Politics and Business

Your Life in Business Begins Here

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The commute, the repetition of tasks you’re no longer interested in, the annoying colleague and the fact that you stand no chance of ever moving up the career ladder or up the pay scale. There’s a lot to be said about having a salaried job but there’s also a lot to be said about being your own boss.

When that ambition that’s been lurking at the back of your mind suddenly becomes a burning desire, it’s time to start taking yourself and your future seriously. It’s time to start thinking about setting up your own business.

In this guide we take a look at what it takes to go solo. Some of the things that don’t get spoken about and some of the measures you can take to avoid falling down the pitfalls. It’s time to put your plans into action so read on.

Going Solo

It’s you, it’s all about you and all the responsibility now falls directly to you. Making your own decisions and forging your own path through setting up your business can be immensely satisfying. It can also be very scary. How do you know you’re making the right decisions? how do you know you’re not going to get it very wrong?

The truth is that a lot of the time you don’t. You’re simply making your best guess and relying on your experience and gut instinct to get it right. You might get it wrong sometimes and that’s ok too. Sometimes the best learning curves come from the experience of getting things wrong. Growing and learning is a lesson that can be well worth going through.

When you’re left feeling isolated and that you’re out on a limb, that’s the time when you need to lean on friends and supportive family members. They may not be able to make your decisions for you but can certainly act as a sounding board for your ideas and feed back to you, your own thoughts and decision making process.

When feelings of stress and isolation do arise, don’t let them overwhelm you. Start dealing with the issue straight away before it has time to grow into something worse.

When Things Go Right

For all the dire warnings of tough times ahead and feeling all alone, you also stand to benefit from the very real possibility that things are going to go very well for you. Sometimes it’s this level of success that can really take you by surprise. But why should it? After all, it’s what you’ve worked hard for, it’s what you’ve devoted hours of your life to and now it’s paying off.

But when success does come knocking, you do need to be ready for it and here’s how: by preparing from the ground up.

Take a look at your business plan. What did you plan for to accommodate growth? It’s time to put those plans into action or think about updating your current strategy. Give your website a thorough testing. Can it handle a huge increase in traffic? Does it have what it takes to work at capacity and process payment and so on without crashing.

If you do find yourself suddenly unable to handle your workload, you also want to look at what you can do outsource some of your tasks.

Consider hiring a personal assistant on a trial period. This can be a virtual PA who deals with your calls, online inquiries and so on working remotely.

If you do spend a lot of time answering inquiries that are similar in nature, you might also want to think about installing a bot on your website. This kind of artificial intelligence can make a significant difference to your customer’s experience by clearing up issues straight away and directing them forward to sales. Simple to install and set up through a programmer, it represents a great investment to drive your business forward.

Take a look at this and other online LLC services for when you’re looking to see your business really take off.

Time Flies

And with it a great deal of effort. It can be near on impossible to stay on top of your daily tasks, let alone manage your personal and social life outside of work. But with running your own business comes the need to be disciplined about your time keeping.

No one could accuse you of being lazy but you do need to take some time to relax and give your mind and body a complete break from the whirlpool of dealing with customers, creating your product or delivering your service and keeping on top of the books.

You need to take some time to switch off. That might mean building in some time to go to the gym, take a walk or just hang out with friends for an evening with some good food and a glass of wine. Step away from the laptop, power down the phone and be strict about the hours you are keeping.

Without this very strict approach you run the risk of burnout, a very real phenomenon. Don’t let yourself get sucked into the idea that if you’re not responding to inquiries 24-hours a day that the work will dry up. It won’t and you need to learn to believe that.

When you left your salaried life far behind you, you may not have known what you were letting yourself in for. When it comes to shouldering responsibility, being the boss can be a scary thing to take on. Believe that you are more than capable of taking this challenge on and you will see your business grow and on its way to the heights of success.

Build in time to think, time to step back and take a look at where you’re headed. Build in time to relax, to switch off and give yourself a well-earned rest. You’ve got this far and you’re destined for greater things to come so strap in because launching your new business is going to be quite a ride.

 

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Olivia is psychologist and entrepreneur from Brisbane. Mother of two beautiful children and proud owner of two silly boxer dogs. She is passionate writer, a traveler and conscious consumer, seeking healthy and sustainable products to incorporate into the lives of her family. Her motto is “Be the change you want to see in the world”.

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