Expert Marketing Blog - Page 76

Have we all got it so wrong?

A few weeks ago, I had to cancel a trip to the US that was for both business and pleasure. Mainly business, but a few days pleasure that I was seriously looking forward to. There were real reasons, which I cannot disclose here, but nevertheless, business was somewhat involved.

Then my beautiful girlfriend married the man of her dreams in South Africa, and I had to cancel going there too. More than $1000 down the drain, because South African Airlines don't reimburse you for cancelled flights nor do they give you a credit. Yet again, work got in the way.

Then this weekend, it's Easter and my two nephews are looking forward to spending the special occasion with their Aunt Mellissah. I have work to do and I was about to book a flight to fly to Queensland on Friday and back Sunday until...

It's a question that many entrepreneurs need to ask themselves but many don't. Why do we believe that an office means sitting in a room, on a chair, with a desk and computer screen in front of us, confined by 4 walls? If you are a one-man band, you tend to show more flexibility, but once entrepreneurs start employing people, down go the curtains, the door is shut and everyone is tied to their desks until they have completed a good days work.

"Everybody has their shit," said Doreen, a wonderful, successful woman I met for the first time tonight.

As a table of 5 women sharing their stories and updating everyone on their lives, one thing became apparent. Everybody has their shit.

Not the most enticing word in the English Dictionary, I agree, but nevertheless, its meaning in this context makes it appropriate.

I enjoyed the company of 5 fabulous women tonight. Smart, beautiful, successful, emotionally intelligent and value adding, women that can converse on every topic imaginable.

They depict the women that I had in mind when I wrote "what men can do to make their women more successful."

No matter who you are, at times, as a small business owner, you will get stressed.

It's how you deal with it that counts.

Which has me thinking. I am what I affectionately call a "stress pet". Someone, who stresses a lot. If not daily, bi-daily. I find things to stress about that sometimes deserve my attention, and then others that certainly don't.

Managing stress has always been an issue and I have over time tried everything. But just like any diet, or new health regime, you need to keep with it long after the actual decision to do it in the first place and constantly remind yourself that it is something that requires ongoing work, not just a quick fix.

They say that it is lonely at the top, and although I am definately not at the top, I can definately relate to this feeling.

Having run a small business myself for 13 years, I can identify that at the end of the day, unless you have a business partner, it can be quite lonely.

Yesterday, was particularly stressful.

The business is going so well, and clients are literally running through our doors. Although we have mechanism in place for growth, there are always things to do, that when you add it to your own daily jobs, becomes overwhelming - if you let it.

On top of running a business, we have an issue with a client who is happy with the service, but owes us $80,000. And this is just for invoices raised in the month of February. After, continually asking about when the invoices will be paid as we have a strict 7 day policy, they keep replying that it is coming in the next few days. That started 6 weeks ago. I am sure they will pay, but the situation is stressful nevertheless because after years of dealing with business owners who spin stories, the trust factor on such things has somewhat diminished.