October 2011
All Guts No Glory - Running A Small Business Today
Submitted by Valerie Donati on Thu, 10/20/2011 - 15:43
So, it was bound to happen, I'm going to write a book about runing a small business. Of course I am! It won't be your "Top 10 Tips to Making it Rich in Business", or "3 Key Ways to Manage an Unruly Team..." I'm working off the premise that most "real" small business owners are not only looking for good ideas and new ways to make it in this VERY tough economy, but maybe just a bit of encouragement that they are actually doing a good job - if not the best, definitely the best they can do.
In my opinion those of us that have taken the plunge should give our big collective selves a big pat on the back. We may not be changing the world (though some of you are trying), but we are not on the dole or working off someone else's back. Running your own business means you're willing to take a risk, if that is only a nice way of saying you're a gambler at heart. But here's the thing, lots of people talk, but very few take the walk, and that's a VERY few, I might add, when the banks have dried up their funding and a good dollar (or euro) is hard to find.
I'm writing a book for the big business people (I was going to say guys, but that's a bit sexist, isn't it?) too because they need a little kick in the rear. They need a little reminder that small business fuels most economies, and while they may feel entitled, they need us - they could learn a bit from us too. When the economy crashed we didn't get bailed out did we? How many of us are still making it work, without the added backdrop of a running cash flow? We're mean, we're lean and we are going for it. No matter what! Because we have guts, never mind the glory. It doesn't really pay the bills anyway....Here's to the small business owners and all those people that have the daily nerve to work for them. You're my heroes!!
Running A Business: The Risk Factor
Submitted by Valerie Donati on Thu, 10/27/2011 - 16:36
Anything new you undertake has always got an element of risk attached to it. If it's new, it's untested and therefore risky. That is a fact. If you are risk adverse, starting a business is not only a bad idea, it may be the worst idea you ever entertain. There are no guarantees in business. None. That old adage "if it appears too good to be true it probably is" IS ALWAYS TRUE! I can't remember, without exception, any time I've found that phrase to be wrong. I've set out on some "too good" schemes in my day, with high hopes and high expectations and I have fallen flat on my face. So hard that I finally vowed to stick by the "too good, too bad" rule - I know it's too good friend, too bad I won't try it.... Which doesn't mean I'm risk adverse, just savvy. It took a while to get here, with some hard knocks along the way, but here I am, still standing.
Risk. Most of the best things you will ever do in life will require some form of risk - from choosing where to go to school, whom to marry, what to eat, where to go on vacation. The aforementioned sounds mundane but there are risks involved. I love hearing from people who pride themselves on not taking risks and playing it safe. They can be smug all they want but we know the truth - life requires risk to be lived, not just to its fullest, but lived. Period. Our natural state is a fragile one. These bodies we inhabit are not exactly made of tough stuff. Just walking out your front door on any given morning can produce hundreds of potentially risky situations. Still, we get up each day and take a walk out that front door. Some of us just take a riskier walk than others.