Small Business Help is around in many forms.
I wrote an article some years ago titled “How your vision and mission will lead you to freedom”. It was republished in the Australian Businesswomen’s Network’s eNewsletter last week.
I wrote the article for traditional brick and mortar business however re-reading it last week I started thinking how it applied to home based business. Please take a minute to read it.
The first question I asked in the article was “Is your business giving you the life you want?” Most people go into a home based business for the lifestyle but find themselves working long hours often for little reward. They frequently get caught up in thinking they have to do it all themselves.
My article is basically broken into 3 components:
- Building a business which provides freedom for you
- Creating a high performance team
- Know the rules
Let’s look at each of those for a home based business.
Building a business which provides freedom for you
The first step is to have a vision. A vision is what your business is going to achieve. It must be measurable and have a point of completion. For example it might be “to be earning a six figure income by December 2011 across multiple streams of income.”
There must also be a Mission, the passion and strategies that will drive the Vision. A Mission describes how the business will reach the Vision. It is measurable by the customer and is ongoing, even after the Vision has been attained. An example could be “To give outstanding customer service and ad value in all we do. To be transparent and authentic and operate with integrity.”
Creating a High Performance Team
In a traditional business or corporate we would be referring to the team as our employees. If we do not have employees in our home based business who is our team?
If we are building a MLM business there will of course be our business partners. We should share our vision and mission with these people and enroll them in being aligned with us.
Online we all have our communities, our tribes with whom we syndicate and troubleshoot. Many of us use virtual assistance or outsource various functions. We have our accountants, bookkeepers and others that make up our team. Who is on your team and are you aligned?
No one can do it alone. To be successful we must know how to build teams.
Know the Rules
In my original article I was referring to employees, knowing their role, the rules of the game and having a performance agreement. I also said the owners/leaders of the company needed to be free to work “on the business, rather than in it”.
So let’s translate this into a home based business.
I have personally struggled with this since I started to work from home. Coming from a role as a CEO where I had a full time personal assistant and 25+ other staff, who was I going to delegate to now? You see I have spent far too many years with Robert Kiyosaki’s voice in my head to have “S” mentality (meaning I have to do it all myself). If you do not know what I am referring to please read Robert Kiyosaki’s book The Cashflow Quadrant™. It is essential reading in my opinion.
This is the conclusion I have reached on the subject.
- I do have to work in my business right now
- I also have to work on it
Both are critical.
I outsource tasks so I can work on my business. The outsourcing organization I use documents the tasks they perform and I get a written confirmation. The rules are clear.
In our MLM businesses we must have systems that train our team and are easily duplicated. People need to know what to do and how to do it.
So in conclusion the more I thought about the topic and knowing the rules, the more I could see what I had learned in traditional business does apply to my home based business.
Please leave me your comments below. Do you have a Vision and Mission for your Business? Who is on your team? Do you have time set aside for working “on” you business?
Kat Hudson says
Congratulations Sue, that’s awesome!! your opt in looks fantastic!! i think the direction is gorgeous!
Sue says
Thanks Kat. I appreciate your feedback. 🙂
Linda G. Cox says
Sue,
You have such a store of knowledge! Every time a read a post, I see value in the information you share! I appreciate your expertise! I am grateful that I’m also able to work with you in a tribe. I can learn from you on a weekly basis! Thank you for all you give!
Linda
Sue says
Linda thank you so much for your kind words. I really appreciate them. I love working with you in a tribe too. In fact I love our group of people. Sometimes I feel like we have known each other forever.
How I came to write this post was interesting. I saw the old article reappear and it was still so relevant. I think we all have wisdom we under estimate.
Sue
Louise Steiner says
Hi Sue
First of all congratulations on getting your article published in the Australian Businesswomen’s Network’s eNewsletter last week…..that’s fantastic. I find it fascinating that an article you wrote years ago when you were firmly in the ‘S’ quadrant it just as relevant today and for a home business.
I love the idea of having not only a vision, but also a mission. I have never really thought about the distinction between the two, but reading your post makes this very clear and it is something I am going to give some thought to. I have my goals, but they clearly need to be more clearly defined in terms of a vision and mission. Thanks for this Sue. I love the way your blog is headed by the way 🙂
Louise
Sue says
Louise thanks for your comment. I took it as a “sign” to reuse the information when the article was republished. It is amazing how all these years on it is still so relevant. I think that because technology changes so rapidly we tend to forget much stays the same. Visions, Missions and Goals will always be necessary.
I think our mission is very important. In our financial planning practice we took it further and had a company/team mission and then we all had our individual missions. Now that was interesting.
