Do you get tired of reading another ad or enticing offer telling you that you are a couple of mouse clicks away from making a fortune?  Personally, I find it very frustrating.  I have had numerous clients who have invested their time, which can’t be replaced, and their money, which most cases can be replaced, getting caught in the maze of finding the right business for them. 

Small business growth and success are about one thing:  Honoring Who You Are.  Let’s say that you are in a business that demands that you show up at a particular place every day.  It could be a retail business.  Yet, you thrive in an environment where you can get out and visit people.   The odds of being successful in that business are low. 

Why?  You are going to be unhappy.  You may earn good money for a while and enjoy it.  But, ultimately not doing something you truly enjoy will drain you and your relationships.  And, when you crash, in most cases so will the business. 

The business mortality rate is the same as it was 20 years ago.  If you want your small business successful, if you want more small business growth there is more education available than ever before.  Education from books is not the problem. 

I have observed that education about yourself is the challenge.  To often people pick a business where they are the round peg and they are trying to fit it into a square hole.  My wish for you is to increase the odds of your success.  Discover “who” you are.  Don’t jump into the maze that is the next golden opportunity. 

Once you really understand who you are and how to honor it in business then you are much more likely to recognize the businesses that will be a better fit and at which you are more likely to succeed.  I have two products that will help you in that process. 

I have developed these after 30 years of working with business owners and solo professionals and starting, owning and running several successful small businesses.

The first is my Progress Set Free E-Book, 

The Lost Keys To Small Business Success:

For Starting Your Own Business

Running Your Own Business

  .  The second is the Progress Set Free Home Study Course. 

The Keys And Steps To Small Business Success:  A Definitive Guide To A Better Business And A Better You

This is for those of you who are committed to knowing who you are in order to become more and have more. 

Regardless which one you choose, the key to success is to get started in making more and better choices when it comes to you and your business. 

Get to know yourself and get out of the maze of trying to find the business that is right for you.   You must get to know yourself.  InterestAfter all, is it going to make any more sense tomorrow than it does today to take the steps to having the business and life you desire?

With the numerous businesses and business owners I have worked with over the years there is one thing all of the successful ones have done.  They have embraced change.  To have your small business successful, you must embrace change or you will be run over by it. 

If you are serious about yourself and the success of your small business then you must be an active participant in change.  Look at the businesses that once were thriving but are no longer around.  With this in mind, I have put together several products that are designed to support you in creating your own successful performance strategy.

A good marketing business plan that recognizes change and embraces it can make an entrepreneur successful.  Do you want to be that entrepreneur?  Are you willing to learn the steps to success? 

All progress starts with those 5 inches between your ears.  What the mind can conceive and believe it can achieve.  How are you feeding your mind?

If you change your thinking you will change your habits.  Change your habits and you will change your activity.  Change your activity and you will change your results.  Change your results and you will change your life. 

If you are COMMITTED to change and taking yourself and your business forward, take a look at the following:

1.  Progress Set Free E-Book–The Lost Keys To Small Business Success–This will get you started on the process of change. 

2.  Progress Set Free Home Study Course–The Keys And Steps To Small Business Success:  A    Definitive Guide To A Better Business And A Better You.  This course goes in depth and is for those who are truly serious about their success.  This course can help you create pathways to upgrade your business and your life.

3.  Progress Set Free–Free Audio Mini Course–Imprisoned By Progress and The Treadmill Philosophy–The 10 Deadly Mistakes Entrepreneurs and Solo Professionals Make And How To Avoid Them.  This audio series provides short audio clips with stories that discuss common challenges the business owner faces in starting up a small business or running a small business.

Whether you are running your business in a bad economy or a good one, change is the key to success.  Make a number of small changes and it will lead to the bigger changes you desire.

In the three previous posts we have looked at three other challenges you face in starting your own business in a bad economy.  In fact, they are challenges you would face even if the economy were good.  They assume even greater importance when things are not as good and your margin for error is smaller. 

The three earlier challenges were:

1.  Do you have a market for the product or service you wish to provide?

2.  Is the market you wish to pursue vulnerable to economic cycles?

3.  What type of business should you get into during an economic downturn?

The last challenge is:  What should you stay away from?  This may ruffle some feathers. 

