photo by remuz

It didn’t start out this way. 

When you first started your business you had a dream, it was exciting…maybe even fun!  Sure there was a lot of hard work, but you can still remember the thrill of your first clients, cashing your first check and the quiet satisfaction of delivering on a job well done.  Unfortunately that seems like a long time ago.  Now you feel more like a caged animal…trapped by a business that demands all of your time and energy and doesn’t give much back in return.

You’re not alone – according to a recent study, only 40% of small business owners took a vacation last year – some because of lack of money, but many of them because they can’t physically be away from their business for any length of time!  You’re past the point when running harder means you go farther and faster – now running faster only makes the wheel in the cage spin harder!

Are you a slave to your business?  Here are some surefire ways to tell and more importantly what it takes to escape that slavery.

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      It’s so Fluffy!!!!  from Despicable Me

Do you ever get that feeling that you’re just beaten down…that it’s too hot and nothing really matters?   There are times (especially after you make the mistake of watching the news) when it seems there’s nothing out there but bad things, people struggling and an endless parade of gray.

Well it’s time to perk up because I’ve got 3 things to inspire you:

• Bookbinding
• Shoes
• Unicorns!

It may not sound like an inspirational list, but keep reading and I think you’ll find something to get you moving!

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  photo by zitona

"You are the same today as you’ll be in five years except for two things, the books you read and the people you meet."  – Charlie ‘Tremendous’ Jones

I really like this quote from Charlie Jones.  I believe most people want to grow, want to learn and want to evolve into a better person, but just wanting something doesn’t make it happen, you have to learn new things, take new actions and meet new people in order to really become something more than you are today.

As a business owner or professional today – you are really busy!  No doubt about it.  However if you don’t make the time to learn new things or think about how you can change…you’re going to have a hard time getting ahead.

The good news is there are some great resources out there that can help you out of this conundrum.

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   photo by Dave F

Do you know what you’re subconsciously telling people about your business?  Are you sending messages that don’t match up with the impression that you’d like to send (assuming that you know what that is)?

The thing is that you and your employees are constantly sending out messages whether you mean to or not.  Have you ever been to a retail store where one of the clerks was rude to you or someone else close enough for you to overhear?  What about a restaurant where they don’t clean off the tables before they seat you?  Or maybe it’s something small like forgetting to respond to an email from a prospect.  Any one of those is likely to cost you a customer.

What messages are you sending about your business?

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So I had the ‘opportunity’ to go to the dentist this week.  It’s not my favorite thing to do, although luckily there were no issues!

On this trip I distracted myself from the scraping and polishing by observing how they ran their operation.  Maybe  a lot of dentists are this way these days (I’ve been going to the same one for quite a while) – but they have things running like a well oiled machine.

It got me to thinking – what could other business owners learn from this?

photo by azrainman

Although it’s a medical treatment, there are a lot of similarities with other kinds of businesses.  They have customers who have an issue, they create the solution using fixed resources and generate revenue based on their team’s efforts.

What could you learn from my dentist?  Let’s take a look:

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