1) Know your purpose & your client
When I started my eldercare education company in 2001 my heart was in the right place. However I soon discovered that I needed to engage my brain more than my heart! My story begins when I was 10 and someone asked me “what do I want to do when I grow up? I initially answered “I want to marry a rich doctor” and then I answered the question about my purpose which was that “I want to help people”.
Why am I telling you this story? At that time I was already aware of my purpose. I carried that purpose with me and designed my business accordingly. For me, I was deeply committed to helping people, little did I know that I would directly help caregivers and not always the person who was suffering with an illness or condition.
As you design and grow your business, it is essential to continually remind yourself about your purpose and who your true customer is. All entrepreneurs will be invited to participate in new ventures. There are MANY appealing business ideas. The nature of an entrepreneur is to create, pursue, challenge oneself, keep things exciting, etc. However, the key to success is staying connected to your purpose!
2) Stay focused & avoid distractions
Business owners and entrepreneurs look for opportunities to grow and succeed. However, being distracted by new opportunities can completely derail the business from reaching its designated goals.
How does a business owner stay focused when other opportunities feel so enticing?Impulse control is a characteristic of emotional intelligence. The ability to discern and stay the course are essential skills for business owners.
Emotional intelligence is learned through all of our influencers. If parents are emotionally erratic, explosive, impulsive, compulsive, dismissive, avoidant, selfish, addicted, etc. we will enter into relationships ill equipped. In turn we will possess these qualities…fast forward to the entrepreneur who has a difficult time with focus and impulse control.
3) Kick your EGO to the curb!
Our egos show up in both positive and negative ways. In business it’s the owner/entrepreneur who thinks they know what’s best for everyone and isn’t open to constructive feedback. However the ego can also help to drive the engine. The ego driven entrepreneur will eventually behave like a bulldozer pushing through a huge mound of dirt and not realizing there is a cliff immediately beyond the dirt! Essentially they become their own worst enemy.
In previous posts the topic of humility has been introduced which is the anecdote for the ego consistently driving us. There is something really attractive about a person who doesn’t shove away suggestions. Someone who says “thank you” instead of “I don’t think that will work for me.
Fragile self esteems don’t do well in business ownership. Their knee jerk reactions can kick away some highly valuable ideas. Using a therapist or a talented coach can help people to overcome these tendencies to assure they are able to continue to grow and gain momentum and still be respected and possibly even be liked by their colleagues and peers!
4) Hire the right help!
Too often I have witnessed business owners who decide to hire an assistant and then not trust their abilities to do the work they need done. There are many similarities between parenting and business ownership. Hopefully we teach tasks and step aside for the person to accomplish them or to fail and to learn from the failure. Continuing our need to control the person or their job is a recipe for ongoing problems that you originally hired someone to resolve.
Get honest with yourself and make a thorough list of the tasks you need someone to accomplish and then make a list of what the benefit and outcome in doing so will be. Focus on the outcome for you. If you want to successfully grow or scale your business, it’s absolutely essential to let go of the need to control and get focused on what you need to do. If problems arise, teach your employee the importance of informing you so the problems don’t escalate. Ask your employee for solutions instead of problems.
5) Get and stay organized!
In a previous post about time mastery, I detailed strategies for organization. Organization and time mastery/management go hand in hand. Do you know where that thing is at that you need right now? Are your computer files in disarray? Does your assistant have full access to your email and the permission to organize the files?
When is the last time you set a timer to organize your paper and electronic files? When is the last time you scrolled through your 10,000 e-mails and created files for those that are urgent or priorities? Do you keep your emails to a specific number? Do you reduce the clutter in your phone such as unnecessary photos, texts and other files?
Do yourself, your employees, your family and friends a favor and every week set a schedule for 30 minutes to organize. As you reduce the clutter you may find that you don’t feel so rushed and stressed about where your stuff is at and you’ll get things done in a more efficient and effective manner!
In Conclusion:
As I have written about these items in the past, there are so many essentials for business success! The day to day items that create clutter and keep us standing in our own way will assure we don’t reach the level of success we want personally and professionally! Take a few minutes today and be honest with yourself. Are you really understanding why you do what you do and are you willing to make adjustments? If you want to explore your internal drivers and discover mechanisms to improve or enhance your day to day thinking and behaving, call me for a free 15 minute consultation at 440-212-4987. Now get out there and slay some dragons!