By Nikki Viljoen – Viljoen Consulting
Starting your own business and keeping things on track and going in the right direction is probably one of the most daunting tasks.
You are everything to all people – your clients, your suppliers/service providers, your staff and even yourself. Your accountability and responsibility increases dramatically and the pressure and stress that you put yourself under would be the same as asking someone to balance a fully grown elephant on the head of a pin.
There are instances where things go wrong and you haven’t made any kind of provision for them, simply because you actually had no clue that they even existed and there are other things that go wrong because – well actually you messed up. The bottom line is that sometimes things go wrong.
These mounting issues, and the way that you react to them actually will shake you to the core of your being. Your self confidence takes a leave of absence and you wonder if you should have yourself committed to the nearest institution because clearly you are not of sound mind and judgment, to actually think that you could run your own business and be successful at it!
Sounds familiar doesn’t it? I promise you, you are not alone – we have all been there, to hell and back again.
Does this mean that you will no longer be passionate about your business – of course not! What it does mean though is that you will start having to conduct some sort of reality check with yourself.
For me the easiest way is always to write things down. So make lists of everything. Things like ‘what you have accomplished’ and ‘what still needs to be done’. How about ‘all the opportunities that you have uncovered’. Then of course, there are ‘issues’ or ‘things happening’ or ‘things that could happen’ in the business that could have a bad or negative effect on your business. Decide which are avoidable and make a decision on how you are going to avoid them. Look at the ones that are unavoidable and decide how best to deal with those too.
Put together a plan of action and then give yourself target dates and/or times to complete the task. Be realistic.
Once you have completed these lists and the ‘how to’ of what you can and can’t do, you will have a feeling of absolute empowerment. You see working through issues in this manner shows you that you will be able to work through anything.
Keep you head, keep your cool, calm down and work through each issue – one at a time.
Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za or http://www.viljoenconsulting.co.za
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