How well do you really know your own business?

 Take the “Your Business Today” Survey

Monday’s Money Message is FINALLY back! OK- yes, I know this is Tuesday. Be that as it may, I am thrilled to get my blog back on track. Just as a reminder, every Monday I want to start your week off with a money making tip / strategy / idea / etc. that you can use immediately in your business to help it continue to grow.

I would like to  relaunch this blog off by asking you -How well do you REALLY know your own business? Your first response may be- “It’s my business! Know one knows it better than me!” That makes sense. We are all so very proud of our businesses. In fact, you can say they are just like our children, right? Our businesses ARE our “babies”. We are the proud, loving, nurturing, devoted parents.

This brings in 2 challenges:

1. Parents are just not objective about their own children.
2. Human children by law must go to school at the age of 5 (or so). There is no law that says we must send our businesses to school.

So what might that mean for you?

In the case of objectivity, it means we see things as we want to see them , and perhaps not as they truly are. It takes a 3rd person objective view to  do so. To add onto this, even when well meaning people try to help (or suggest you might want help), we dismiss them, ignore them, etc. I hear so often “No one knows my business like I do, and therefore cannot help me with mine” or “I do not need or want any help- I can do it myself”. There are a few other phrases I come across as well. Just like with human children , some parents believe they are they only ones who can handle anything. Is that really the best course of action? What might be the downside of that thought process?

In the case of kindergarten, we send our kids off to school – to learn, to grow, to expand. It is so hard for some parents to do so, because they  are “afraid of what will happen”, or “no one knows how to take care of my baby like I do” or “how can I protect my baby if I am not there by their side?”  Think about how that type of thinking / believing / “knowing” could impact your business? What might be the ramifications?

And yet, I come across this all the time. many business owners have a difficult time putting heir business on the proverbial “school bus” and sending them off. I have worked with some VERY successful (seemingly) business owners who were afraid to let go.

For ANY business to”be all that it can be” (to steal a phrase), it MUST go to kindergarten! Then first grade, then middle school, high school, and beyond. Then and only then will the business owner be able to enjoy the true freedom that owing your business can bring (isn’t that why we all went into business in the first place?)

So I have a gift (or challenge depending on your perspective).  At the top of this post, I have a link to a survey. This is for YOU and you alone. I have given this survey to hundreds of business owners over the past 10 years. all of  them have thanked me and got tremendous value form going through it. Even those who were reluctant to complete it had to think about why.

Take the survey. Maybe you will come out seeing that you DO really know your business. maybe you will learn what you need to know about your business. maybe you may even learn you have no clue about your business. However it turns out, knowledge is power and this is excellent feedback. Use  that feedback to get your business off to “school”.

I will use this information to plan my upcoming trainings, courses, and programs. More importantly, it helps me forge my mission of positively and profitably impacting 13,800 small businesses by December 31st, 2017. My count as of April 30th is 7,348. I have a ways to go! I am hoping to really bump up that number by offering this opportunity to my readers. Everything is completely confidential and will NOT be used (except for my planning above) or shared with anyone. I’d love feedback!

If you would like to  see how I can help you with your top challenge, hop on my calendar HERE.
There is no obligation, I am here to help.

To your success-

Lee