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The 70 Lessons of Running A Business On One's Own

Guest post by: James Chan

Article Overview: This is a list of 70 lessons of sane, self-employment from the book Spare Room Tycoon.

The 70 Lessons of Running A Business On One's Own

These are the 70 lessons of starting, succeeding, and sustaining a business on one~{!/~}s own.

1. Being a entrepreneur is more than a way of making a living, it is a way of living your life.
2. Entrepreneurs~{!/~} main payoff comes in personal satisfaction, in autonomy, in deliverance from office politics, in the freedom to make our own mistakes instead of being forced to execute the misjudgments of others.
3. Discover who you are. You are your business~{!/~}s chief asset.
4. Passion is a wild card; it transforms and gives power to everything you do.
5. Who knows how many stillborn businesses there are~{!*~}possibly very successful ones~{!*~}that were doomed by a loss of nerve, an unwillingness finally to take action?
6. Starting a business is an encounter with forces far more powerful than yourself.
7. Reality rarely, if ever, follows our plans. And although we might be tempted to see that as reality~{!/~}s problem, it~{!/~}s really ours.
8. Running your business builds confidence and humility~{!*~}both at the same time. You~{!/~}re surprised by what you~{!/~}ve done wrong, and by what you~{!/~}ve done right.
9. Learn to think strategically, not just romantically. Find something that might provide the clue for the next stage of your business.
10. Believe in your visions, and keep having new ones.
11. Identify your strengths and design your business around them.
12. The spark for a successful business is as likely to come from your personal life as from your professional one.
13. When you do what you love, the money doesn~{!/~}t necessarily follow. You have to be doing something that people value highly enough to provide the level of income you require.
14. No matter how carefully you have tried to plan, things won~{!/~}t work out as you expected.
15. When things don~{!/~}t work, don~{!/~}t panic. Figure out why. When good results come from areas where you weren~{!/~}t expecting them, listen to what the market is telling you.
16. Get over getting fired, then worry about your business plan.
17. Expect to fail a few times.
18. You never know where the money will come from.
19. Forget who you used to be.
20. Selling is like breathing: Stop and your business dies.
21. Promoting your business isn~{!/~}t just for bad times. And it~{!/~}s not just for good times. It is for all times.
22. You~{!/~}re promoting your business, not yourself. If you learn to make the distinction, it is easier to sell and not so devastating to be turned down.
23. Small customers have money too.
24. Be prepared to be successful. A business plan is useful, but if it~{!/~}s too restrictive, it can blind you to opportunities that you~{!/~}re well equipped to realize.
25. Opportunities are often what we define them to be. Entrepreneurs are frequently faced not with well-defined challenges, but with ambiguous situations. What we make of such chances can alter everything.
26. When people want you, they~{!/~}ll find a reason to value you. But when you~{!/~}re trying to sell your services to people who are not ready to use them, you~{!/~}ll never win regardless of how logical, useful, valuable, or perfect you are.
27. Sometimes you win despite yourself.
28. One of the most powerful things you can do is to be out and about, reminding people you~{!/~}re still in business.
29. Your first client is yourself.
30. Confidence is money. Self-worth can translate into net worth.
31. Build confidence like a muscle, by facing anxieties, meeting challenges, and discovering that you have lived to tell the tale.
32. Business is a contact sport. Looking, acting and feeling sure of yourself gives you a big edge.
33. Ask for what you need to do a good job.
34. Determine what risks you can live with, then take them.
35. A brand is a distillation of identity and an affirmation of quality. Big companies use brands to give their products attributes that most entrepreneurs already possess.
36. Stay true to what makes you unique.
37. Most people dress to belong. The entrepreneur must dress to bill.
38. Don~{!/~}t pretend to be something you~{!/~}re not. But create a good package for all that you are.
39. While developing your business is the most important thing in your life, it isn~{!/~}t the most important thing in anybody else~{!/~}s life.
40. If you want people to help you, don~{!/~}t see them as targets.
41. Being known as someone people can depend on is the best promotion of all.
42. Charge enough to live. If you don~{!/~}t, you won~{!/~}t have a business.
43. Part of pricing is a science. The rest is confidence in action.
44. To justify your price, numbers are stronger than self-esteem.
45. Your billing must be timely and clear, or you will spend your life in a cashflow squeeze.
46. Serve your customers well. Don~{!/~}t count on being loved.
47. Seek a sane balance between work and life.
48. When you become your own boss, learn not to be a slave-driver.
49. Your business won~{!/~}t succeed if you die trying.
50. When you become independent, you realize how much you count on others.
51. To be able to ignore a ringing telephone is the beginning of sanity.
52. Find your business a room of its own.
53. Stay in touch with people you like.
54. Other people~{!/~}s anxieties are what keep us in business.
55. Choose the anxieties you can live with.
56. Anxieties are less troublesome when we~{!/~}re busy. A regular routine helps keep them at bay.
57. Don~{!/~}t let crazy customers drive you mad.
58. There are few things that cause more anxiety than the aspiration to safety; suddenly everything life throws at you jeopardizes your illusion of security.
59. Rejoice in good times, have faith in bad times.
60. Survival itself is reason to celebrate.
61. To sustain yourself, you must sometimes make painful compromises.
62. Even if you encounter the ghost of failure, don~{!/~}t let it haunt you.
63. Sometimes the worst happens. That~{!/~}s when you have to do something else.
64. Apparent disaster may hold the seeds of future success.
65. Every business needs to evolve, but not every business needs to expand.
66. You can~{!/~}t make a plant grow by pulling on it.
67. It~{!/~}s not your overhead, but what~{!/~}s in your head that counts.
68. You don~{!/~}t need to change your size to change the world.
69. When your business expands, you have to become a manager.
70. Entrepreneurs want freedom and independence. Building an ever-expanding empire is optional.

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Article Tags: autonomy, chief asset, clue, confidence, deliverance, encounter, entrepreneur, freedom, humility, money, nerve, office politics, passion, personal life, personal satisfaction, successful business, visions, wild card



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