Truths About Starting Your Own Business

Direct Sales Raleigh

“Look, if you had one shot, or one opportunity
to seize everything you ever wanted, one moment.
Would you capture it or just let it slip?” –Eminem “Lose Yourself”

It’s funny to think that here I am sitting and working on a blog post about starting my own business. That’s right, just a few months ago, in August 2013, I did something I have never done before in my thirty-something years of living. I became an entrepreneur. I started my own direct sales business. I actually come from a long line of entrepreneurs. Both sets of grandparents were chicken and cow farmers, my grandfather owned and managed a full service gas station, and then there’s my Dad still managing his Drycleaning business after 40 years. With a background in Education though, this was a very different direction for me. I wouldn’t be teaching anyone how to sound out words or comprehend what they were reading. Today, I would like to share some truths I have learned over the past few months about starting my own business and staying the course. 

1. BELIEF
   Have a strong BELIEF in your company and what you are selling or represent. If you don’t, then why are you doing it? If you believe in your business, your customers will come and want to do business with you. If you don’t believe in your business, stop wasting your time. If you believe that what you have to offer is the best in class, there will be no need to do any “selling”. A strong BELIEF coupled with a motivational WHY can yield endless rewards.
   
2. KNOW YOUR WHY
   When you start your own business there is always a WHY. It may be to pay the bills, fund your children’s college expenses in a few years, a shameless shoe fund, pay for family trips, or charitable mission work, etc. It does not matter what the WHY is as long as it exists. Every single day that you are working, keep your WHY in mind and it will help you achieve your GOALS.
3. SET GOALS
   If you are serious about your business, set monthly, quarterly, and yearly goals. Be realistic yet challenge yourself. I once read that the most successful business leaders learned from their failures or missed goals. It’s ok if you set a goal that you don’t reach. You learn from that experience and keep moving. If you don’t have goals then there is no real vision for where you are going. Monthly goals map your way as you get closer to achieving your yearly goals. As you set your goals, think about how you will hold yourself ACCOUNTABLE.
4. ACCOUNTABILITY
   Once you have your goals set, you should find an accountability partner. Ideally, it would be someone else in your company or similar business. Share your weekly/monthly goals with one another, hold each other accountable, and celebrate the successes. Also, learn from the moments when one of you falls short of your goal. Step back, re-evaluate, and as always keep moving forward. An accountability partner is the one there to high five you during the good times, but also the cheerleader when you need it the most. And, trust me; it’s good to have a cheerleader in your corner…makes it more FUN.
5. HAVE FUN
   Guess what? You are an entrepreneur, you own your own business, and you are the big timer calling the shots. You decide when you work, when you don’t work, what promotions and giveaways you want to do, how you market your business, how you allocate your time, how you start and how you finish. Perhaps the most important take away is to have FUN and enjoy yourself in this business. Life is too short to live any other way. If you forget to have FUN with your business day in and day out, it will become just another J-O-B.

So there you have it; my recipe for staying motivated in my business and seeing it through the highs and lows. We business owners have to have a strong belief, know our “why”, set goals, be held accountable, and most of all have fun with it all. I am a music lover so with a life event such as starting my own business, I like to attach a song. As you can imagine, there are many songs that resonate, but I couldn’t get Eminem’s lyrics from “Lose Yourself” out of my head. So here’s my one shot, this opportunity only comes once in a lifetime, and I’d better own it.

“You better lose yourself in the music, the moment,
you own it, you better never let it go.
You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow,
this opportunity comes once in a lifetime.” –Eminem “Lose Yourself” 

Heather Caldwell
Consultant with Rodan+Field Dermatologists
Find Heather on Facebook 
*Vend Raleigh Directory Member