Take Ownership of your Business

There are many joining our ranks on a daily basis, and the same could be said for many industries.  The desire for being in control of one’s future, the work they do, and who they work for, plus being able to choose their working hours are a driving force for people making that decision.

I know that when I made this decision nearly 19 years ago, I desperately wanted to be home for my children and hated all that wasted time on the road or on a train every single day. I hated not being home if a member of my family were sick and needed me to be there for them.  Whatever the reason, people are choosing to set up business and work in their homes and via the Internet.

The trouble with starting up a business, though, is that it can get very daunting, especially if you don’t know which direction to turn, or what to do first, or next. Sometimes it can be tempting to take shortcuts to try and get to where others seem to be with their businesses already.  Taking shortcuts can mean that you’re missing out on a number of things.  Mainly, ownership of your business.

It’s good to ask what others have done before you and learn from their mistakes and triumphs, but it isn’t good to copy what they have set up, without understanding the process they went through to get to that point.  While it is useful to see what others may have in the way of templates, business plans, brochures, etc, it is not good to use what they’ve set up, or duplicate their website, without having travelled the pathways they have.  Going through each step yourself, without short-cutting the process means you gain ownership of your business, you develop a history and pathway that belongs to you and when the going gets tough, as it always does at some point, the time and effort you’ve put in will pull you through.  If, however, you’ve copied what others have done without understanding the decision processes they went through to get there (like choosing your rates for example) it is very easy to just drop everything and decide it can’t work for you, perhaps you need to go back and get a job.  Many people get disillusioned that way, thinking that only those who got set up at the ‘start’ can be successful but no-one else can.  That is wrong thinking.

I see some who are new to the industry joining forums and then asking for things to be given to them. They are still very much in the ’employee’ mindset where they are used to things being provided so they can get on with their job.  The trick is now, as a business owner, to learn how to create those things or purchase them when needed (they do become a taxable item), in order to get their business up and running.  Don’t get me wrong. Of course you can still ask about how things are done, or ask for examples to view if you don’t know where to start, but work hard to be an individual. Because, after all, it’s the individuals that stand out and can be seen in a crowd.