Congratulations on making it so far in this series of articles on running your own business. In this last episode we will address the issue of survival in the long run. We will discuss the ways in which you can keep maintaining your job satisfaction, find new challenges and opportunities, and continue your personal development alongside your company. Letâs dive into it!
Remember that you need to find a balance between operations and product
A challenge for all solo entrepreneurs and small businesses is to find the balance between operations and product/service.
On the one hand, we have the operations: you need to actually run the company. And that entails a lot of hard work. We have looked at these parts in our previous articles from this series. And as you will remember, running a business is not a one-off process.It is an ongoing job and if you do not keep those processes going, there is a great risk of ending up in unprofitability, stress, and errors which will harm you and your brand.
On the other hand, we have the product or service: the thing that the whole company is based on. If the product/service does not maintain its quality, the whole company is bound to fail.
You are your most important asset
In some industries this may be more applicable than in others, but regardless of your industry, as a freelancer or entrepreneur, you are your most important asset. Your success will largely depend on how you navigate the intricate environment of markets, customers, services, and business.
This is why it is crucial that you work on your personal development as well as your companyâs development.
Shoemakersâ children have no shoes
Forgetting about your personal development while focusing solely on business development is much more common than one might think. It is common even among coaches, whose (paradoxically) job includes talking to the customer about the value of taking care of and training their staff, and working on personal development. And as you can imagine, this is not unique to the coaching and training industry. Who has not heard the sayings "the baker's children get no buns" or "the shoemaker's son have no shoes"? Make sure that your skills are used in your own benefit too and give yourself the chance to grow in pace with your business.
Plan you personal and professional development
It is a difficult art to create a balance between customers, market needs, and taking care of yourself. But it is as difficult as it is important. Think about it this way: what good craftsman lets their best tools be worn out? What good musician fails to tune their instrument regularly? Now, when you are running a company and you are your own (and perhaps others') manager, it is you who has the responsibility of planning your personal and professional development. As a freelancer or entrepreneur, you are not only responsible for your business, you are also responsible for yourself.
Planning this is setting aside time and money for the development of your own skills, but also to include moments of recovery in your schedule, and to set reasonable expectations and demands from your performance and support yourself in meeting those expectations.
There are many obstacles you can encounter on this journey. We all have one or more weak links which can break as a result of different triggers. One way to make sure that you stay on track is to ask yourself: what do you need in order to deliver on top of your game? Reflect on this question, list your answers and then think about what it means for your way of running your business. How is this list reflected in your business plan?
As you become more and more established, your business plan develops and goes from the first years characterized by a steep learning curve and a fight for survival, to long-term sustainability. As time goes by, make sure to expand your business plan with chapters on service development, personnel care, and training planning. This should be, of course, done while keeping a close eye on your budget. But keep an open mind - costs and profits can be measured using different parameters: time, energy, money. Lately, I myself have included both time and money in my budget to get a more comprehensive picture of my business.
How do you keep your motivation levels high all the time when running your own business?
Frankly, you donât. Very few of us are able to motivate ourselves in all situations with our strength and energy alone. Stagnation is bound to surface at one point or another.This is why it is important to reach out beyond yourself for support with both energy and growth opportunities.
One way to find energy and growth opportunities is to join a network. Sometimes the networks you need already exist out there and all you need to do is join them. Other times, you have to create them yourself. Some networks are formal, while others are informal. The rule of thumb is that you need three kinds of needs met in your networks:
business development
professional development
personal development
Having people who know you and your journey will offer you a lot of support, as they will hold you accountable for your progress, as well as cheer you on.
Example of network for coaches
The International Coaching Association, ICF, is a global organisation supporting coaches and also Sweden's industry association for coaches and a good example of a network for your professional development. Here you can choose the level of activity and involvement. You can be involved locally in your town, country, continent, or you can be involved in the international network. You have the freedom to choose what fits you best.
Find support from coaching
Having a coach can help you get more clarity in your work, get more energy, and overcome the challenges you are faced with.
Here it can be a good idea to differentiate between business coaching and personal coaching. Business coaching is focused on your business development, where you get support in running and improving the way you run your company.
Personal coaching supports you in your own development, as a person, both as a private individual, and as an entrepreneur. In an actual coaching session the business and personal aspects are oftentimes blended together. But in order for you to make the right choice regarding your coaching decision and to help your coach understand whether the two of you are a good match, you need to be clear about what you are looking for. Which area do you primarily want to work with right now? Who do you want to do it with?
The more you get to know yourself, the more you know what suits you, what works well for you and what makes you effective. In order to get to know yourself though, you need to be challenged. Very little of it happens within your comfort zone. So get out there beyond the borders of comfort and see what you find there. This will bring some little discomfort, but the potential gains are definitely worth it.
My favorite things to keep my own development journey going
Coach training, regular short for constant inflow and occasional deep efforts to challenge myself.
Own coaching
Coach conferences
Conversations with coaching colleagues in ICF's network
Surprise myself with unexpected training in areas other than coaching, preferably together with other industries.
Schedule reflection time
Allocated reading days, own time to read research and literature
What are your development engines?