactions. By 3 or 4 pm each day, I just couldn’t type any more.

So, last week I bought Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9.0, a software program that allows you to speak into a headset with your email program open. It does the transcription and is supposed to be able to transcribe your words up to 99% accuracy. After a couple of weeks of research I decided to purchase it as another Get Clients Now! program was about to start.

It’s been a week now, and it’s working! I sometimes stutter (I found out) when I’m composing my thoughts, so I have to take time to correct it’s attempts to come up with real words when this happens. (Once, I even yelled “shut up!” at my dog, forgetting my headset was on.)

Training it was cool, too. In addition to “listening” while I was reading paragraphs of copy in the set up program to pick up the nuances of my speech, it scanned all my documents to “learn” my style of writing. How cool is that?

I’m finding it more relaxing than typing, too. I found I could review a report a client sent me and dictate my feedback without twisting around, back and forth, in my chair.

Costs? From www.amazon.com, $139 (I got the Preferred edition so I could use it with Office programs and on the Internet.) Additional memory for my computer: $60 and a more comfortable headset: $50. Impact on my welfare and ability to do my work: priceless.