Life of an Entrepreneur 1

Hello there.

As I met numerous people this past month, I learned more and more about myself. For example, I knew I had chosen three things to specialize in (Entrepreneurial stuff, writing, and PR). What I didn't know was that most of what I do has or should have a connection to each. AND this is what all of you would like to see from me. Therefore I decided to make sure all 3 parts have their own times to shine. Liiiikkkkeee Me being an entrepreneur.

If you own a small business or are starting out, you may be well acquainted with a difficult part of it. It's the part where the business is making money; you have clients, you have customers. People are interested in this service, product or whatever it is you have. BUT you're not making money from any of it. Although your employees don't miss a paycheck.

You heard me correctly. And I'm sure the people who have gone through this shook their heads because it is true for many of us. Working for yourself doesn't mean all the money goes to yourself. You have employees you have to make sure are happy. Otherwise, who will take their place if they decide to leave you?

Note: Of course this isn't a situation you stay in forever, hopefully.

This year I vowed that I wanted to be the boss that makes my employees' "fires", my "fires". This means, a worry of theirs is a worry of mine. An emergency for them is an emergency for me. An inconvenience for them is an inconvenience for me.

So far, I think I've been doing a good job. Well... I hope so. I'm trying.

Organizing and Productivity are Friends

As I prepare to for next week, it got me to thinking the REAL essentials to preparing to Fashion Week or Toy Fair.

Coming up with an effective system to organize your work or even your personal life is not simple. It takes observation and strategy to incorporate your newly formed "habit".

At previous places I’ve worked, there have been numerous attempts to getting  organized. We had folders, we had a label maker, boards to write our to do lists, chalk board paint behind our work stations… every job had a lot. But do they all effectively help meet tasks? You never know till you try.

First Task:

Look at what is working and what is not.
Sticking with our original due dates is difficult for us. If we say we want to finish a proposal by Friday, and even post it on our calendar; by Friday that proposal should be done. Instead sometimes we tend to simply push it to the next week… and the week after and the week after that.

To eliminate this, making something permanent in your mind may help if its physically permanent as well. So possibly a chalk board or dry erase board won't work for large tasks that MUST be done. In that case, pen and paper may be better to meet that need. Many of us organizers love the feeling of crossing out a task off the to do list. Why? Because we know that's the only reason why it is crossed out; that task is finally done.

Advice:
Invest in a paper planner or large office calendar. This can be where you write major office task for your staff. Everyone will see it and keep motivated to accomplish them.

In a small business or a "One man/woman show" aka you work on your own, it is very easy for us to not work as diligently as we did for someone else. Since things aren't as formal, we tend to treat things informally as well. This is a bad habit that should be broken with care and thought. You do not want to discourage yourself into believing you have failed either. Instead be happy you recognized the problem.

Am I happy at work?

Many times do people ponder this. Well more so stress themselves out by yelling, "I hate my job!". Cause lets face it, if you do... you just know.

In my life, I haven't had a job I've hated quite yet. Usually, when I feel the resentment and constant frustration coming along, I most likely will be leaving it shortly. Homie don't play that. Misery is not worth any money amount. Life is about living and if I am consumed in a job that frustrates me.. I might as well not be living.

I understand that this is not practical for many people but I'm not most people. Although I will say, I would work in a factory to make ends meet. But as soon as I HATE that job, I'm searching elsewhere. Then again, lets be real... if I'm working at a factory, I am going to be searching for a new job as they shake my hand saying I have the factory job. But back to my point, being happy at your job is important. Why? Cause you spend most of your hours and days working. So why be miserable?

Motivation & Productivity work hand at hand for all you managers out there. It's importante to make sure your employees feel valued and motivated. If you notice, most times productivity drops when those two are failed. Peter Drucker speaks about this in one of the books I've read by him. And I believe A LOT of managers don't see the direct connection work and contentment have. Employees not happy, soon your customers won't as well. And that means no money for you, which is VERY unfortunate. Mainly cause this all could have been prevented if you would have paid attention. In my opinion, many very large companies like Google or Twitter have adapted to this knowledge by giving their employees what they want but remembering work has to be done. And with that, they give them what they want but motivate them by showing "If you want this, we all need to keep doing...". Smart.

I am currently slowly be surely very hating my 9 to 5 job (last day Thursday). But I believe in always working for someone else. I think as a manager, this gives you an advantage of always staying humble and always advancing. You have the perspective of a manager and an employee always. For example, I understand how upsetting it is to have a late or skipped paycheck. Therefore, why would I pretend its no biggie for an employee of mine? This keeps things in perspective. My biggest tip, in life. (Not to mention, you will keep yourself on a better schedule. Keep yourself accountable of deadlines more efficiently for your own business. Because its not just your work that needs to be done but someone else's and you have to answer to them. Answering to someone else will always keep you more in line than just answering to yourself. To be continued...)


Employees who are in a rut at work, maybe you should change your way of thinking. Trying this may be just what you need at a deadbeat job. A book called Who Moved My Cheese taught me that. Its about the group but in the end you can only control yourself. Be Prepared for things. Don't be passive. Be smart instead. I think this book encouraged me most to think critically not only when reading literature or watching movies but also when I observe my surroundings/environment. There are different types of people in this world and I know what type of person I want to be, do you?

I may revisit this topic. I surprisingly had a lot to say. But I thought this would be a nice beginning.