One of the most common issues facing my solo-entrepreneur clients is frustration, often followed swiftly by fatigue. Suddenly swamped by so many roles, so many decisions, so many tasks, while trying to conserve expenditure – weariness sets in. What started as a dream business idea, to hone and drive further, has now become a 24/7 job, with no escape route. You realize you’re … [Read more...]
Paperwork Prevents Small Business Growth – 12 Tools to Recoup Time
Did you know that small business owners spend one day per week doing paperwork? In fact, according to research by YourTradeBase, more than one out of two small business owners (51%) believe that paperwork is preventing business growth. Interestingly, women business owners spend the most time on administrative paperwork (32% of women business owners spend more than 10 hours … [Read more...]
Entrepreneurship – Why Gender Is Not an Issue
I am going to be totally frank with you all. I have never entertained the idea that my gender was an issue with regards to how I approached my working life as an entrepreneur---ever. I am using ‘issue’ in the same way I would use ‘matter of contention’ by the way. Similarly, I have never let my nationality, age, height, number of offspring, etc. become an issue in running … [Read more...]
How I Created a Comfortable Work-Life Balance
What do we mean by the phrase, work-life balance? I have found from my years of experience that creating a balance between career obligations and personal responsibilities always seems to be a juggling act. What may seem balanced at one point in life will seem out of kilter at another time. The Early Years In my early years of career development, I was quite willing to … [Read more...]
Entrepreneurs: When Visualizing Leads to Visualizations
I spoke with a client recently about visualizing. I asked how she pictured seeing her business in 12 months time. “Gosh, I don’t have time for daydreaming,” was her response, fixing me with a confused look. This made me slightly concerned considering her desire to develop and grow her business. However, after I carefully outlined this process of enormous potential, she … [Read more...]
Is It Profitable to Follow Your Passion? 4 Questions to Ask Yourself
There are many self-help programs suggesting that you need to follow your passion in order to achieve your dreams. It’s great advice for some, but if you are relying on it to earn a living, then using your passion as a foundation for your career may not be the answer. Here are questions to ask yourself before you decide that following your passion is the best business … [Read more...]
Are You Ready to Turn Your “Side Hustle” into a Business?
Side hustles are generally born out of necessity or passion. They tend to maximize our skills and capacities or release our creativity. Converting a side hustle into a business is often a slippery slope because whether your side hustle is born out of necessity or born out of passion, the realities of formalizing a business can be disheartening. A side hustle that generates … [Read more...]
5 Rookie Business Mistakes You Don’t Want to Make
As a business owner, there are some mistakes that you simply shouldn't make. Here are five rookie business mistakes that you need to avoid: 1. Bad Customer Service We have all experienced bad customer service at some point in our lives that has made us turn down a sale. Many times we walk out of a store because we are not greeted as we enter or as we shop. This is bad … [Read more...]
Take Your Business from Dream Phase to Success Phase
So, you woke up one morning and decided you had had enough of the corporate world… Maybe you had a baby or two and you thought, “Hey, why not do my own thing so I can watch them grow up?” A noble thought indeed. Too many parents do not see their kids much as they are working so hard to provide a living for them. Great, well… It is time to begin. But instead of beginning, … [Read more...]
50 Richest Self-Made Women in America 2015
Forbes has launched a new list that ranks people by wealth, and this one is dedicated to women who made their own money rather than inherited it or acquired it by some other means. The list of the 50 richest self-made women in America in 2015 includes entrepreneurs, corporate executives, designers, celebrities, and an author. The bar to get on this list was quite high. Women … [Read more...]