The success of your home business is built on four important cornerstones,
Skills - Mindset - Relationships - Environments
As you prepare for the journey ahead, set goals for yourself in each of these areas to ensure your business is built on a solid foundation and grows at an even keel.
1. Skills
What skills do you need to develop? Do you need to learn about marketing, sales, copywriting, communicating, technology, networking, organizing, presenting, leading or prioritizing?
Business leaders are master marketers and sales people. Regardless of your chosen field of endeavor, developing those two skills is absolutely critical to your success.
Of course, they don't complete the recipe. Identify other important skills you'll need and create a plan to start acquiring them.
2. Mindset
What disempowering beliefs block you from taking action, making decisions, having confidence and giving everything you've got to create the success and happiness you deserve?
You're not alone if you're fighting internal battles. Corporate executives, successful business owners and many professionals sabotage their potential to enjoy true happiness in all areas of life.
These challenges affect virtually everyone regardless of gender, nationality, religion, family status, socio-economic background or financial status, and more often than not link back to experiences from our youth.
How often have you sabotaged your efforts to grow beyond your wildest dreams or reach your higher vision for yourself?
It could be traced back to a statement made by an authority figure or someone you loved and could have been taken out of context because of your youth, or it may have been malicious in intent, but never dealt with completely because you haven't had the tools to do it.
Mindset may be the biggest challenge to overcome, yet has the greatest impact on whether or not you achieve your goals and dreams.
3. Relationships
How are your relationships with yourself, family, friends, co-workers, customers and others?
Are you comfortable in intimate conversation or do you prefer groups? Do you have the confidence to approach a stranger and begin a conversation or do you try to become one with a nearby plant or wallpaper pattern hoping not to be noticed?
Do people know they can count on you to keep your word, make appointments on time and complete tasks as promised or do you over commit and under deliver?
Do people know they can trust you to keep conversations private and speak positively about them when they're not present, or do you criticize others in conversation when they're not there to defend themselves?
Battles with a spouse, siblings, parents, kids and friends can eat up mental ram and take your focus away from business. Sometimes these battles are with someone who has passed on, yet you keep the battle raging in your mind.
Positive relationships support you. Negative relationships, real or imagined create harm.
4. Environments
How are your environments supporting you?
Is your physical environment clear of clutter? This includes your home, office and vehicles. Are you surrounded by unhealthy foods or toxic substances? Do you have toxic people in your life who drain your energy?
What about your financial environment?
Can you accurately state how much cash flow you have, how much you bring in each month and how much is spent each month and on what?
Can you forecast upcoming expenditures and do you have a plan to meet them?
Do you know how to correctly interpret an income statement or balance sheet?
You may choose to have someone take care of your bookkeeping and accounting, but as a responsible business owner, it is imperative you understand what's going on.
Your body is also an environment.
Does it receive adequate fuel (sleep and healthy food) and exercise? This environment provides energy, clear thinking, stamina, and mobility. Without this vehicle, you would not have a business ... or life. Do you treat it with the respect and appreciation it deserves?
Do you need to learn about healthy eating, yoga, meditation, strength or stamina building exercises? Do you withhold visiting a doctor even though you're experiencing discomfort or obvious symptoms of a health issue?
Without your body, the game is over.
The degree of your business (and life) success directly relates to the degree you invest in all four cornerstones.
Choosing to focus only on one, two or three leads to a lop-sided result -- much like a four-legged chair with a missing leg. It can't stand on its own.
In order to address these four cornerstones, you may have to read books, take courses or programs, join organizations, seek out mentors or coaches, find mastermind partners, and surround yourself with people who can provide you with what you need.
If cost is an issue, start with your local library and Internet searches. You'll find plenty of helpful resources at zero cost. Tap into the minds of brilliant entrepreneurs and industry leaders. Learn about their challenges and follow their journey to success.
Contact a local business person you respect and ask if you can interview him. Most people say yes to this request because people generally like to help others.
You don't have to try to eat the whole elephant in one bite. Start simple by selecting one or two areas to focus your attention on and create an action plan that allows you to spread your efforts evenly across the four cornerstones.
For example, you can start cleaning up your physical environment while checking a book out from the library on the subject of sales, marketing or improving personal relationships.
Or, you can enroll in a night course at your community college on the subject of financial intelligence and volunteer for a local organization once or twice a month to start building new relationships.
Your possibilities are limited only by your imagination and if you need help with that, find others to assist. Brainstorming is a powerful exercise.
Focus on these four cornerstones, commit to giving necessary attention and energy to each and your business will be built on a solid foundation and capable of exponential growth.
2007 © Laurie Hayes - The HBB Source
Laurie Hayes, founder of The HBB Source, and creator of The Complete 12-Step Guide To Starting A Home-Based Business, helps entrepreneurs build loyal client relationships and attract more quality referrals. Get her free ezine packed with helpful resources at http://www.thehbbsource.com and learn how to build your business through customer appreciation at http://www.hbbsourcecards.com
The 4 Cornerstones of A Successful Home-Based Business - To learn more about this author, visit Laurie Hayes's Website.
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