Running your own Business I: The three Ds
1Several of us, including myself, at some point, had decided to make the leap from being employed to going self employed. I, myself, had bought into the whole concept of being your own boss, working your own hours, and marking and measuring one’s own success. Indeed, having your own business, generating your own income, choosing your clients and the people you work with are all big pros of being self employed. In fact, having everything in a business work the way you want it to work is fantastic! What else? You get to have a fancy business card that says Managing Director or Chief Executive Officer, and you stick your neck out and talk to everyone like you own the world. That’s all great, and the feeling of success if you thrive at being self employed is unmatched, but what are the odds that you will succeed?
Let’s be honest; odds are a big part of this whole deal. However, that is not all there is to it. What I want to do in these sets of “Running your own business” articles is to tell you part of what it will take to make the shift from becoming employed to becoming self-employed. What that means in English, for those of us who don’t like fancy corporate talk, is that I will try and outline what it will take you to go from being someone’s bitch to becoming your own boss.
Let’s get the assumptions out of the way first. You have an idea, and you’ve done your market research. If you haven’t, look for any book that tells you on what research you need to do to get your business off the floor. Market research is critical, as is good marketing. But what you need to keep in mind is that having a good product / service and a good marketing strategy is not all you need for your business to succeed. These are your basic requirements. No product / service = no business = no money = keep the job = stay in bitch mode.
So, what do you need to execute your own marketing strategy, sell your product or service, perform, and walk away with or retain a happy customer and a big cheque (or check if you’re in the US)?
The Three Ds of Entrepreneurship
Drive
Drive. Drive. Drive. By the way, that’s just ONE of the 3 Ds spelled out 3 times. Yes, you need drive. The drive to succeed, to sell, to perform, to win, to dominate and to not be somebody else’s bitch. What is important here is for you to have the mind set to break out of taking orders from someone else. That was the reason I chose to become self employed. I knew I had the skill set. I knew I had a unique deliverable, even if my service was competing with others out there, and I knew I had a decent marketing strategy. But above all of that, I had the drive to do business. The drive to be better than my former co-workers, and the drive to make it happen. Unless you cannoy work 16 hours a day 5 days a week and survive on 4 hours of sleep every night, going back to a job should not be an option. Business is going to succeed if you go all in.
For a more graphic explanation, think of driving only ONE car at a time. You can’t drive two, and if you try to drive two, you will wreck both. There are few who can handle both a job and a business, and unless you are that hardworking, I suggest you stick to one thing, and give your whole hearted attention to driving that one vehicle, which, in this case, would be your business.
Dedication
Remember how you sometimes had nothing to do at work and you went around chatting to all the different people at work, browsing the web, looking up old friends on Facebook and waiting for that clock to get to 5 pm so you can get up and go home? Well, those days are over. With a business, with an entrepreneur, with the drive you need to succeed, the clock does not tick from 9 to 5. It’s more a case of 9 AND 5. You have to get the job done if you want to get the money: it’s just that simple. This means working many extra hours even if you undersold yourself, delivering an excellent end product because you are the boss and no will be around to check your work), and not wasting any time doing silly things you did on the job. You must dedicate yourself, your attention and your energy to your business. If you aren’t dedicated, it becomes extremely difficult to manage your time (especially if you’re working from home), deliver a customer satisfying product, or resisting the temptation to log into MSN and Yahoo Messenger and chat up your old friends. You must re-arrange your priorities and dedicate a specific number of hours to your business DAILY, or you will never get around to actually doing the business.
Determination
This is probably the D that most startup and small business owners struggle with. You have to be totally and utterly determined to succeed, or you simply won’t. Get used to hearing know and listening to negativity. The odds are against you, but keep in mind that knowing that only puts you in a position to be better prepared for these odds. It’s not easy running your own business, and many people struggle with how difficult it is to get things done, primarily because as a small business owner you are dependent on other people. But the trick is to keep plugging away. If you are determined to succeed, you will eventually make it happen.
Ultimately, determination is about mindset. For someone who is determined, something that goes wrong is one failed attempt at doing something. For another person, the same thing going wrong could mean loss of hope, and that’s the one thing you cannot have as a small business owner: loss of hope. Stay focused, stay determined, stay on track and make sure that you are persistent and remind yourself of how determined, dedicated, and driven you are to succeed and get the job done.
Stay tuned for more small business and entrepreneurship articles.
