Priorities for Small Business Owners

Some words of wisdom from my friend Cynthia Jurado:

As a business owner, you are the single most important factor in your business. You are the only asset you have in the beginning. You are the bank account, sales staff, worker bee—you are it.

If you use yourself up, there is nothing left to run your business. It’s essential you learn how to balance yourself, put support systems in place, and learn to get enough energy in your day to get through it.

Most sole proprietors just throw themselves into the work and neglect themselves. They don’t realize they have to take care of themselves first. It’s like the oxygen masks on the airlines ... you have to put yours on first, because you have to survive for the business to survive.

This would include learning what your strengths are and accepting them. Don’t fight it. Your strengths are what will make your business great. Just think about who you can have come alongside you to fill in your gaps.

I’ve seen people waiting for what I call ‘assistant nirvana’. They think they either have to afford a full time assistant or do it themselves. I’m a fan of ‘don’t spend money you don’t have’, but there are so many other options than spending your important time on details. You kind of have to cobble it together for awhile ... an intern two hours/day after school who can file, organize client lists on your computer ... a stay at home mom who makes calls for you ... a professional organizer two hours/month ... a way to move something forward that will give you a little more stability, a little more structure, so you can win at something else.

Cynthia Jurado
Business Coach
www.arcleadershipdynamics.com

Best wishes,

Marilyn McLeod

Marilyn@PersonalizedHealthCoach.com

Visit Marilyn McLeod's Amazon Author Page
http://www.bit.ly/drWaBB

Blog: http://www.PersonalizedHealthCoach.com

Products & Free Assessment: http://www.Amway.com/HealthCoach

Creativity and Happiness

Creating a life close to your values helps your happiness level.

You may think your product or service is your starting point, but your key is closer to home. You are the one who will be putting in the long hours to bring your vision to fruition. You have to be healthy to carry this responsibility, and you have to be happy to carry it long enough to make it work.

What makes you happy? What do you especially enjoy doing, and who do you most like to spend time with? What are your values? What roles most appeal to you? Define a role, career, product or company that matches who you are authentically as closely as possible.

Exercise:

1) Think about you and what really makes you happy. Write down specifics that come to mind.

2) Think about times you feel stifled, discouraged, uncomfortable. Write down the situations that stimulate this feeling, and what specifically you don’t like about it.

3) Think about yourself and all that you are. What aspects of yourself that make you happy remain untapped?

4) If you could have an ideal day, an ideal job, an ideal customer, an ideal life, what would it be like? Dream, and take notes!!!

Best wishes,

Marilyn McLeod

Marilyn@PersonalizedHealthCoach.com

Visit Marilyn McLeod's Amazon Author Page
http://www.bit.ly/drWaBB

Blog: http://www.PersonalizedHealthCoach.com

Products & Free Assessment: http://www.Amway.com/HealthCoach