Running your own business is a whole other matter from working for someone else. When you work for another party, you lose your freedom – but you don’t have to take the work home with you at night unless you want to. When the business is your “baby,” and all final decisions go through you, then things become a lot more complicated. When you run your own business it is much different than if you are working for someone else.
Step 1 why are you doing this?
Running a business is a big commitment in terms of time and energy; it is rarely easy. Thus, every day when you are on the shop floor, watching your employees from the office, or simply running to sales meetings, you have to keep in mind what it was that propelled you to do things in the first place. Was it the money? Was it a desire to prove something to yourself? Was it because you wanted the freedom? If you have a clear focus in terms of why you are running the company and why you are in the business you are in, you can also have a clearer focus about what your priorities are and what daily goings-on are just distractions.
Step 2 Never forget your company’s strategic goals
It’s hard work running a business and you better not waste energy on things that are not going to help you meet your final goals. With that in mind, you should always remind yourself – preferably at the start of each day – as to what it is you hope to accomplish. If a person, a project, or an activity is getting in the way of your short-term or long-term goals, then maybe some things need to change: maybe someone needs to be dismissed; maybe the project needs to be sub-contracted out; or maybe an activity needs to be cut out of the daily “to-do” list.
Step 3 Expect adversity
A lot of people, when they run a business, get caught up in the notion that bad things only happen to bad managers; since they do not consider themselves bad managers, they can expect relatively smooth sailing. However, adversity can strike anyone at any time: a talented employee can suddenly leave; a big client can take his or her (or it’s) business elsewhere; and the tax credit you thought you had could suddenly disappear and you might even find yourself the unwanted object of a governmental audit. The key in running a business is to always prepare for the worst so that the best can happen; if you have contingencies in place for emergencies, then adversity becomes a lot less difficult to take.
If you want to run your own business, you have to have a certain mindset: you have to have your priorities in order; you have to be clear-eyed about your goals; and you have to expect adversity. Follow those steps, and running a business becomes a lot easier.