• Being your own boss is a dream that many people aspire to.  Not being answerable to anybody other than yourself when it comes to how much you earn and how many days leave you can have is usually extremely appealing to most people just as it was, and still is, for me.  However there are certainly many factors to consider and it is advisable that you give yourself sufficient time to think through your ideas.

• It is important that a new business owner truly believes that he or she is on the right path and that the business will bring, among other things, prosperity and pleasure into their life.

•  There are serious considerations to deal with when starting a business as your business is going to be the predominant influence in your life from now on.   It will give you pride and satisfaction and along with those attributes your business will bring you hard work and more than likely, some concerns.    But, isn’t that what life is about; if everything were to go along smoothly for 365 days of the year one would more than likely become bored and look for greener pastures.

So if you are ready to take on the challenge I offer you my congratulations along with some tips to help you get started.

1. Passion: 

No business will succeed unless it is built on and around passion.  Those who are successful in business are operating or trading in a product or service that they are totally passionate about.   Just spending a few minutes viewing television programmes where well-known successful business people are demonstrating their products or services especially in the areas of cooking, farming, fruit growing, dog training to mention a few.  These people glow with pride and success and are absolute proof that great passion is behind every successful business.   Therefore make sure that you build you business on your passion and not the passion of someone else who may want to lead you in a different direction.

2. Research:

Once you’ve established what your passion is it is essential that you research to establish the demand for your product or service.   If you intend targeting a certain locality be sure that there is a need in that locality for your forthcoming business.  For instance, if you are hoping to start a business selling plants, seeds and garden tools you would look for premises in a locality that is not currently serviced for those products.   In view of this you may need to travel a little further from your home to your business each day, but wouldn’t that be worthwhile if your business had the monopoly in a particular area.

3. Funding:

Of course there will be capital input required to fund your business be it cost of leasing premises, purchase or lease of computer and electronic equipment, furniture, cost of stock, plus staff expenses and other costs.   Arrange a meeting with your accountant to discuss all financial aspects so that you are well informed of your obligations as a business owner.

4.  Home Based Business:

Depending on the product or service you decide to market it may be convenient for you to work from your home.   Should you have an aptitude for internet marketing you may wish to set your business up in your home.  You would still need to work with a product that is your passion but it would keep your initial costs, as well as ongoing costs,  to a minimum.

Keep in mind though that Internet Marketing is a specialised field which, for the first year or two, takes a lot of time and ongoing learning.  However it can become a lucrative business for those who are dedicated to working on the internet. If you require further information about internet marketing please email info@yoursecretarysoffice.com

2012 Copyright  © Valerie J Smith and Your Secretary’s Office Limited

Yes, I know that to perform well in one’s working day one needs to have a well organised diary with each task slotted into a perfect time frame.   And of course there are the commercially printed ‘To Do’ Lists where ideally, planning is written up at the end of each day in preparation for the forthcoming day when supposedly all tasks will be met to schedule.  Oh, the perfect world!  How impressive those ‘To Do’ lists look sitting on a beautifully organised desk at the beginning of each day.  Hmmm!

My role for many years was Administration Officer at a boarding school and yes, I certainly attempted all the tried and tested time management methods I had heard of and was trained in, but alas human nature’s demands must be met and no way would anyone leave me alone for more than ten minutes at a time.  Constant interruptions resulted in little of my work being achieved by the end of a day leaving many tasks to be carried through to the next day; staying back till 6.30 – 7.00 pm to catch up was a regular occurrence most evenings.

Oh how I envied the privileged few in ‘top management’ who could refuse to take phone calls or receive visitors to their office; a few even worked away from the establishment at times, in order to achieve their workload.

There had to be a solution to my difficulty.  I was missing out on family life by giving so much time to my job – what could be done to remedy the problem?

The word ‘delegate’ was familiar but it didn’t occur to me that I needed to take heed of its meaning.  Eventually, in desperation I gave some time to consider whether this ‘delegate’ thing would do anything to help my situation. Amazingly enough I realised that if was going to survive in my job I had to try delegating.  At first I didn’t find delegating an easy thing to do but I realised it was the only way to bring some law and order into my life, and also that there were others working in the office who obviously needed to be kept busier.

So why is delegating something that so many people resist?

• Maybe I had resisted delegating because I felt that my skills were superior to others.
• Maybe it was fear that others may do a better job than I could do.
• Although it could very well have been that I really enjoyed doing the work and therefore was prepared to work in my own time to get it done; a totally unrealistic work ethic.

I’m honestly not sure what the reason was that had held me back from delegating, but whatever it was, it was totally unjustified.  Once I took that step I never looked back.

How did delegating improve my working life?

• It improved my working relationships with others in the office and throughout the entire establishment.
• I implemented weekly meetings with the office staff and these meetings gave the staff opportunities to contribute to decisions around matters such as daily office routines, how to make things better not only in the office but our contribution to other areas within the school.  Taking this action gave the office staff a feeling of ‘ownership’ which they obviously enjoyed.
• It also allowed me to bring my management skills to the fore and improve my working relationships with staff in all areas of the school and hostel.

How can my experience assist you in your business?

Of necessity these days, many businesses keep their staffing levels to a minimum and consequently often there is no-one to delegate the administration overload to. In view of this fact many business owners are in a similar position to what I was in as an employee, prior to starting my business.

Placing one’s self under such unnecessary extreme pressure in the end results in detrimental aspects, be it health, relationships with family and friends, or other.

If you are experiencing administration overload I urge you to seek help by:

• Preferably; delegating to others within your establishment.
• Alternatively; if delegating to staff is not an option then it makes sense to seriously consider outsourcing those necessary tasks that are not getting done in a timely manner.

The result of taking either one of the above actions will be:

• That not only will you take more pride in yourself and your business but the benefit of achieving targets by having delegated will greatly reduce the stress in your working day and give you a new perspective on life in general.

2012 copyright © Valerie J Smith and Your Secretary’s Office Limited