Taking an Entire Month to Create Products

Like you, I struggle with finding time to write books, create new classes, and put together new information products. I have a burning desire to create these things; I think about them and plan for them constantly. I guess it must be the "teacher" in me -- I want to share what I've learned with other self-employed people.

Each year our mastermind group meets in person for a live Mastermind Retreat Weekend. In May, I came to the Retreat with just one burning question: how can I take a month off of work, to write an updated version of a book and create a new class?

It seems an insurmountable dream and challenge. I hadn't had a full month off work or school since I'd been in college (oh so many years ago!). A whole month off with only 2 projects to work on? Woohoo!

My mastermind group helped me to plan out a strategy for taking the month of August away from my business:

1. Figure out how much money you need to save so that you can cover your August business and personal expenses.

2. Figure out if you'd still work with existing coaching clients, or ask them to halt work with you in August. I decided that I would work with existing clients, but not take on any new ones for August.

3. Figure out how to schedule your month off for maximum enjoyment and relaxation, AND maximum production. After all, I was taking the month off to get 2 big projects finished. I decided to work with clients 3 mornings a week and work on projects the rest of the time. I'd take Friday's off work completely so that I'd have a month of 3-day weekends; plus a 4-day weekend for Labor Day. I'd schedule time with family and friends during August for outings and visits, as well as some "me time" to walk in the woods or go to the beach and be in solitude.

4. Ask for support. I told my husband and my mastermind group I was going to take the month of August off; they loved the idea! I've also told my clients that my hours would be limited in August, that I'd still be there to support them but that they might not get 24-hour turnaround to emails or phone calls. And now I'm telling the world!

5. Stay present. This will be the tough one for me, staying present and aware during the month of August, paying attention to how I'm using my time, and if I'm creating the balance between work and relaxation that I'm seeking.

I'll let you know how it goes! It's going to be a great adventure and I'm looking forward to my month off with much anticipation.

It's Okay to Think Small

In nearly every business book I read and from the lips of nearly every business guru I listen to is the premise that you have to grow your business. Grow, grow, grow -- think big -- and you'll feel successful. More products, more services, more revenue -- and you'll be happy. Bigger is better, right?

Here's a secret that I'm going to start shouting from the rooftops: there's no shame in declaring that you want to keep your business small. This push for growing our business to the next level (whatever that means) might not be the right thing for many of us.

I'm not talking about people who remain small because they're scared, or because they don't have the skills or financing to grow big. I'm talking about the people who choose to keep their business small because, after careful analysis, it's what they really want. There's an unspoken taboo about saying, "I want my business to remain small," and I want to halt that taboo.

In his book The E-Myth Revisited, Michael Gerber says that if you elect to stay small and work in your business (instead of working "on" your business by creating a system where someone can run your business for you), you have a job, not a business. I don't understand his logic and I can't see where there's something inherently wrong with wanting to stay small and do the work yourself. Most self-employed people start their own businesses because they love what they do.

Gerber's principle is that a business should be created to get more out of life. Certainly the work you do should allow you to have the lifestyle you want. But I didn't start a business just to make heaps of money; I could get a corporate executive job and do that. I started a business to provide the services and products I love, that gives me personal fulfillment and creative challenge.

If you love the work you do, there is nothing wrong with wanting to continue to be the technician, as well as take on the role of manager and entrepreneur. You've got to do all three, so don't try to avoid it. But if you're willing to take on all three roles, you can find much meaning and satisfaction in running your own business.

Staying Small

There is a new way of looking at small business that challenges the notion that all growth is desirable. In Bo Burlingham's book, Small Giants: Companies That Choose to be Great Instead of Big, he talks about small business owners who had a choice to grow their business to majestic proportions and chose instead to remain small, to perfect their business to great heights without selling their soul to the "you must grow" mantra.

There are those business owners to elect to stay small, and create a great business. I didn't create a business in order to create a franchise-able model of it where someone else did the work. I created a business to be great at what I do, offering the best service and products possible. For me, the only way to do this is to remain small, boutique, and connected intimately with my customers. This allows me to listen to their needs and create solutions quickly. It gives me a kind of independence and joy that I never found in corporate life.

Seth Godin says, "Small is the new big because small gives you the flexibility to change the business model. Small means you can tell the truth on your blog. Small means that you will outsource the boring, low-impact stuff like manufacturing and shipping and billing and packing to others, while you keep the power because you invent the remarkable."

