Retraining myself to be a [more] successful business owner

by XDude
14 replies
Hello!

I've been a freelance web and video nerd for almost 9 years now.

For the majority of that time, I've been more of an "employee" than a "business owner."

And, for the majority of that time, I've wanted to make the leap (or the transition) from one to the other but I keep finding myself thinking like the employee, thinking it's better to do the work myself, that it takes too long to find and train someone, etc, etc.

Clearly it hasn't been working for me.

I heard this last night:

"Whatever you are doing at any time, you are physically modifying your brain to become better at it."

And then I realized ... if I can form habits that better support the "business owner" style of thinking, and keep practicing them, I can definitely become an amazing business owner.

So, I'm here to ask you: what are some thoughts/feelings/actions/beliefs/attitudes/behaviors I can start adopting right now, and continue practicing, until I'm in the habit of growing my business, helping more people, making more money, doing less of the "grunt work" and more innovating?

Thanks.
#business #owner #retraining #successful
  • Profile picture of the author IrisMKH
    I'm not in a position to give advice... rather need it myself, but Randy Pausch has some golden nuggets in his lectures - especially on delegation and setting priorities:
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  • Profile picture of the author ryanbiddulph
    Good move!

    I'd suggest meditating, to become an observer of your thoughts. First step to some serious reprogramming.

    All the best!
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    Ryan Biddulph helps you to be a successful blogger with his courses, manuals and blog at Blogging From Paradise
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  • Profile picture of the author XDude
    Always doing plenty of that! Whenever I notice I'm in a pattern, I'll immediately stop it.

    The thing is, I often don't notice I'm in a pattern until it's 9 PM and I'm exhausted.

    Thanks for the video, IrisMKH! I've saved it to my hard drive and have watched half ... while in the middle of consuming a number of other useful things, such as:

    Email Is For Setting Expectations - 99U
    How to Dramatically Reduce Time Typing | Real Life E®
    Autotext - Text Expander for Windows - Snippets Organizer

    I've reached out to a couple coaches whom I think may be able to give some pointers as well.

    I'm certain that one of my new habits to adopt is to NOT try to multi-task ... but dammit, there's so much good stuff out there to learn O.o
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  • Profile picture of the author XDude
    Well, I had a really good one-hour session with a brilliant marketer yesterday.

    I learned that I have a lot of work to do when it comes to selling myself. Not for getting new clients -- but telling my existing clients what I already do for them.

    I host websites for over 60 people. Yet I'm broke. Clearly there's something wrong with this picture!

    I think my next "habit" to adopt would be to regularly remember the value of what I do, what I provide, etc. -- and start telling people about it, rather than having the internal dialogue of "I don't provide anything unique."
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  • Profile picture of the author PTR
    Read The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber.

    It talks through some of the pitfalls and issues people discover when moving from being an employee to running a business.

    Then read it again in a year's time and see how many 'Duh!' moments you have as you look back and see all the mistakes you made.

    Repeat annually until successful!
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  • Profile picture of the author XDude
    hehehe

    Yeah, that book's been recommended to me more than a few times...

    Originally Posted by IrisMKH View Post

    I'm not in a position to give advice... rather need it myself, but Randy Pausch has some golden nuggets in his lectures - especially on delegation and setting priorities
    Thanks, I finally just finished watching it!
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  • Profile picture of the author DarkRake
    The best Habit Designer i ever known is BJ Fogg and His Fogg's Behavior Model.
    It was surprising that his concept on Tyne Habits could help me so much on building new habit, so if you need to build new habit without motivation and will power but guaranteed work, try His Tyne Habits.
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  • Profile picture of the author XDude
    Did you mean Tiny Habits?

    Tiny Habits w/ Dr. BJ Fogg - Behavior Change

    Looks interesting. Thanks, I'll check it out!
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  • Profile picture of the author XDude
    That's really cool. I've signed up for the next "weekly session" thing. Thanks again for sharing it.

    I'm discovering that I need help figuring out WHICH habits I want ... I'm sure his system will work great once I figure that part out. Or is the whole point to not get wrapped up in choosing huge, earth-shattering habits, but opt instead for little funny ones?
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  • Profile picture of the author Trey Morgan
    Find somebody that is doing what you want to do. In other words, get a mentor or a coach and/or study their books, videos, ways of doing things and apply what you learn to your own situation.
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  • Profile picture of the author XDude
    I thought this forum was full of such people?
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  • Profile picture of the author XDude
    Here's a little list I put together.

    I've attempted to put, in priority order, how to go about my business working hours.

    Thoughts?

    1) Invoice clients
    2) Follow up with new business prospects
    3) Check up on, or create, business generation/promotion
    4) Follow up with delegated tasks, continue working on projects
    5) Answer other emails sitting in Inbox; if lengthy, schedule for another day and advise client
    6) Work on the ebook/guide I'm writing
    7) Develop/brainstorm new innovative services
    8) Learning/experimenting with new programs, systems, etc.

    Of course, all of the above takes place AFTER my personal "self care" for the day.

    I wouldn't do all of these every single day, as the amount of work that needs to be done every day fluctuates -- if I somehow end up spending 12 hours troubleshooting an issue I'm clearly not going to be in a space to work on my ebook, for example.

    But, what do you guys think in general? Should the priorities be switched around? Anything I've overlooked?

    Okay fankyu!
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  • Profile picture of the author RogozRazvan
    Yes, limit your priorities to three or five.
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  • Profile picture of the author XDude
    Well, I suppose a simplification of my list above might be:

    1) Get new business
    2) Take care of existing clients
    3) Learn/find/create new ways to continue growing the business and making it more efficient.

    Yes?
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