Owning your own business is exciting. Getting to call the shots and put your energy into something you really care about can be deeply satisfying. But, as anyone who has found success in this arena will tell you…it’s not easy, and how we handle things in the beginning can make or break our endeavor.
Experience is certainly the ultimate teacher and it is inevitable mistakes will be made. But, this doesn’t mean you should go in blind, and learn everything along the way. It is important to educate yourself as best you can and lay out some sort of blueprint to follow.
Don’t Try to Force Growth with Lots of Spending
As they say, it takes money to make money, and there is certainly a ring of truth to that. But, this doesn’t mean the more money you throw at your business, the faster it is guaranteed to grow. While certain expenditures can certainly help, you largely want to focus on things unfolding more organically.
For example, you want to make sure you are marketing your business sufficiently, but don’t max out your line of credit by pursuing every advertising option available. Don’t buy things you really don’t need right now. Don’t hire a bunch of employees that aren’t necessary at this juncture.
Bootstrapping is Good, but So Is Paying People Who Know Better Than You Do
With all the talk about limiting spending in the previous section, this part may sound a bit contradictory but it certainly isn’t. While it is smart to limit your spending and do what you can on your own, there will be instances where paying someone else will be the smarter move over the long-term and will probably save you money in a variety of ways.
Be honest about your limitations. Use your time wisely by outsourcing things that can better be handled by someone else. For example, you may hire someone to do your bookkeeping or if you are using warehousing services, you might consider working with a company that provides supply chain management solutions to more effectively manage the storing and delivering of your stock.
Let your intuition guide you, and you’ll know when it is better to do it on your own or seek the services of other professionals.
Work on Yourself, Not Just Your Business
If you have ever read up on really successful people, there appears to be a common thread among them, with that thread being personal development. Success largely comes from a mindset, not the specific actions we are taking.
The mindset of these people is clearly very different from the average person when you start to dig a bit into their story. If you want to succeed, you should not just work on your business, but work on yourself.
Most of us are not well-programmed for success. We have lots of limiting beliefs about what is possible and our self-image tends to be a bit tarnished, clouding our view of ourselves and that of which we are capable.
Do an internal inventory to see where you may need to tweak things, and work on that ‘stuff.’ You’ll be glad you did.