Your Small Business: Are you working on it or in it?
Are you working on or working in your business?
There is a difference but most people don’t really consider it a problem–when it is.
You see, if you are working in your business, those daily tasks and demands are going to prevent you from working on your business–which means taking your business to the next level, getting your the income level you seek and the freedom to enjoy time away from the business.
At the moment I am involved in a variety of paid forums.
I prefer them because, by default, only those willing to invest their time and money into their business (or their development) participate.
Right off the bat people are of a higher caliber and they tend to be more open minded and progressive–in some cases.
However, I was floored by a few business people who had agreed to make commitments to each other to cross promote and then decided to stop.
Their reasoning was, “I don’t have the time” or “I don’t see the value” or “I don’t need the business.”
Now as a moderator, I was shocked.
First of all it was a group commitment and not an individual business goal.
Everyone had agreed to cross promote and work together but when it came down to it, many just decided they didn’t have to reciprocate or that they did not have the time and those left were honoring their commitment without any reciprocal effort.
This illustrates an issue that I wanted to highlight and talk about because this is why many businesses never grow or why they go out of business in a short time.
Instead of working on their business they are working in their business.
When you work on your business, you take the time to network, promote and develop strategies to take the business to the next level.
That may mean that you hire someone to help you as an employee or as a subcontractor.
It may mean you plan events to attract new customers and prospects to your business and reward repeat customers.
It may mean that you plan strategic partnerships or network with related businesses in your area.
When you work in your business, it means that you are so busy with daily tasks and management of the business that you don’t have the time to look up, plan or see what the business potential might be in the future.
It doesn’t matter whether or not you have a brick and mortar business that sits on the main boulevard, a service business or an online model–the results reflect where your energy goes.
I hate to say that small businesses are often run by small minds but I see it all the time.
In fact, at last count many of the businesses in my local region have gone under for this very reason.
I am not talking about a few but about forty or more!
Now my local community is small and should ideally work together to bring customers into town.
However, they don’t do so.
In fact, they make decisions that hurt the longterm business by their short sightedness.
Even the chamber of commerce failed to have their own members attend an event they put on weekly.
NONE of the members or leaders showed up and it was no surprise that the event failed miserably.
They also recently decided to cancel the biggest income producing, largest visitor attracting and favorite media covered activity for the town.
Why? Simply because they failed to plan and did not look at alternate ways of managing the annual event to make it happen.
When you work on your business, you show up but you also plan ahead and take the extra streps to move forward–if you don’t, you’ll find yourself working in your business and stuck on a treadmill that leads no where.
When you work on your business you take advantage of leverage from other partnerships and embark on a journey that takes you beyond your present location into a terrain that offers a lot more possibilities.
So, if you are working on your business–take a moment to share how you are doing so.
If you are working in your business–tell us how you might benefit by making a change.
To do either–just leave a comment.
Photo Credit: Stitch
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Comments
Thanks for taking the time to stop by Carl. I saw that you sent me a message on Twitter in your stream but it never showed up in mine!
I am in a variety of paid forums that include Third Tribe, Immediate Edge, Problogger, and APSE which is a pet industry site.
Paid forums vary in what they provide so “working best for you” isn’t really something I can answer. It also depends on how much you participate as well and who you connect with.
I think of them more like networking opportunities rather than learning opportunities.
The one where people are at the same level of integrity and where people that are driven to help each other is the Third Tribe–but it took over four months to get to that level and I almost quit prior to reaping any benefits of the membership.
Group members vary–some have brick and mortar businesses while others are building only and online presence. I have both with the goal of moving everything online and so benefit by association with the movers and the shakers. I think one of the things I like best about the group is all the different perspectives people share on the same topic.
As far as the level of sophistication when it comes to Internet business–it has to be the Immediate Edge. The challenge I have with that is that there is a whole lot of information and I get lost and overwhelmed by it–however it is all cutting edge and a leader in the online business industry.
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Hello.
I am curious which paid forums you are in. Which one is working the best for you?
and BTW this is my first time here, nice website, and nice to meet you