Small business owners don’t get a lot of credit these days. Rarely do I hear national or local news praising the hard work put in day in and day out by thousands of small business owners across the country. Heck, even the President once said that business owners didn’t build their own businesses – ouch! Wonder what the head of Czervik Construction would think of that?
But successful small business owners have learned traits that help them run their businesses. It’s never easy – but with vision, discipline and passion, success is always attainable.
It Takes Vision
Having a clear vision and game plan for your small business is step 1.
What do you want to do? What people do you want to help?
Without a clear vision, your goals become harder to define. And with unclear goals, you’ll lack an understanding of what you want to accomplish, and so will your customers.
It Takes Discipline
Once you have a game plan – execute it.
Continually create daily/weekly/quarterly action plans for things in your business (working with your clients AKA making money) and working on your business (creating organization and making your business better.
Any successful business owner, small or large, will tell you that you need to take time away from working in your business to be successful. If that means outsourcing some of your work or hiring an employee (I did exactly that!) – then do it. Sure – it might take away from your near-term profit goals, but in the long run you’ll be freed up to think about the future of your business rather than overwhelmed with the present.
It Takes Passion
A small business without passion is a guaranteed failure.
Without passion, a bad month or a bad quarter might convince you to quit. Any business owner can prosper through the good times. But only the passionate business owner will survive the bad ones. Having a deep passion for working with your clients and making them happy will keep you driven to do more, to work harder and to keep going.
Take that vision or mission statement and put it in your office. When skies get gray, look at your mission and remember why you got into this business in the first place.