The Top 5 Signals That Your Business Is Running You

Starting your own business is a great undertaking but running the day-to-day aspects of your business is the true challenge you will face as an entrepreneur. Do you find that the business you started to suit your lifestyle somehow taken over your life and home? If this sounds familiar, then your business is running you. Learn how to run your business again with these top five warning signs and helpful tips.

Stop Complaining And Take Control.
A common lament of the entrepreneur or SOHO business owner is if they knew then what they know now, they'd never have started their own business. The truth is that if they thought then about what they're buried in now, the story may have been quite different. It's never too late to take control. Here are five signals that your business is running you - with a quick tip to combat each.

1) You Find Yourself Ignoring Your Inner Voice.
You know, the one that keeps saying, "I'm too busy" or "I'm swamped". Listen to your inner voice. It's usually got a clearer handle on things. When you make a plan to change things you'll feel more in charge. Clients entrust you with their business daily. Learn to respect yourself and your clients by delivering on your promises.

2) Your "Creative Space" Has Become Your Procrastination Pit.
Creative space is a great thing. It's the zone where you develop and brainstorm new ideas. Next time you're procrastinating, do something useful. Go for a walk. Make a call. Play with your children. Don't acknowledge procrastination and it will cease to exist.

3) Hearing Your Cell Phone Ring Is Annoying.
The same goes for the other bells and beeps in your busy life like email or call waiting. These technologies are all very well, but you need to establish boundaries. Set-up reasonable times for your own life and stick to your decisions. Boundaries are only respected when people know they exist. Raise your boundaries and you'll raise your standards.

4) You See Clients As Alien Invaders.
If you're not relating well with clients, you're probably not working with the right people. Getting clear on your ideal client is pivotal to creating a business you can love. Go through old records and note the characteristics and attributes of the people you enjoyed working with. How can you attract these types to your business? What do you need to change?

5)You're Reading The Want Ads.
Let's face it, not everyone can run their own business, but since you've read this far let's assume you want to stick with it. First you need to acknowledge two simple facts: You're only one person and you can't do it all. Accepting this simple fact can be the key to formulating a new and productive business pattern.

Outsourcing As A Solution.
Sometimes the best solution is the obvious solution: hire more help. However as a small business owner, this may not be the best answer financially. Hiring an employee requires overhead. The solution is to hire an assistant but not an employee; hire a Virtual Assistant. By outsourcing, you can control costs and pay per task basis. Some of the things that can outsource include appointment setting, marketing, writing, web design, customer service and research.

Take Heed And Good Speed To You
So now that you know the warning signs, take note and heed them. By using our quick tips and in combination with outsourcing, you can gain control of your business, become more productive and be happier while running your business.

© Yvonne Thompson, Assistance For You All rights reserved. Permission is granted to use this article, as long as the entire article is posted and the "About the Author" section and all links remain intact.

About The Author Yvonne Thompson owns and operates Assistance For You, a Virtual Assistant Support Service where our motto is: Run Your Business, Don't Let It Run You! For more information visit http://Assistance-For-You.com

---

Is Your Employee Newsletter Management Propaganda?

It should not be. If it is an effective newsletter,... Read More

The Boss Didn?t Understand Why His Staff Wasn?t Reading His Mind

Many people believe that everyone sees the world exactly the... Read More

Dont Take New Hires for Granted

Hiring good people is only half the battle. The other... Read More

How to Reject a Job Applicant

A Nightmare That Really HappenedOver 10 years ago, when I... Read More

Hire People For What They Do Best

I recently flew from Seattle to Atlanta, I realized, just... Read More

Lead to Succeed: The Seven Essential Steps to Work Leader Success

In my book "You're In Charge?What Now?" I use a... Read More

Are You Ready to Sell Your Business

Make Sure You Understand Your Motivation for SellingAre you thinking... Read More

Creativity and Innovation Management :- Thought Leadership

Leadership is only sustainable when leaders consistently come up with... Read More

The Inferno of the Finance Director

Sometimes, I harbour a suspicion that Dante was a Financial... Read More

Forecasting Support Costs

Did you know that maintenance accounts for 50% to 80%... Read More

Rapid Culture Change is Possible

Purpose: Show how immersion leadership training makes strategic initiative success... Read More

Creativity and Innovation Management ? Money Doesnt Do It

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

Team Motivation - Tough Enough to Care

Sir Alex Ferguson has just celebrated his 1000 game in... Read More

Communicating CEOs

I see a PR firm has done a survey on... Read More

Making a Decision to Outsource: Driving Factors

Most executives view offshore outsourcing most of all as a... Read More

How To Delegate for Fun and Profit

Ah, the wretched pain of delegation. It comes easy to... Read More

The Significance of the Mundane

This article begins with a tip of the hat to... Read More

Are You Managing to Lead?

For many people, the terms "manager" and "leader" are synonymous.... Read More

Interviewing Applicants Can Be Hazardous to Your Wealth

1st Fact: Interviewing applicants is the most common way companies... Read More

The Seven Cs: Partnership Danger Signs - Communication Breakdown

An ongoing series of articles exploring the seven critical areas... Read More

Muggers in Our Midst - When Rumour and Gossip Pay You a Visit

'I heard it on the grapevine' the old song goes.... Read More

Lawyers With 2 Hands And Everything Else

I heard this back a few years ago. The boss... Read More

Process and Procedures Investments - How to Get Money Back

In September 2004, President Bush signed the $146 billion tax... Read More

3 Tests To Hire The Best

Question: What's the easiest, cheapest and quickest way to have... Read More

Create Your Methodology Based on a Standard Framework - Part One

OK. So you have decided that your organization has to... Read More

Managing Creativity - An Oxymoron! Not

Interrogated on a beach in Barbados by friends insistent that... Read More

To Outsource or Not to Outsource

In these days of restricted head count and tight budgets,... Read More

Managing Creativity

Creativity Starts Here!The ability of an organisation to create new... Read More

How to Delegate More Effectively

Do this simple excercise, and transform your life.First, Make a... Read More

Build Rapport Fast! - Eight Easy Steps

Building rapport is all about creating a relationship, in the... Read More

Punctuality in Business: What it Says About You

"Nothing inspires confidence in a business man sooner than punctuality,... Read More

Creativity Management and Time Pressure

There is a pervasive belief that time pressure stimulates creativity.... Read More

Conference Calling Can Save Your Sales OrganizationTime and Money!

Conference calling can save you money. There is no doubt... Read More