Another day, another dollar…
“Are you sure you can deal with not having a steady paycheck?”
I’d be retired in Napa by now, sitting on my deck, sipping some obscure cab sauv - if only I had a buck for every time someone asked me that when I announced my decision to venture into the grand word of self-employment.
Surrrrrrrre, I told myself. After all, I had been in consulting for years - which is as close as you get to not knowing where your next meal is coming from. And I had been helping my husband run his own business for close to half a decade. You’d think I would have known better, eh?!
It’s HARD. With a big, huge capital H.A.R.D. But not in the way you would expect. Financially it is stressful, of course. But I knew that it would be. The real challenge is the self doubt which creeps up on you during those rough weeks when the phone isn’t ringing, or in our case, the Blackberry lies dead as a door mouse with not a tremble to be had. Those are the moments which I have trouble dealing with. They are almost always made worse by the fact that they follow brisk periods when new clients abound, good clients are full of new projects, and you barely have time to invoice the work being done. Periods when you can finally sit back, put up your feet and sigh “Wow. We made it.” Then, nothing.
So you plunge back into self-questioning mode, you go over the business model again, you re-validate the target market, brand effectiveness, advertising campaigns and overall marketing strategies…and inevitably, if you did your homework right the first time, you come to the same conclusions. Yes, the model is viable, the brand is well developed, and it’s just a matter of time…
So, if you are in a funk right now, my best advice to you is this: rethink your business model, your target markets, your branding. Try to find room for improvement, because I do truly believe that this constant re- validation makes us stronger, better small business owners. Every time you revisit what you are trying to accomplish, and how you intend to do it, you become more in tune with your strategy and your objectives. And by all means, if you need a second opinion, we’re here to help. And once all that is done, sit back, with your martini / chardonnay / 25 year old port…because once this thing takes off, you won’t have a moment to spare.
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Tags: business model, entrepreneur, marketing, strategy, stress, target market
