Your House is On Fire Now: Taking Your Business Seriously from Day One
I hear this all the time: “I need to build my business and create $10,000 a month – in the next 30 days. I don’t have the time to wait. It has to happen now! Or I’ll run out of money (or time, or a job).”
People have various reasons for getting into this situation:
- I’m pregnant and we need more money for this little one.
- I’ve dipped into all of my savings and now there is very little left.
- I’ve done business programs and I haven’t really implemented and now I have tons of debt and no clients to show for it.
- I don’t have another stream of revenue or any savings and I have to be able to support my expensive lifestyle immediately.
- I’m now the sole breadwinner in my family since my husband lost his job and we’ve eaten through the savings.
Here’s the problem with this scenario. We are in service businesses. There is a difference between a product business and a service business. If you are creating a product, the money needs to be raised on the front end to create your first order or prototype. And if you get instant major distribution in a drugstore chain for example, you could be a millionaire overnight.
But in a service business, the source of your revenue is building relationships over the long term. And for most people it takes time to build those relationships. There are a select few practitioners that get major media exposure or stand in front of the right rooms full of hundreds of people – and fill their business immediately. But even those practitioners have to learn to maintain those relationships over time.
What’s more is that in a service business, marketing and connecting consistently is essential. You have to know how to run a business and create solid systems (such as client intake, follow-up systems etc) in order to keep clients happy, especially high-paying ones.
What does this mean?
First, that you can’t build your business overnight. So if you have the expectation that you’d like to be able to CONSISTENTLY create $100,000 or more in your business – you should start taking your business seriously now.
Second, most of you don’t have business skills naturally so you must invest in business training.
If you don’t invest in training, you’ll go out there and try to “figure it out” on your own. And you dabble in this and dabble in that. Before you know it, 12 months has flown by and you are still unable to buy the new shoes you’ve been eyeing or attract the number of clients you desire.
Your house is on fire now! Even if you can’t see the fire yet, it’s there.
- Don’t wait until you are out of money to learn the business skills you need to succeed.
- Don’t wait until you decide to start a family.
- Don’t wait until your partner loses his job.
- Don’t wait until your savings runs dry.
- Don’t wait until the car breaks down or you need a new washing machine.
It breaks my heart to see so many smart women not taking themselves or their businesses seriously until they are met with a crisis situation.
And that is the worst time to try to learn how to run a business. Desperation is neither healthy nor client-attractive.
The best time to really step it up in your business is day one. Invest in your education to learn how to create a successful venture from the very beginning. Trust me when I say it will save you so much time and money in the long run.
What are you doing today?
You are a powerful woman. You have the ability and skill set to set yourself and your family up with a very wealthy future. The choice is yours. Are you ready to commit?
PS: If the answer is yes, I’ll be your virtual cheerleader, cheering you on the whole way every single week. Let’s make 2012 the best year yet.
