I love reading the comics over my morning cup of tea. My dad used to call them “the funnies,” but the older I  got the less funny they  were, but there are still a few I like.

Adam@home, by Brian Basset, is one of them. I certainly can relate to the challenges of running a business from home.

Whether you are operating a lemonade stand like these kids, or a retail store it’s important to understand the principle of adaptation and flexibility. You may have a really good quality product and give great service but if  your customers can’t find you, you have to find them. Here are a few good tips to remember.

1. Don’t  get too attached to anything in your business. Things change and you have to be willing to change as well. Business that stay stagnant are the ones that disappear.

2. Remember the message of  the “Survival of the Species.” The businesses who let go and adapt are the ones who stay in business. When the health food fad started, McDonald’s put in a salad bar.

3. Look outside of your own office or shop. Notice what’s happening around you and offer products that speak to that pulse or need.

When the recession hit, I realized that small businesses would be in a great position as long as they could adjust their business plan and be willing to invest in their business. As a business owner, you have control over your job security.  Adaptation and flexibility need to be your best friends.

Maybe you own a business that is doing okay but you want it to be great!  Why not? You didn’t start a business in order to stay mediocre.

You want to be prosperous and have a business that works like a well oiled machine. Are you ready to take your business to the next level but not sure what to do or how to get out of the box you created.

Like all boxes, it feels familiar, safe and well…boxed in. Here are a few tips to help you make that shift and break through those barriers.

1. Find a quiet place in nature, by a stream or in the forest and write  out a vision, picture or idea of where you want your business to be in five years. It’s not about whether you think you can or can’t, only what you want.

2. Why do you want this?  What would be the positive outcomes?

3. What’s inside of yourself that’s blocking this from happening?  What feels scary, too risky or too hard?

4. Do you want to overcome those blocks? If you had the tools to get past whatever is stopping you, would you use them?

5.  What would be your first step in moving forward? It could be that you need to make a committed time to work on this process and set up a way to get accountability.

Do these five steps and you are on your way toward taking your business to the next step. If you do nothing, well, you’ll stay just where you are. Maybe your box is ok. Maybe not.

Acknowledge what you have already accomplished in your business so far. What strengths do you have that can help you jump to the next level?

Like most entrepreneurs I always have more to do than I have time to get it all done.  There’s always an invisible priority list in my brain and I end up doing all ‘those’ things first in between appointments.

The thing about appointments is that they take way longer than just the time of the meeting so it can feel like the day gets sucked up with even one appointment away from my office.

I’m sure many of you know exactly what I’m talking about. Like yesterday, I met two people at a cafe at 1:30. It was an excellent meeting and I left the location at 3:45 and then stopped at the grocery store on the way back. When I arrived at my home office,  I checked my messages and e-mails and before I knew it the work day was over.

Another day with important stuff that didn’t get done. The solution: Schedule days with no appointments. Zero.  Today is one of those days.  It feels like my energy field is huge and expansive. I have managed to complete tasks that should have been done 30 days ago. it feels great.  I do one day per week like this. One day each week with no appointments.

The challenge is to stick to your commitment. It requires you to draw a line through that day in your book because otherwise, you’ll see the blank space and think you can fill it up. Try it and let me know how it feels.

About 15 years ago I was a volunteer facilitator at a week long self-esteem workshop with 90 teenagers. Most of them had been dragged there by their parents and they arrived full of  an ‘attitude’ of  ‘ you can’t make me.’ Our job was to keep an upbeat energy 24/7, no matter what.

During that week we all got sick. I had a bad cold and was getting 3 hours of sleep per night. Still we had to smile, be energetic and keep the momentum going.  All I felt like doing was laying in bed. I couldn’t.  That week I learned about the ability to choose my state of being.  It was a gift that I still appreciate.

I discovered that I could choose how I welcome each day. I can choose my energy, my attitude and my state of mind.  How does this apply to running a business? Well, there are some days  that I just don’t feel like it. I can choose whether I stay in bed or whether I get up and write a blog post, connect with my clients and do my work.

When I do make a conscious choice to meet the day with uplifting attitude and focus it’s amazing how in one minute my energy will change and my state of mind will re-align for a productive day. When that happens it’s amazing what I am able to do.

More on overcoming inner obstacles…

A friend ask me that question recently. You don’t, I said. Once you focus on closing, closing is what you’ll always have to do (and you might as well sell used cars then). My best clients – best in the sense of long-term, repeat business – became my clients without the close. We talked and then we shook hands, skipping the close entirely. It just happened, naturally, like becoming friends. If you focus on cultivating long-term relationships, relationships is what you’ll have. And you want those with your clients, don’t you?

Marketing and sales have often been compared to dating: you need to woo your customer to give you the love of their business. To extend the analogy, the close is akin to the moment of the first kiss. You just know it’s time, you just know it’s happening. You’ve focused not on reaching the moment, but on getting to know the other person, on starting a relationship, and the kiss takes place without planning.

Focus on the relationship. Get to know the potential client. Better still, don’t think of them as a prospect at all. Talk to the person, not the company. Ask questions, be curious, learn as much as you can, about their business and them as an individual and member of the community. Carry a conversation, start a relationship. When you focus on relationships not sales, you’ll never have to worry about closing sales again.

How do you close a sale?

Peter Korchnak , Sustainable Marketing blog