The sun comes out for at least a few days every summer, the kids finish school, the traffic gets lighter and the silly season starts.
For us as entrepreneurs July brings its challenges be they a work life balance thing or a downturn or an upswing in sales and you notice it all just a little more because July routine is that bit different.
Isn’t it true though that in fact each month is different when you look at the numbers and in most businesses there is some kind of product seasonality? But July and indeed August feel different. So my question for you this July is what are you doing to manage that difference? Every month but particularly this month. Seasonality is often seen as a cause of stress but stress is there to be managed by you; not the other way around. If you know something will cause you stress in the future then shouldn’t you simply do something to remove the stressors long before the situation arises?
If you take this proactive approach it means that if, in July or August you want to take some quality time with your loved ones then you can go and know that things will not fall asunder while you are gone.
The founder of the Action Coach business Brad Sugars asserts that the definition of a business is an earning machine that works without you. If it doesn’t do that then you actually just have a job with a series of different bosses. Can you leave the business for two weeks a year? If your business grew a lot could it work without you actually doing the work of the business – If you were just a manager of other people? If you just managed staff, clients and finance and all the work was done by others how would that impact you? How would your stress levels be? (Up or Down?) What impact would that have on the overall business? Or is it that you enjoy the core work of the business? Would you miss getting your hands dirty so to speak or in reality?
Really the opportunity at holiday time is to step back from the business and look at things from a different point of view and change some things in response to that.
What am I suggesting? That you might review the year at the half way point. Are you happy with what’s happening in the business, in your life at this point? If you are happy then what are you doing that is working and how could you do more of it? If you are not happy what do you need to change and when is the best time to make that change? Now perhaps? Can you imagine how removing stresses from your life might improve your health and well being?
My real point is this: Your business or even for an employee your job is not an end in itself. Its purpose is to provide you and the people you love with the quality of life you want and deserve. If it is not doing that then what are you doing about it? If you don’t change something then nothing changes. Change the price or the offering, or the offer (They are different) or the job or the target customer or something about you – Learn something new, become better qualified become very expert in what you do in order to charge a premium price. Take drastic action to facilitate your long term happiness; Do it now or trust me you will be looking at the same questions this time next year. Make the business do what it is meant to do so that this time next year you are exactly where you want to be.
If you struggle with any of what I suggest here then perhaps a few hours mentoring would help. Call me. That might be the key change you need to make.
If you are worried about the cost you don’t need to be. It’s the same promise I always make. If I can’t find my fee in more profit or lowered cost for you then the will be no fee.