Thanks for your comment on the direction of my blog. It certainly takes a while to fine tune that. Well it has for me anyway.
Sue
Oliver Tausend says
Hi Sue,
thanks for sharing your insights. What I learned from Robert Kiyosaki’s teachings is the importance of having a mission. A company, a business, a family without a mission statement doesn’t have a real soul.
It’s also important to know the rules and when to follow them and when to bend them 😉
Take care
Oliver
Sue says
Thanks Oliver. It is amazing how many businesses do not have a vision or mission.
I agree with you on the rules. That is one big thing I got being around Robert Kiyosaki and many of us took our ideas into our businesses.
Have a good weekend.
Sue
aleena says
Thanks for sharing nice blog post, i like it so much
Sue says
Thanks for the feedback Aleena.
John says
Hi Sue, I think your article should have been titled as GREAT BUSINESS HELP. It’s really awesome. I believe that those who would want to start their business at their own home should first read this article. It’s the basic guide that they should never forget. Personally, I would not forget the three components – building business that provides freedom, creating a team with high performance and knowing the rules. Thanks a lot Sue!
Sue says
Hi John
Hey I really appreciate your comment. Thanks. I am working on people getting to read more of my articles as I want to help peole get started the right way.
I agree totally with your three components.
Sue
dre cole says
Hi sue, thank you so much for sharing your thoughts with us. You are truly inspiring!
Sue says
Thanks for the feedback and compliment, I really appreciate it.
Sue
Jasmine says
Great article Sue! Most home-based business were born out of a simple hobby or passion with a desire to earn extra income and run by the owner itself. It’s amazing how these owners are able to run their business all by themselves. But you’re point is right – the business one puts up should give him the life he wants – that is enjoying the fruits of his labor
Sue says
Jasmine thanks for your comment. It is amazing how people run businesses all by themselves but I do think it is better to get help with the things we do not enjoy doing. Of course when many people start that may not be a financial option.
Thanks for dropping by.
Sue
waterpearls says
Hi Sue,
It is a very nice and interesting post.Thanks for sharing this great post.This post really help and gives basic guide for those who want to start home bussiness.
Sue says
Thanks for your comment.
Sue
Andrew Walker says
Hi Sue,
Your tips are excellent. those are needed to grow the small business and make it bigger and bigger. Just a simple business but it will grow big if it flows by the three basic component that you offer. Thanks for sharing, Sue. Hope this could help the small business and home industry to grow.
Sue says
Thanks for your comment Andrew. It is amazing how many people start a business and end up a slave to it without it giving them what they want. I do hope my tips help.
Thanks for dropping by.
Sue
Kathy Barber says
Hi Sue,
I think you really hit home for me in this article. I think it’s very important to apply the same work ethics, and plans to a home based business as it is any other business. If nothing else, it validates that it IS a business.
Thank you,
Kathy
Sue says
Well put Kathy. I agree with you. Unfortunately so many people do not treat their home based business with the same work ethics.
Thanks for your comment.
Sue
Fred says
Thank you, Sue, for another great post! Have only one comment. Knowing rules is essential as well as following them.
And now I’ll go on reading your Diversification series.
Sue says
Fred thanks for your comment. You have raised a very good point in knowing the rules. I have worked with organizations where the rules are “grey” and unclear. Thanks for raising that.
I hope you enjoy my Diversification series and I look forward to your feedback.
Sue
Nina says
I do personally have my own Mission and Vision in all areas of my life just like in online business it really needs Mission on what things need to be done and a Vision that wants to fulfill. You made a great article and I appreciate it very much.
Adam Robinson says
Being in business does tend to take more of our time that we expected. It could be an entirely opposite concept of what we might have imagined. This is pretty much what all entrepreneurs will have to put up with… in the beginning at least. If we reach a certain level of success, we’ll find ourselves more and more available to things that we like to do.
Sue says
Very wise words thank Adam. Yes I agree most of us find that being in business consumes our time in the beginning. I remember the turning point in one business my husband and I had where we could actually go away for 6 weeks vacation and the business ran without us. If felt like total freedom.
Sue
Carmon says
Hi there I am so delighted I found your web site, I really found you by accident, while I was searching on Yahoo for something else, Anyways I am here now and would just like
to say thanks a lot for a fantastic post and a all round exciting
blog (I also love the theme/design), I dont have time to
look over it all at the minute but I have bookmarked it
and also added in your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be
back to read a great deal more, Please do keep up the
fantastic work.
Sue says
Thanks for your feedback Carmon and I am glad you found me here.
Sue