5 Ways to Own Your Business

I love being in business with momstown! I am incredibly fortunate to be a part of a network of women who share the same vision, plus support and coach each other onward to success. If I wanted to do this on my own it would be possible, but the road would much harder and lonelier than it is working alongside a network of Rockstars. Every day we are touching lives in our communities, supporting moms and building connections that will lead to better and brighter tomorrows for them, their children and our cities.

Now, I may be blessed with an incredible support network but ultimately I am the owner of my business. What does it mean to own a business? I don’t mean just BE in business but to really own one. Lots of people are in business or have a business but I don’t think nearly as many are “owning” their business… you know, really making it work

I think it’s essential to respect your business. Given the number of businesses that close it’s apparent that many people rush in unprepared and get hurt along the way. If you want to really own your business here’s some tips that I’ve picked up along the way that I think might help:

1) Your business will not survive on passion alone: Passion is good. You must choose a business you are passionate about. If you’re not passionate then why bother? All I’m trying to say here is that in order to succeed you must augment that passion with some additional skill sets. You might be the best stained glass artist, photographer, or cupcake baker EVER! But if you don’t find some help with business planning, marketing, accounting, networking, etc then you are going to come to a full stop. You will have a shop full of amazing products but no one will know that they’re available.

2) You do NOT set your own schedule: Your customer does. If you want to be taken seriously you need to operate when the rest of the working world is wants to do business with you. I totally understand that you can’t take business calls when the baby’s crying or the kids are fighting; however, if your customer can’t get to you when it’s good for them they will most likely turn to your competitor where they don’t have to compete with your kids.

3) There’s no glory in it: I’ve often had visions of owning my business where I am regularly out lunching with clients or on the golf course. It's wonderful to imagine all of the perks that come with being a business owner. However, as the owner no one will love your business like you do. This mean that you are the one that is cleaning the bathroom at 8pm so it’s perfect the next day when your client comes in, you will be the one working until 11pm to get the finances in order, you will be the one making cold calls trying to drum up more sales.

4) You need to manage your time: Check your calendar every morning. In addition to your appointments decide at that time what can/must be done that day. Commit to finishing those tasks. You might also want to consider tracking what you are spending your time doing. Try and make sure that you are spending most of your time against tasks that are directly related to earning money or will lead to that end. We can get lost in administrative tasks or branding or even social networking; unless these things are going to lead to sales you need to manage the amount of time spent on them.

5) You need to minimize distractions: Focus. In the time you have dedicated to running your business during the day have a plan to stay motivated, or on-task. Of course if you’re at home this might mean turning off the phone ringer if mom calls for a ½ hour chat every day at 1:30pm. There’s no boss to answer to so the 45 mins you spend looking at your favourite recipe site is not going to get you in trouble… or will it?

I’m sure there are many more tips that I could suggest to you but I have found these 5 have been my biggest lessons learned. Of course I haven’t mastered them all yet but I intend to continue to practice them every day and I am certain that with consistency their effect on my business will be unmistakable.

If you are looking for a business opportunity that you can "own" and that will also provide you with a model for success, plus friendship, support and fun you should check out licensing opportunities with momstown.ca :)