Thursday, March 13, 2014

A Business Owner Wears Many Hats


A Business Owner Wears Many Hats in their own small business.

Welcome to LilacsNDreams! Today's topic will cover how many hats we wear as business owners in creating our careers for ourselves.

Stop and think about your day for just a moment. When you wake up you probably go over your days schedule. You might consider all that needs to be done, who you need to reply to, and what customers maybe need to be served. You are your own assistant.  

You might have a list you are looking at, hoping you can at least get one thing crossed over, and maybe be able to do this over a couple cups of coffee. Ok, maybe another cup is needed too. You would like to do this before anyone else in the home wakes up like the kids, your furry little children, etc. Now, it's time to make some donuts, or something for breakfast. You are the manufacturer.  

Now that has been done, and completed the rest of the world is now probably waking up as well, and they too are logging on. So, now it is time for you to start getting busy with spreading the word about your business, and making sure that customers will have something new for them to look at. Facebook, Pinterest, Google+, Blog, Wordpress, Twitter, Instagram here you come! You are the PR Agent.   

Ok, now that you have that out of the way it really is time to get down to business. Maybe prepare your orders for shipments, maybe dealing with some custom requests for the creative people, and also answer to some questions too. You are the customer service representative.

Wow! Phew! What a long morning it has been for you so far, right? By now it might be time for you to take a lunch break, get up and spread your legs a bit, and then consider maybe doing some planning for the next week, 2 weeks, or the month. Maybe now is a good time to consider your books, or maybe your budget too. New designs to plan, inventory to fulfill and maintain, supplies to consider, etc. Yes, you are also the office manager.

Then, all of a sudden you realize that the new inventory, or your new designs will not be marketing themselves. So, you should consider your advertising strategy, and some kind of plan to spread the word about those things. Let's see, who will be interested in what you are offering? Where might these people be hanging out at? You are the VP of marketing and sales.  

Look it here, the day has gone by, and maybe family is gathering at home for the evening. This would probably be a good time to consider quitting. First take a few minutes to look over that to-do list. You might then be asking yourself if you are doing a good job? Is this working? Am I wasting time, and resources? Is what I am doing going to succeed? Have I done enough, or do I need to maybe do more? Am I getting the results I want from the things I have been doing? You have to look at this thing you love, your business with a wider vision because You are the CEO.  

Start up isn't easy, and pointing out some of these things is to help you realize what you all do in a day with your business. Yes, it will be hard for some of your family, and some of your friends to realize what it is you do. You get lost in your online storefront, revolve around you products, and they come and go. As mentioned at other times, Start Up is not easy. 

You might find yourself struggling, find yourself in a rut, or as many have felt the feeling of being overwhelmed. So, keep digging. 

Think of your next step. What should you be doing to grow? Most of us probably know what the answer is, but it is hard to know what to do as this is all new to us. You don't need to have that next step accomplished right away, but you should know the next action that you should be taking to accomplish your goal. It helps to break those big goals down into some small goals to work on, and achieve. By doing this you make it a bit more comfortable for you. So, write down your goal. As the pen, and paper hit generally you start to brainstorm with some ideas that will come together for you. These ideas will start falling into place for you as you write them. You will want to then start putting this into a to-do list by prioritizing them. Be persistent. 

Do something you will thank yourself for tomorrow.  Maybe it's a mess you haven't cleaned up, that one thing you wanted to do and have pushed off, some unfinished business that you have been pushing off. Go to it now, and finish it. When you wake up tomorrow you will feel relief that is was done. Stop procrastinating. You will thank yourself in the morning for this. 

Is what I am doing working?  Many times we will find ourselves getting caught in an ineffective way of how we are doing things. We go with a "that's just the way things are" We can let this slow us down, and over think the common sense of things. If you are happy with the results of what you are doing, and it's working then do more of it. Now, if you are not happy with the results then you need to change it, and do it differently. If you weren't already doing your shipping, scheduling, branding, customer service, mailing lists, and etc this way, consider is this how you would start? If it isn't then change it the way you would do things in order to get the results that you want. 

Be realistic. Remember, it is a fact that a business can take up to 3 years to get off the ground. With a start-up nothing happens unless you make it happen. Making it big can take even more years. It can take up to 10 years which is a fact. What you get out of your small business is what you have put into it. Be realistic about the time, and the energy it will take to become a success at what you do. 

Protect Your Dream, and keep up the good work everyone! Don't forget to visit with Lisa at Market Your Creativity where these topics come from. She has many more things that she shares there with everyone to help them with their businesses, and to make them successful.  

I thank all of you for sharing your time with LilacsNDreams. Until the next time I wish you all a fabulous day! See you again soon. 

No comments:

Post a Comment