Value your time

As small business owners, we're notoriously bad at valuing our time. There's always a fire to put out or fairly menial tasks that always need doing in our businesses, so we may as well do them. What we should do, however, is regard our time as a cost to our businesses.

I cover this thought in my book, The Small Business Success Guide, but it was brought home to me yesterday as I was speaking with a small business owner friend. She mentioned she was spending part (if not all) of her work day finishing off painting a room in her house in preparation for the impending arrival of out-of-town visitors.

I couldn't help but smile at the image of her balancing the phone under her chin to answer calls from clients, with the paint tin precariously lodged on the ladder, as she schlopped the paintbrush against the walls.

I think we all need a friendly reminder now and then that we are the brain surgeons of our businesses. We're the ones with all the ideas and the expertise. Is your business paying a brain to lay out the scalpels and mop the floors (or paint the walls) after an operation?

If someone asked you to do a job for them, what would you charge yourself out at? Take this rate and start applying it to everything you do during your working hours. When you start applying the concept of your time being a valuable commodity to your business, you'll be on your way to working on your business, not just in your business.

Ask yourself: is there something else you should be doing that will really benefit your business' potential today?

All success,

Margie

At a bookstore near you!

The purpose of the Small Business Success Blog is to share some of the tips I've discovered from researching my book, The Small Business Success Guide (pictured at left). You can pick up your own copy from all good bookstores, such as Dymocks, as well as online from sites such as Booktopia (http://www.booktopia.com.au/the-small-business-success-guide/prod9781742169590.html). In this blog, I'll be sharing a few of the proven strategies so that you can fast-track your own small business dream.

Wishing you every success,

Margie

Inspiration

Owning a small business is a spectacularly individual adventure. Your efforts span all industries, geographical locations and operational sizes. You have different levels of entrepreneurial experience and gauges of success from the small business owner next to you.

What you do know is that there might be a few things you could do better or smarter. That's where my book, The Small Business Success Guide, comes in. Your questions about business form the basis of this book. The answers are presented to you in easily digestible parts, complete with lots of ideas to action and current websites so you can check out more information yourself.

After all, you're in the driver's seat of your business. While you know it better than anyone, you also know that you're kicking around as many balls as you can, and you often don't have time to look up and work out the direction of the goal. This blog and my book will hopefully give you some direction.

Like any good coach, its aim is to celebrate your achievements while showing you some shortcuts to sustainable success.

Good luck!

Margie