Sunday, July 27, 2008

11 Things I Have Learned After 2 Years As A Business Owner

I wanted to pass on some knowledge I have learned from these last 2 years operating my own business for anyone else that may be interested in Starting their own business.

1. Keep your business plan flexible and know when something is not working that it is ok to change strategies.

2.Be prepared to work harder than you ever have before, hours will be longer.

3. Nobody gets rich overnight and many never do,the majority of new small businesses fail.

4. Never promise any customer what you can not deliver and always include time for problems that may arise when giving a customer an ETA for job completion.

5. You will never please everyone and sometimes it is better to let a problem customer go so you can focus attention on your less demanding customers.

6. There will always be someone that thinks they can run your business better than you, let them think what they want and pay the naysayers no mind. Negative energy only begets more negative energy.

7. You do not know everything, listen to your workers as well as your customers and whenever possible, try to compromise.

8.Uncle Sam will get his money, either set it aside or hire an accountant.

9. Problems will arise that you can not control, do not allow the stress to affect your being as it will slowly consume you and your business.

10. Take breaks for the simple things in life, after all what good is working so hard if you lose yourself in the process.

11. Be Honest...to yourself, your family, your workers, and especially your customers. While everyone may not always like what the situation honestly is, you can guarantee nobody likes to be lied to.


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4 comments:

Martin MY said...

Sensible tips from valuable experience

Anonymous said...

Starting a new business take a lot of courage, and hardwork, but one should start with a system inplace right from the beginning. One the system is running, the business will take care by the system.

Jimmy Adames said...

The foundation of a long term and successful business online or off starts with focus.

If you focus on your goals and tune out the negativity you should be fine.

Becoming rich on the internet is not the only sign of success, there are many other factors each individual would be happy with.

Good post.

Jimmy Adames

Anonymous said...

I am glad you mentioned the tax man. Fear the IRS! They have some scary powers. Always be honest with them. Good post.