REACHING OUT: Don't be afraid to ask for advice and share your experiences.

If you’re reading this post you likely have your own business. Or you are dreaming of having your own business and may be getting ready to launch one.  If so, congratulations and YES you can do this! I read a great book once called “The e Myth” by Michael E. Gerber just before opening my own business and I loved it and feel the need to share it with every business owner I know.  I highly recommend it. Gerber does a great job of identifying what it’s going to take for you to be a successful entrepreneur and why so many small businesses fail. He helps you see that it takes 3 distinct personalities or ways of thinking to make it work. Are you the craftsman, the technician, the person that is creating the product? Or are you the manager, great at balancing priorities and strategies? Maybe you’re the visionary, the entrepreneur that sees opportunity around every corner and is fearless enough to go explore? Turns out you have to be a little of all of them. I won’t give away all the great information in the book but if you get tunnel vision and focus too much on one area and ignore the others, your business will fail. Most of us don’t consciously know that we, as owners, must split our time into 3 key segments and do it consistently to make it work but those owners who have failed businesses can likely tell you which segment they failed in.

I know you’re probably saying “I just want to produce a great product or service and sell it to the masses”. I get it!  Me too!  But there are folks that have done it and done it well that are reaching out to us and offering a hand to pull us along. They’re asking us to learn from them so we don’t make the same mistakes.  I am so inspired and enlightened when I find someone who knows what they are talking about and have been in my shoes. Finding mentors, friends, authors and yes great blogs that can help you think differently or point out things that just make sense is so important for our survival. Don’t be afraid to ask or search for them. A great resource for mentors if you’re local to the Kansas City area is Score Mentors Kansas City https://kansascity.score.org/. Whether you’ve been at it awhile and you’re not making the money you want or you’re just getting started, reach out to one of those hands. So that someday you can reach down and help someone just like you.