As a business owner, you are both the boss and the employee. Some people can thrive in this type of situation and achieve more than they could in a traditional work environment. For other people, this situation can spell disaster. That is why it is important to analyze yourself several times a year to make sure you are staying on track.
Are you focused on your business? This alone can throw your business into high gear or create a standstill. It can be easy to lose focus when you work at home, as there will always be other things competing for your attention. It is okay to let the laundry wait for a few hours while you work on your business. Your laundry can’t pay your bills, but those few hours you put into your business could reap you many financial rewards.
It’s not only important to focus on your business, it’s also important to focus *in* your business. It’s easy to get sidetracked from one task by some new idea or offer. Spreading yourself out over too many projects means none of them are going to get done effectively. It’s all about focus.
Are you being productive? At the end of the day, do you ever feel like you worked all day but accomplished nothing? Take a look at the tasks you are working on, and whether they are actually important to your success. If you find yourself getting sidetracked by surfing the web, chatting in forums or reading blogs, try to schedule time for those activities after your “real work” is done.
If your day is being chewed up by answering email, updating your websites or doing research for your next product, you might want to consider outsourcing those things to a virtual assistant. This can free up your time to work on the most important things that only you can do.
Are you reaching your goals? If you find that you are constantly missing your goal deadlines, you may want to take the time to revamp your goals. Create an action plan that will be easy to follow and help you get to your end result.
Would I hire myself? This is a tough question to ask yourself, but it is very important. It may sound silly, but perhaps you could write out a job description and give yourself an interview. Are you the type of employee you would want to hire?
If you answered “no” to the above question, take some time to write out the areas within yourself that you would like to improve. This can be a hard exercise to complete, but once you have analyzed yourself, you’ll be on your way to becoming a better business owner and having a better business.