Starting and running a business is rewarding, challenging, scary, exciting, lonely, overwhelming, empowering, and so much more. One of the challenges Virtual Business Owners is having the support. Most Virtual Business Owners work from their home office, making their commute a 4 second commute, but many times isolating them from other professionals, leading them to think they need to work their business alone. Does this describe you?
Do you think that since you don’t have different office and home address you should do everything?
Or maybe you think that as a start-up business, you are saving yourself time and money by doing everything yourself?
Truthfully, going it alone is the number one mistake Virtual Business Owners make, and leads many to failure. I know you didn’t start your business so that you could fail. Instead, you started your business so that you could have the life you intended, however that looks.
Since I know that you desire success, it is important for you to determine what you need for your business to help you grow the business you desire and intend.
Do any (or all) of these statements describe you?
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I am a new Virtual Business Owner.
I am an experienced Virtual Business Owner who has stagnated in my business growth.
I am an experienced Virtual Business Owner who is not happy with the direction my business has taken.
I struggle with setting boundaries in my business.
I struggle in maintaining communication with my client, they either don’t respond to my communication or when we do communicate, it doesn’t feel as if we are on the same page.
My clients don’t value my services.
Marketing – I don’t market.
I get my clients on “accident”.
I don’t have a systematic, well thought out marketing plan.
My marketing consists of hearing of an idea and trying it out, with little to no results.
I hear others talk about successful marketing strategies, but they don’t seem to work for me.
I don’t have a set structure for how I run my business. Communication, how I provide services, how I collect payment, etc.
My clients don’t know how I prefer communication, service, collect payment and more. I just do whatever for each client.
I don’t know how describe my service and the benefits of my service to others.
I tend to work all hours, putting in more hours than I intended when I started my business.
I feel lonely when I am working.
When I wake up in the morning, I do not feel a sense of excitement and motivation on starting my “work”.
I wish I had someone to brainstorm my ideas or ask questions for ideas when I am stuck.
If even one of these statements describes you, then we probably have a training or coaching program(s) that will help you. If 3 or more of these statements describe you, then we almost definitely have a training or coaching program(s) that will help you. If we don’t have something available through our programs, we work with many other trainers and coaches, with a variet of specialties, and are more than happy to help you to the best of our abilities find you someone that can help you create a solid business (and personal) business foundation.
Why should I include Coaching or Training in my budget?
I’m thinking of starting my own Virtual Professional Business, but I don’t know where to start. How do I find out about state/local regulations? How do I organize everything? How do I think up a name for my new business? Where is the best place to advertise?”
OR
I run my own business, but have lost my motivation and drive. I don’t feel I set it up right, and now it feel as if I don’t have control of my business. I am overwhelmed with all the work, and my family is complaining I spend more time with my business than them.
OR
I have heard the word marketing, but really don’t understand what I need to do. All the clients/sales I have gotten are by the Grace of God. When I do “market”, I do what I have heard others talk about, but it doesn’t work for me. I “hate” marketing!
If you have said these things to yourself, then you DEFINITELY need a coach. Would you go up to the starting line of a marathon without any preparation, without any planning, and wearing the wrong clothing? Of course not! To be successful in a marathon, you have to train (from the beginning through the finish line), wear the right running clothes and shoes and plan ahead for how it will affect your life. The same applies to your business. Your business is not a short-term sprint, but it is a marathon, that will continually need your time, effort, energy and creativeness. You have to continue to nurture your business, and one of the main ways you do this is to continue to grow yourself, learning new methods, ideas, and trying new things. Virtual Business Owners who don’t do this, are the ones who end up having a stagnate business or quitting.
The reality is that times are tough, which means as business owners, we have to be tougher and really focus on building and solidifying our business. What better way to do this, then to look at what established, financially secure businesses are doing?
“Organizations are linking learning to performance and the bottom line, and they understand the relationship between creating a skilled workforce and achieving enterprise-wide success.” (ASTD) Click here to read more statistics about the results successful business owners have with training, and why they realize the value of their investment.
What does this tell us about successful businesses? Business owners with successful* businesses understand the meaning behind “you have to spend money, to make money” even in down economic times. This information is valuable to you, as a business owner in the building and/or growing phase of your business, because time has proven to look towards those who have been there, done that. They all started where we are today, as a small business, but they did it right.
I challenge you to start thinking like a big business, successful CEO. CEOs know they are their business (especially solopreneurs), and they need to invest in their weaknesses, to strengthen their business? What training does your business need to take it’s next step forward? Do you need to step back and do some foundational business building because you took off too fast? Do you need to figure out how in the world you market your business? Maybe you are growing so fast, you need training on taking your business to the next level, and adding a team approach?
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