The first type of business that I would be very careful about is multi-level.  Most of them provide great products or services.  But, are the products or services necessary?  Will the products or services save the customer money?  If your answer is yes to these questions then I would pursue it further. 

Multi-level is easy entry and it takes hard work.  There is nothing wrong with that.  Just remember that getting rich overnight or well off quickly happens to a very small percentage of those involved in multi-level.  If you have a good network of people who would be receptive to you, your product or service then you have the right things going for you that could move you forward more quickly. 

During a bad economy the second thing about multi-level, or any business for that matter, is whether or not you have to create a market.  For example, if your product has to do with weight loss you are in a good area.  This is an accepted market.  You are not having to create anything new.  People are already spending money in this market.  And, weight loss ties directly to people’s health, sense of well-being and their image. 

In summary, stay away from businesses that have you creating a market or doing a lot of pioneering.  Pioneering is necessary for any new product to get established but pioneering by its very nature has lots of casualties. 

In looking at businesses to stay away from I would avoid anything that promises you overnight success.  Yes, overnight success can happen.  But, the odds are less than one in a thousand.  And, even if you read a long string of testimonials about the success of the business remember that, more often than not, thousands failed and lost their investment for the very few that succeeded. 

A successful performance strategy is to look at these businesses very closely and skeptically.  Small business growth is about having a good marketing business plan.  The marketing business plan may look good but is it really executable?  Growing your small business will be about being able to execute a workable marketing business plan. 

Obviously, there are many more questions and answers about starting a business in a bad economy.  The goal of these blog posts was to give you some things to think about from a different perspective.  My wish for all of you is to have the best in business and life.

In the previous post we looked at the first challenge of what type of business to start in a bad economy.  The first challenge was to determine if you have a market with some depth for your product or service. 

Challenge #2 is about how vulnerable the market, you wish to pursue, is to economic cycles.  Most products and services can and will be affected by economic cycles.  The key is how large are the fluctuations will be. 

Of course, that is hard to know.  But, I would suggest that you research some history of how your market fared during previous economic downturns.  If your product or service falls more into the category of a “want” rather than a “need” then the probability of failure is increased. 

But, that is not always the case.  Let’s look at the leisure or recreational industry.  You may say, and correctly so, that leisure or recreational activities fall in the “want” area.  Yet, people still are going to do something to enjoy themselves.  Very often they will possibly go to more movies instead of concerts because of the expense.  Or, travel may be limited to seeing things in their immediate area as opposed to a large or expensive trip.

The goal is to find a market that will still be needed during a downturn.  Basic services such as cleaning, caretaking of others and bookkeeping are examples of services that should see a reduced negative impact during a downturn.

When starting up your own business, especially in a bad economy, you will move ahead much more quickly if the down cycles are shallow.   A successful performance strategy demands this.  And, to have more consistent small business growth it is critical that you know as much as you can about your market. 

Growing small business is not just about having a great marketing plan.  It is about having a product or service that is needed or will be in demand even when economic times aren’t good.

You have identified your target market.  And, you have some thoughts on how to reach them.  These are great first steps.  Now you are ready to create some brochures, fliers, an email campaign, etc.  Good!

There are other resources including many small business courses and small business books that can help.  Successful small business is not just about owning your own business.  It’s about creating accountability, a performance strategy,  to take the success actions needed.  Very often, small business coaching, because small businesses for the most part lack a board of directors, can provide the accountability and help accelerate the success process.

But before you get into the creative part you must have a powerfully crafted message.  You can have beautiful materials that don’t deliver what you want because the message is not strong.  A successful performance strategy for marketing and sales will have a message crafted with impact.

1.  Identify the customer or client’s pain, want or need.

2.  Show how your product or the service is the solution to their pain want or need.

3.  Let them know about the benefit of using your product or service as the solution.  For example, faster delivery times, fewer break downs, more personal service, saving money, etc.

A powerful message will incorporate these three points and will state, restate it and state it again.

And, a great way to do this is to tell stories.  Every one loves a story.  We can get the facts almost anywhere.  A story about your product or service marries logic and emotion and adds credibility.   Doing this is a key to small business growth.

As has been said many times, facts tell, stories sell.  Tell your story.  That is your marketing campaign.  Successful small business tells a good story.  And, when you tell it well and when you follow the formula above it can lead you to greater sales.