In fact, Seth wrote a book called Small Is The New Big. Maybe I'm on to something here.

Loving What You Do

While your business can be a means to an end (a lifestyle you want, or maybe to send your kids to college), why can't your business also be enjoyable in and of itself?

If you love gardening, you don't just work "on" your garden plan, you work "in" the garden every chance you get. You don't try to figure out ways to delegate all the work just so you can sit back and get the rewards of a pretty garden. Instead you want to get your fingers in the dirt and do it yourself because the very act of working in the garden is enjoyable to you. And sometimes that means you have a smaller garden so that you can find joy and fulfillment in doing it all yourself.

Many self-employed people don't want to be an absentee owner. I don't want to lose touch with my customers or the reason I do this work. I don't want to manage employees; instead, I'd rather work with partners who love what they do. I don’t want to create a big business model that any low-skilled employee can implement just for some extra cash.

If you want to be the CEO of a big company with lots of people working for you -- go for it. But for me, I want to get my hands dirty every day. I'd rather stay focused and build a business that's small and great.

Summer Business Cleanup and Planning

September always reminds me of "back to school season," the beginning of a new year. Many businesses slow down in August, so it is a great month to get reorganized for autumn. While there are always plenty of tasks for organizing your office, remember to focus on your upcoming marketing campaigns and projects so that you don't get that overwhelmed feeling come October.

Here are nine great tips for getting ready for September's busy season.

1. Enter all revenue and expenses into your recordkeeping system. If you don't have a recordkeeping system for your business finances, create one. You can use QuickBooks or Quicken Home & Business to keep your records in tip-top shape, and get great reports to measure your financial success and the growth of your business.
2. Reconcile your bank account records with bank statements. I don't know anyone who really loves to reconcile bank statements, but as a business owner you have a responsibility to know where every penny enters and exits your business. Just the other day, while reconciling my bank statements, I noticed a $745 deposit that never showed up in my business checking account!
3. Estimate your tax payment for the current year; typically you'll have one more estimated tax payment to make in autumn and a final one for 2006 due in early 2007. Have a plan for saving money towards your tax payments so that you're not caught short when the tax man cometh.
4. Clean out old paper files, emails, and books you never read. Now's the time to do a clean sweep of your office! You'll feel so much better without the clutter.
5. Speaking of books: take a look at your bookshelf and make a note of which books you'd like to read by the end of the year. You can choose them based on a topic you're interested in studying, or just select them intuitively. If you've been wanting to purchase some new books, now's the time to visit the bookstore or Amazon.com and browse their selection. And don't forget your local library: why pay for a book that you just want to scan but don't want to own?
6. Compare your financial and other goals to your current reality. Are you moving towards your goals? What tasks do you have to do to make sure you complete the goals you've set in the timeframe you've chosen? Make a task list and assign deadlines to even the smallest task, so that you'll be on target for the year. And why not start day dreaming about your goals and projects for 2007?
7. Organize your desk. Put things that you need often in a logical place and things that you rarely use in a drawer or cabinet.
8. Figure out a system for keeping track of your To Do list. The biggest anxiety producer that people face is having to keep all their tasks in their head.
9. Plan next year's vacation! Hey, why not??

What Should Be In Your Business Plan?

Many people quake in fear at the idea of writing a business plan. They imagine in their mind a 100-page document full of charts and financial figures. While it's possible to create a business plan of that magnitude when trying to get capital for your business, a typical business plan for self-employed people should be less than 10 pages.

The purpose of a business plan, for a self-employed person who is financing his own business, is to have a central repository for all strategic thinking about the business for the coming year or two. Here's what should be included:

• Your business idea in three sentences.
• Your target audience.
• The challenges that your target audience faces.
• The benefits of using your products and services to meet those challenges.
• Your company brand and image.
• Your projected revenue and expenses for a year.
• If you project more expenses than revenue for the first year, a statement about where the money will come from to pay for those expenses.
• A list of your major competitors, and how you are different from them.
• At least six markting techniques you're planning to use over the coming year, when you plan to implement them, and what results do you expect from them.
• A list of people who you will need to hire to implement your business plan or marketing plan (unless you have the business skills and time, yourself, to do all the work).

You should review your business plan, and update it, annually. I recommend reviewing the marketing section of your business plan quarterly, so that you can gauge the success of your marketing campaigns.

Free Business Templates from SCORE

SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives) offers from business documents templates for small business owners. These include business plan templates, balance sheet templates, and many more:

http://www.score.org/template_gallery.html