Are we there yet? For those of you who are parents, and for the rest of us who remember being a kid, wasn’t this a common question on any car ride? Now, as then, we are all eager to get to where we are going. In life and in business, we are all interested in achieving our goals.
Excuse Me: Did You Have Enough Information Before You Made That Decision?
We live in the “information age.” Mankind now generates approximately the same amount of information in the one day that we created from the beginning of recorded history to the year 2003. The amount of content that Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube spawn is staggering. Type in a search term or phrase into your favorite search engine, and you will likely get results measured in the millions or billions.
Excuse Me – Who is Your Boss?
One of the main reasons that a lot of people give for why they become entrepreneurs is that they do not want to work for someone else. Sometimes this feeling arises early in life. I knew early on that the best person for me to work for was me.
Excuse Me, Does Size Matter?
I deal a lot with entrepreneurs, both ones starting a new business and those whose business is already operating. Quite often, these entrepreneurs are operating what would be termed a very small business. These enterprises are designed essentially to support or provide additional funds for the founder and perhaps her family. When you look at the literature about smaller entrepreneurial ventures, you’ll often see two terms: solopreneur and micropreneur. But what do these terms mean?
Annabolic Times-Excuse Me, Do You Prefer to Go It Alone?
Excuse me, but being in business for yourself does not mean going it alone.
Most entrepreneurs with whom I deal are quite concerned about costs. Rightfully so, as underestimating expenses is a significant reason why many small business ventures fail.
Entrepreneurs often try to skimp on professional fees. Saving money on lawyers, accountants, and business coaches may be a tempting target for the budget axe. And, it is true that there are ways to monitor costs for professionals. Nevertheless, assembling a top-notch team of advisors can be an important step towards the success of your business. This is certainly an area where the old adage, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”, truly comes into play. Isn’t it better to pay your accountant to help you set up an accurate bookkeeping system in advance, rather than paying her to defend you from an IRS audit in the future?
For a humorous look at how NOT to hire an accountant, or any other professional watch my video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8o2kTo0dfY.
Annabolic Times-Excuse Me, Do You Prefer to Sink or to Swim?
Would your idea for a business, product, or service sink or swim?
Are you an entrepreneur or an entrepreneur wannabe? Here is an interesting (and free) way to see if your great idea for a business or product might work:
- Download the app “hero or zero”. It is available on iTunes and Google play. The app has a quiz which tests your concept, and also provides suggestions for improving for your idea.
Annabolic Times-Excuse Me, But I Don’t “Belief” You.
Beliefs are the hardest things of all to change. Beliefs are critical to how effective we function as human beings. Why? You don’t believe what you see, you see what you believe.
Annabolic Times-Excuse Me, Who is Leading Your Life?
Energy leadership? My husband recently retired after 25 years in private practice as an estate planning attorney. He would often have clients ask if he would prepare for them a living will. Sometimes, however, clients would confuse the term living will with living trust or some other type of document that dealt with assets. (A living will deals with life-sustaining medical care.) My husband said that the living will was perhaps the most poorly named estate planning document as it often led to this confusion.
Annabolic Times-Excuse Me, But Do You Have the Morals of an Alley Cat?
Excuse Me, But Do You Have the Morals of an Alley Cat?
Action is everything. Intention without action accomplishes nothing. But how do we know how we should act? The single most important factor in deciding how to act in any given situation is to know, understand, and proceed according to your values. Failure to act in a manner congruent with your values, ethics, morals, scruples, or however you define your internal compass, can result in what social scientists term “cognitive dissonance”. You may know it as an uneasy feeling, a kind of “short circuit” in your brain, or other physical or psychological manifestations.
Annabolic Times-Excuse Me, You’re Fired!
I hope this finds you very well and enjoying your summer.
As solopreneurs, we don’t often have the experience of hiring employees; more often subcontractors. However, there is an important lesson below should you ever decide to go down that path.
Enjoy the below video! You may recognize someone in it.
CLICK HERE: REASON 29: VIDEO
Excerpted and adapted from “Seventy Reasons Not to be an Entrepreneur (and why I wouldn’t do anything else)” Copyright 2013 by Michael A. Babiarz, all rights reserved.
Reason Number 29: Hiring is a &**& and firing is a bigger *(**. Hiring is not a fun process. For the small businessman, if the size of the company mandates employees, it is a process that will need to be repeated, time and time again. Your employees will quit. When they quit, replacing them means going through the painful hiring process all over again. But what if an employee needs to be let go?