Tag: starting a business

If You Have Employees…

If we have employees,
our highest priority task
is to keep them safe.

If that means
literally
standing between them
and danger,
that is where
we should be positioned.

Of course,
we should try to do
all we can
to keep our employees
AND
ourselves
out of danger.
We should put
safeguards in place.

But if those safeguards fail,
as business builders,
we are the people
who should be placed
in most danger.

If we are unwilling
to accept that reality,
the solution is simple
– we build businesses
that don’t require onsite employees.

That is what I’ve done
with the Romance Novel Writing Business.
I don’t have any employees
and the people I partner with
work from their own homes.

If we have employees,
their safety comes first.

Earning Money As A Goal

I write for the love of it.
I publish my stories
for readers.

I judge whether or not
readers want my stories
by how many of them
are willing to pay for the stories.

THAT is,
for good or bad,
the benchmark of adding value
in our current society
– how much people are willing
to pay for something.

If readers aren’t willing to pay
for my stories,
my time would be better spent
doing something else,
something society values
enough to pay for.

As Seth Godin
shares

“How many people
would be doctors
if being a doctor
was something
you couldn’t get paid for?”

Very few.
Because it would indicate
being a doctor
wasn’t something others valued.

And most of us
want to do things
that are valued.
We want to BE valued.

Never be ashamed
of using sales or salaries
or other financial compensation
as a determinant
of whether or not
you take a job
or complete a task
you don’t really want to do
or build a business.

As long as society
continues to tie value to money,
it SHOULD be a deciding factor.

Try Before You Build

A buddy of mine
wanted to open a restaurant.
He loved eating out,
wanted to work in that environment.
He had never worked
in a restaurant.

I, having worked in restaurants,
told him to spend a week
helping out in one.

He hated it.
He hated dealing with customers.
He hated the coordination
that is necessary
to run a restaurant.
He hated the employee issues.

He has returned
to merely eating in restaurants
and is planning to build a business
in an area he has previously worked in
and loved.

Seth Godin
shares

“The idea of the easy test
is often ignored.
Before spending three years
in law school,
why not get a temp job
for a week at a law firm?”

Try out a business
before investing time and effort
into building one.

Confirm you like the industry,
the customers,
the systems.

Starting A Business And Hope

Business builders
are some of the most optimistic
people on the planet.

We believe there are people
out there
who will want and love
our products/services.

And we’re usually right.

It might seem like
a dark time
to be starting a business.
The world is a bit
of a mess right now.

But dark times
are when we need hope
the most
and starting a business
is often the way
we share our optimism
with the world.

A new business
is a huge symbol of hope,
a declaration
that things will get better.

People look at a new business
and say to themselves,
“That business owner
must think there are good times
ahead.
Maybe I should think
that way too.”

The world needs
our businesses now
more than ever.
Let’s do this!