By What a wonderful time to be an enterprising entrepreneur and small business owner! We live in a world where 9-year old children are leveraging partnerships with corporate brands, families are capitalizing off their YouTube and Instagram channels, and that lady or gentleman sitting three cubicles away is earning six-figures through MLM income.
There are dozens of reasons why society is moving towards passive income and small business ownership. Simply put, living expenses are higher than ever. Debts are increasing, while some checks are decreasing, and this puts a dent in the checking/savings account. People want to be able to enjoy their hard work instead of handing it over to creditors and bill collectors every month.
So, how is this done? How does one stick to the ‘stability’ of their current job but still find the time and energy to start a side-hustle? Let’s get into it!
Outsource, Outsource, Outsource:
To be successful in business, you must think like a businessman/woman. Even if you can’t afford a full team yet, begin structuring your business as if you already had a team. Always be on the lookout for promising professionals in the fields that can complete your team. A Marketing specialist, a PR agent, a CPA, a lawyer, an Operations Manager, a Social Media Manager, etc. All of these people will be integral in building up your business.
Maybe you are cool as being a one-person show. Maybe you simply want a small enterprise. You can still outsource things that are taking up too much of your time like checking emails, posting on social media, advertising, etc. Keep your focus on your area and specialty of genius versus spreading too thin and operating at low energy.
Master Automation
Business systems are at the core of what makes businesses run efficiently and gives entrepreneurs their sanity. There are endless applications to suit any need. Want to manage your email list. There’s an app for that. Need to schedule your social media or keep clients in a CRM? You can find that too. Establish systems early on so that they can run seamlessly for you until you have the team members to take up those tasks.
Plan with Intention
Planning is one of the best know secrets of any thriving company. Companies know what they will do years from now because they don’t leave things to chance. They are looking at each quarter and making cyclical strategic marketing plans. They utilize what their target audience does (buyer behavior) to make wise predictions and advertise accordingly. We tend to forget that the same holidays come around every year. The same seasons. The same types of events. Let’s use this knowledge to do some tactical planning for business launches.
Setting deadlines helps things to become real for you. Its been said that planning makes people feel better and some end up stopping in the planning phase. You have to be more thorough in your efforts to attain these goals.
EMBRACE PRODUCTIVITY AND TIME MANAGEMENT
What also goes along with the planning component is IMPLEMENTATION. Finding the time to execute your plans, particularly when time seems to be on its own side. Assess your weekly schedule and look at those pockets of time where you are typically ‘wasting time.’ That could be the hour in the morning you are scrolling social media. Those two hours on the weekend where you are just being lazy. Learn to say no to things that will waste your time. How you spend your time and invest your time is essential to your success.
Discipline and focus is necessary to stay committed to your process. Remember that this is your dream. Remember your WHY and also do not pressure yourself to complete 100 tasks in one month. This is a journey, not a destination.
What do you think?