Having regularly mentored other business peiple, I have noticed a trend. They are incredibly hard on themselves.
All of the self employed people I know, work harder than most for sometimes nothing more than the hope that their hard work will pay off at some time in the future.
They can sometimes waste time, beating themselves up and feeling stuck in a rut. When you are a one man/woman band it can be difficult to critically assess your own success. One thing that I discovered from going to a mentor myself a few years ago was that I was doing alright and doing my best and what more could be asked of me?
When you find yourself in that situation ask yourself thesse questions to assess what else you could be doing.
if you are doing all these things then don't beat yourself up.
1. Have you asked for Testimonials from your satisfied customers?
If you have some, place them on your website or your Linkedin Profile. If nothing else they will remind you on the difficult days that you are doing a lot right. Remember you can't please everyone. I know that because I know a business with 200 wonderful testimonials and 1 really whiny one. I'm sure the owner only thinks about the bad one.
2. Do you have a website, blog, social media presence and do you regulary engage online with your customers?
If your customers walked into your bricks and mortar store, would you ignore them. So don't do so online. Give advice, offer tips, showcase new products and guess what, TALK to them even when they are not buying anything from you. Don't just sell to your customers. That's something people get very wrong online. They set up a social media account and instantly start harassing people and overdoing a sales pitch.
3. Have you sat down and set milestones for what you want to achieve in your business.
Do you have a plan for reaching out to potential customers or for making new connections? Do you go to networking events. If you hate networking events you are not alone but they are definitely not something to be ignored. Check out where your niche networking events are and make an effort to go and educate yourself.
4. Make time to talk to other business owners. Sometimes you will realise that others can be going through a hard time too and you can help one another out. Don't consider your competitors as the bad guys. I have gotten the greatest of support from other trainers. What goes around comes around.
5. Sit down, grap a cup of coffee and pat yourself on the back for what you have achieved. Sometimes people can focus way to much on what they can't do. You are not expected to be a marketer, an accountant, a salesperson, a domestic God/Goddess, wonderful parent, cleaner, taxi driver and successful business guru. Do your best at what you are good at and get help with the rest. Outsource the bits you are bad at and concentrate on bringing an income in doing what you are good at.
