As any seasoned small business owner will tell you, it can be a tough life running your own business. Having to take full responsibility for every aspect of the business, day in day out, requires a huge amount of hard work, patience and determination.
I have nothing but admiration for the many small businesses that serve us so well, producing a quality of products and services that match and often exceed that of many of their much larger competitors.
There is a tendency however to assume that most small businesses are financially successful and that their owners enjoy high incomes and a better lifestyle – but this is far from the truth.
I constantly hear of businesses struggling with low incomes and poor cash flow, where their owners are working long hours, feeling under constant pressure, with little time to relax and spend time with their family.
I found it interesting how so many books have been written on how to become an entrepreneur or how to get rich quick but the fact is that most small-business owners are not that ambitious – rather they are just looking for a better deal.
Most people who start out in business have very little, if any, formal training. It’s therefore perhaps not so surprising that many small business owners struggle as they do. In fact most business owners learn the hard way, by trial and error. A great deal of trial and a lot of errors and sometimes those errors can be very painful and costly.
It’s small wonder then that a very high proportion of all business start-ups will fail within the first few years. This is because the owners have to learn quickly what they need to do to survive and if they don’t they pay the ultimate price.
Those that do survive the early years often find themselves constantly struggling to keep going and feel a deep despair as nothing ever seems to improve.
Please believe me when I tell you there truly is a better way! It really is possible to get a better deal for you and your business and you can do this by taking a series of gentle bite-size steps. This easy-to-apply approach means that it doesn’t matter how busy you are, you can start making progress with your business right now.
Be in no doubt that it is possible for you to strengthen your business, improve your earnings and, perhaps most important of all, get a life!
You don’t need to be a financial whizz or a marketing Guru to take your business on to another level. Just getting the basics right can make a huge difference. We’re not talking about working harder or longer hours here – this is about working more effectively, focusing on getting what you want from your business and avoiding distractions.
Before you begin working on your business though you must give yourself a little breathing space and in order to do this you need to start by working on yourself. If you can develop just a few basic skills for improving the way you do what you do, you can then start moving gently towards that better deal.
By Ian Marshall, author of The Savvy Guide to Kick-Starting Your Small Business