Archive for the ‘Success’ Category

I’m a member of a small business discussion group, and post there often. Once in a while, I’ll repost one of my posts here in the blog if I think my audience will be interested. This is one of those times.

There was a question asked about financing a business with credit cards. The original poster (who doesn’t own a business – just saying that for context, not to disparage her) stated she wouldn’t feel comfortable doing this. That’s probably a fairly smart attitude for most, but it goes against what I feel makes a successful business owner.

Here’s my reply:

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Not to sound negative or disparaging to those that won’t do this, but I think part of what makes an entrepreneur successful is that willingness to fly without a net. That includes quitting jobs, that includes using savings, that includes taking on debt.

There are millions of people out there that would “like to” start a business and/or work from home. However, they say things like “but… right now, I have x and y, and my job is good….. maybe someday”. That’s all well and good, but those people will never start businesses. They want it to be safe and foolproof. They don’t want risk. They may fool around with something part time someday, but that’s about it. Business isn’t “safe”. There is no good time.

I quit a good job and financed my first business on credit. I was 24 or 25. It failed, and I was left with maybe 10k in CC debt. I eventually paid it off, quit another job (or got fired… same thing) and started another business. That one didn’t work either. Left with maybe 4k in CC debt. Paid it off, got fired again, used CC a little, and here I am, nine years later.

I always knew I’d succeed. Knew without any doubt. Thus, taking on debt didn’t bother me.

I know I sound very black and white here, but I think that’s what you need as an entrepreneur. If one is adverse to risk, one should not work for themselves.

Last year, I was really busy. Tons of client work, wrote a book, etc. It got to where cutting the lawn was a pain in the @#$. So we hired a lawn guy. Local business, great guy, really professional, etc etc.

Let me tell you, this was bliss. For the first time in my life, I didn’t even think of the lawn – every Tuesday, as if by magic, the lawn was cut. Not only did it make me feel good personally (bending over a lawnmower is not great for my back), but also in a work sense – it’s hard not to feel like you’ve “arrived” when you can hire out to have the lawn done.

Anyway, cut to this year. Business is not as good. Scary economy. Etc etc. The lawn care proposal for this year comes. As a service to his customers, he’s not going to raise his prices, but I’m still somewhat considering dropping it. Bad economy and all.

Then my wife steps in. “Owl” she says (she calls me “Owl”) “you are NOT dumping the lawn guy. You still make enough, and we’re not going to be the people that cut someone. He needs his customers just like you need yours. And you LOVE having the lawn cut. I’m sending that proposal back with a “yes” right now.

God, I love my wife. She puts it in pretty good perspective. Business is down a little, but it’s not down enough that I’m gonna cut my lawn guy.

I put (Classical Music) in the title to this, as home based business tips and the like will definitely be an ongoing thing here, and I should differentiate them.

Ok, today’s home business tip has to do with music (classical music, obviously).

About four or five years ago, I got an XM radio for my house. At first, being a fan of “classic rock” I tuned it to the “Deep Tracks” station, which played some of the more obscure and forgotten songs in rock. And while it was a good station (I still listen to it in my truck from time to time), I found it very hard to work to.

In fact, I found almost any music distracting.

This was odd to me, because in every job I ever had, I always had a radio going with no problem. Maybe on my own I care a lot more about the “work”? I don’t know, but I do know the radio was distracting. It made me a little sad, as I bought this XM radio (and prepaid a three year subscription) for work.

But this is XM (now Sirius/XM) – there are over 100 channels of music… there must be something that suits.

And there was – classical. Classical music fit perfectly into the background.

So I started having the classical channel on everyday… and you know what happened? My workday, in an overall sense, got a little better. Not like I’m singing from the rafters or anything (now there’s a site!), but yes, I noticed my overall mood and demeanor improved with classical music.

With that in mind, I experimented some – my setup is the XM receiver, hooked to a wireless speaker system. I have two speakers in my office, and I keep the volume at a nice “background” level. But I can add speakers to the wireless setup, so I bought two more, and put them upstairs… so essentially, we have classical music as a background to our home-life as well.

This will sound a little silly, but Maryellen and I both feel this enhances our lives. Again, I’m not talking profoundly, but it’s definitely noticeable. Bottom line: our lives are a little bit better better with classical music as a backing track to our day to day stuff. And it’s so non-intrusive that you can just leave it on if you are watching TV, talking on the phone, etc. 

Now, I want to stress that we’re not big fans or anything – I wouldn’t know Chopin’s Eternal Sonata #9 from “Chopin’s Afternoon Snack and Nap” . That’s somewhat the beauty of the satellite radio – you need not be a fan or anything. Just set it to the station and let it play.

I have found in the last year that I can change it up some – Jazz makes a pretty nice background too, and I actually prefer Jazz when I am writing books. But for day to day work (and life), it’s classical.

I heartily recommend it, both in buisness, and in life. It will make your life better – I promise you.

Obviously, due to my profession, I’m interested in the words people use. And this interest covers not just the written word, but the spoken word as well.

Plus, besides being a writer, I’m also very into personal success, self-improvement, business motivation, and that sort of thing. It’s evident in my business beliefs, practices, and even in my writing (a full third of Start and Run a Real Home Based Business was devoted to the business mindset.) In short, give me something by Tony Robbins (etc) and I eat it up.

So combining these two things (words, and personal development), I am of the definite opinion that the words you use to describe yourself and such play a huge role in how your life plays out.

Let me give you an example:

I was talking with someone (whom I’ll leave unidentified) the other day. He has a “professional trades” type business, and he’s marginally busy during the building season, and starves in the winter. Essentially, he barely eeeks out a living. Part of the reason he starves is because he does almost *nothing* to market himself, etc. He just doesn’t see the correlation between marketing and the phone ringing.    

But I think the larger reason he’s not successful is his overall self-image. Two things he said the other day really stand out in my mind in this regard.

The first thing he said was mentioned when we were talking about the economy. He said, in a somewhat disgusted manner, that “things are set up so the little guy can’t make it” (he was obviously referring to himself and others like him.)

This struck me as somewhat profound. Because personally, I would NEVER see myself as “a little guy” to be influenced by how “things are set up”. First of all, I’m not a “little guy” in any area of my life (so you “male enhancement” magic pill people can stop e-mailing me), but this goes double for how I see myself in a business / social standing sense. Not only am I relevant, I see myself as a shining star.

Whether my self-image view is shared by others is not important to me – I think I am, and I conduct myself and my business that way. And to me, it pays off.

The second thing my friend said was in response to my views on the middle class. Essentially, I feel the “huge” middle class in the US was artificially created by WW2, the GI Bill, the Baby Boom, and the fact that the US was the only real manufacturer left standing after the war (I’ll expand on this in another post in the upcoming weeks).

Basically, I said  that before WW2, people were (in general terms) either rich or poor, and it will be that way again. So my friend says “well, I know which side of that equation I’ll be on” (meaning poor).

Again, it interested me. He sees himself as being poor. Hence the self-fulfilling prophecy we learned in Psych 101 comes into play – he sees himself as being poor, so he will be (and is.)

I find this stuff fascinating, because the older I get, the more I see it come into play – people with healthy outlooks and positive self images typically do well in life. Those with poor images almost always do poorly.

So, how do you see yourself?