Owning your own business is a challenge.  And one of the greatest challenges is to have a marketing and sales performance strategy.  The biggest challenge once you have decided on what you are going to do is to execute it faithfully.

Successful small business is about executing the fundamentals.  Remember, most small businesses fail not from lack of ideas but from lack of discipline.  Lack of discipline creates a lack of action. 

Small business coaching, small business courses or small business books and small business ebooks can help create structure and accountability to take the action for success.  Or there are audio courses that can help

Not only does action cure fear.  It will bring success.  You must act on your plan.  In putting together a plan there are a couple of steps that can help you.

1.  Have a database of your existing customers and/or create one of the ones you want to have.

2.  Identify target markets within your existing customers or within the customer base you want to have.

3.  Identify their wants and needs.

4.  Identify how you are going to solve their wants and needs.

This will get you started on a successful performance strategy for marketing and sales.  In the next post we will get into the key to a successful marketing and sales performance strategy.  Start creating and working on the four areas listed and you will be on your way to having a small business running successfully.

When owning your own business one focus is more small business growth. In an earlier post I talked about the first rule of exceptional customer service, which is to have a good attitude.  A good attitude means having your customer service set up to provide for the needs of your customers, not your needs.  For many that would seem to be obvious.

Rule #2 has to do with your employees or independent contractors if they are to be involved in customer service.  One of the biggest mistakes I see in small business coaching is not giving the very people who can help you with the process of providing exceptional customer service, ownership of how to provide good customer service.

As a result, the customer service department or area bumps along and becomes your negative marketing department. Of course this doesn’t help any one’s attitude or morale.  To get others and you, the small busines owner,  truly involved in providing exceptional customer service you can start practicing with your employees or contractors.

When you do you will have a small business running well and a successful small business for you, your employees and your customers.  And, the satisfaction you will feel from a growing small business will be great.

Instruct them that when they bring you a problem that you also want them to bring three solutions.  If they have two or one, that is okay.  But, ask for three.  Listen to these solutions.  And, more importantly, look for ways to incorporate anything good you hear into the customer service process.  Not only do you start building a sense of ownership but also a sense of team.  Your employees know and feel that we are all in this together.

If you practice having them offer solutions to problems and giving them ownership in the outcome you will start building a customer service department that is on the way to being exceptional and part of your positive marketing department.  When you sow these seeds you will reap small business success and small business growth.

In owning your own business one of the most important things to help you grow is to provide exceptional customer service.  Yet, we get engrossed in delivering the product or service and do a poor job of handling problems and questions. 

Ultimately, this will kill most small businesses.  Small business growth and running small business successfully is not something you do by chance but by design.

How often have we heard about or had direct experience with a company where we paid our money and then there was a problem.  I am sure all of you have had this happen to you at one time or another.  And, when we have a problem the worst part is not be able to reach someone who can give us some immediate direction to resolve our problem. 

Too often, companies today and many small businesses look at customer service as an expense.  When done right, customer service can become a profit center.  There are many components to having successful customer service.  More than we can discuss here.  In fact there are small business books, small business ebooks and small business courses that address customer service.

Let’s take a look at one component.  Successful small business is in larger part about having a good attitude.  A good attitude in this instance means validating the customers thoughts and feelings.  Rule number one to exceptional customer service and having a successful small business is that it is all about them and their perception.  That is a good attitude.  It is not about you. 

In working with small business and small business coaching some of the deadly phrases I hear go along these lines….”I’m sorry but I got busy or I would have called you back.”  Another is: ” I had a crisis or the employee was sick and that’s why no one got back to you.”  I could go on and on but you get the point. 

All of these responses are deadly because it becomes all about you and not about them.  What you are saying to them is that you don’t run your business well enough to take care of them.  In essence when they are calling you with a problem and you don’t respond properly or in a reasonable amount of time you are subconsciously telling them that they now have to run this part of your business since you aren’t capable of it. 

Think about it.  When you have to call someone more than once to get a response then you are having to solve the problem you have but now you are having to solve another problem which is poor customer service. Now you are asking or telling the customer by your actions to manage this part of your business since you can’t.  This will kill a small business if the customers start having to manage your customer service department. 

Rule number one is to have a good attitude where you put yourself in your customer’s position.  Then, and this is the key, design your customer service to meet the customer’s needs.  When you do, you will be amazed at the growth your business will experience when you handle problems well.

Too often when we are self-employed we focus on outside circumstances and things.  In a way, we let them lead our lives.  One of the steps to business success is to be a business owner who knows how to filter the good from the bad.  What I am referring to is your ability to let the good stuff in and to keep the bad stuff out.

Think about it.  Most of the information you receive is because you allow yourself to receive it.  One of the keys to leading yourself to have small business growth and to growth in  life is to look at what you are allowing into your mind.  I have worked with many business owners who see remarkable improvement when they start filtering out the negative information that comes to them.

After all, if you have no control over something there is very little need to keep being informed about it.  Certainly, it is okay to know that it exists.  But, to continually focus on something that you can’t control creates two negatives.

1.  You feel a sense that you are powerless.  This will actually keep you from leading yourself and your business forward. 

2.  The second thing is that once you receive negative information and keep bringing it up it is like bringing up something from the past that you can’t change.  When you can’t change something it will rob you of the initiative to move forward in your business and your life.

You may ask why is developing this filtering mechanism important to your well being.  Remember two things. 

1.  In small business coaching and coaching success I have business owners focus on the fact that their mind is a muscle.  You can lead yourself well by feeding your mind with good positive thoughts. 

2.  Secondly, owning your own businesss andleading yourself in your business and life is not as much about managing time as it is about managing energy.  Time management work is important.  But, the results of time management will be reflected in the level of energy you maintain.

When you are focusing on the present and the future, and the positive they can bring, then you will have the energy.  More importantly, when you have the energy you can carve out the time to do those things that will allow you to design the business and life of freedom and abundance you desire.

Follow the steps to business success and you will lead yourself to the business and life you desire.

Think about this.  The four or five most dangerous words in the English language are:

• “It’s different here.”

• “It’s different this time.”

Somehow when we see or hear these words we are moved, without even realizing it, to thinking that the information, product or service that is being discussed is somehow better.

Those few words can move us to make a decision to be involved with something that is different.  And, we don’t take the time to pause and reflect on whether or not different is truly better.  As a business and life coach I work at being better because that makes me different.  And, it makes me different in a positive way.

For all of us we should be striving to be better.  Growing small business and small business growth is about being better.  But to make our businesses better the first step to business success we must take is to grow ourselves.  To be better we must grow.  How do we grow?  We must develop new disciplines.  After all, if we keep doing things the same way over and over again nothing is going to change.

You may say that’s obvious and you are right.  What is not obvious is how to go about affecting the change you desire.  Personally, I have faced this challenge myself.  And, the good news is that I have overcome it.  I have made myself better.  And that is what makes me different.  I am a firm believer in small business books, small business ebooks and small business courses.

They have helped me greatly.  Yet, for the most part, they did not specifically address the challenges of owning your own business.  After 30 years of owning several businesses and coaching hundreds of business owners, I have put together an ebook and home study course to help you create pathways to upgrade your business and your life

If you are committed to being better in your business and your life I have a couple of suggestions as to where to start.  For the self-employed there is the Progress Set Free Ebook.  The little acknowledged truth about self-employment is that we seek greater freedom and abundance yet we very often end up putting ourselves in bondage to our own creation.  The Progress Set Free Ebook will start you on the road to creating pathways to upgrade your business and your life.

And, if you really wish to have the business, life, freedom and abundance you desire then the Progress Set Free Home Study Course .  It can help accelerate moving you to becoming more and having the business and life you desire.

Unfortunately, most people wait for something to happen to them.  In coaching success, it reminds me of a story back in another time when homes were heated by wood stoves.  There was a man who was freezing and very unhappy with his life.  He started having an arguement with his stove because it wasn’t giving him any heat.  He said, “Give me the heat.  Then I’ll give you the wood.”

And that’s the challenge for many people.  They want something yet they won’t commit to putting something in.  As a result, you have the perfect formula for the result “nothing much happens here.” For the few who choose to be better we are willing to first put something in.  And that’s what makes them different.

Check out and get involved in the Progress Set Free Ebook or the Progress Set Free Home Study Course.  When you do you will committing yourself to being better, being different and having your Progress Set Free.