No one in their right mind would start a new business if they really knew what they would need to face in themselves. You just wanted to help people and get paid for it. Really simple and yet not so simple.

You have probably found yourself spending most of your time trying to figure out how to run your business and get more of those wonderful clients to help. It has probably pushed you right to your edge and more than once you have wondered if you should just quit!

I just watched this wonderful video of Bene Brown. Although she is a social worker and not talking about small business at all, some of her ideas totally relate!

You began your business of helping people for connection and wanting purpose and meaning. You wanted to make a difference.

When your business has struggled and not enough clients come through your door, you began to feel shame and not worthy. ( at least I did!)

A natural reaction to shame is to wanting to hide and not be seen. If you do that your business won’t grow and you will stay small and constricted. ( I could get an award for shame!)

In order to develop worthiness, it is necessary to be vulnerable, and know that being vulnerable is real and authentic! It takes courage to do that, but from that place, you will be able to stay tapped into to your original purpose of wanting to connect and help people. If you are busy hiding, that’s where your energy will be- hidden.

Once you are ok with being vulnerable it is way easier to be seen. And you know what? People trust people way more when they are real, authentic and vulnerable.

A very important part of marketing is “telling your own story.” If you stay hidden  no one can connect with you and you separate yourself from your clients. Your own story of struggle, pain and overcoming obstacles will allow people to see you.

Special- for women entrepreneurs- connect with other women, overcome your own tendency to want to  hide and learn how to tell your story and lead your business from that strong place.

I love my friend Michael Beck’s quote “People are attracted to you by who you are, rather than what you do…”

So, be real, authentic, vulnerable and make your business decisions from that place!

Even in a solo business, it is essential to develop yourself as a leader!  The  leader  is the person who envisions the business, sees the whole vision, and with that picture in mind, will be able to understand that in order to reach  goals, certain things need to be prioritized and developed.

Without wearing the leader hat, many solo business owners never get around to developing a vision or plan. They just hang out a shingle and start right out  trying to get clients, then  get upset and frustrated when no new clients show up right away.  In fact, instead of being a leader, they are operating from their money stress and self-doubt.

Leaders know that it takes months to envision, research and plan a business and can take even longer to begin making money. Without that plan, you will:

• Make bigger decisions off the cuff without the foundation plan to support them.

• Operate from self-doubt and avoid taking too big of risks in order to  stay in your comfort zone.

• Make decisions based on the desperate need to have cash flow and will jump around trying this and that and not give anything enough time to grow.

The leader looks at all parts of the whole business and keeps a check in each area. Part of being a leader is getting  help from experts and learning to act from a larger perspective, rather than a momentary reaction.

Leaders stretch and grow, they look at their business from a wide overview. In order to be a strong leader of your business,  it is important to find a mastermind group or a coach, do strategic planning sessions with your team and develop new goals and time lines. Without being a leader your business will never move out of the struggle mode and you will never be able to take calculated risks for growth.

What do you need to do to develop yourself into the leader you want and need to be?

For most solo-business owners, when you first start your business you find yourself focused on how to find enough clients and enough money coming in.  The idea that you might get so busy that you would need help sounds like a dream!

In fact, this issue throws most solo-business owners into a tail spin. As your business grows, you become busier and often unprepared.

•  The work piles up and you begin working more and more hours.
•  Some things fall through the cracks and don’t get done or you forget to do them.
•  Your office becomes an organizational nightmare.

If this sounds familiar you are needing to develop new systems to support your growth.  I’ve worked with many clients who unconsciously keep themselves small in order to stay in control. It is not uncommon for people to feel that:

•  No one else can do the work as well as they can.
• They have no time to train someone else.
• They don’t have the money to pay someone else.
• There are no written systems – it’s all in their head.
• They feel unsure how to manage someone else.

If you can relate to the above lists then you need to make a big change in your business structure in order to pave the way for your business to grow.

Here are a few suggestions.

1.  Isolate one or two jobs that you would like to be able to give to someone else.
2. Begin to keep a running list of all the tasks associated with this job.
3. Notice how much time you spend on these tasks each week.  Add those times to your list.
4. Look for someone who you can hire for just a few hours per week to do this one job.
5. Look at this as a learning in how to manage someone.
6. Hire an intern who is willing to work in exchange for your help. Your intern can also learn about management in the process.

When you change your focus from, ” I can’t,” to “I must find a way,” the opportunities will appear and you will make time to grow your business, not just run it.

I met with a small group of entrepreneurs last week and as people shared about their business, one thing everyone had in common was a feeling of overwhelm when it came to business planning. Each person could easily state some goals they wanted to accomplish, but the next part got foggy.

One thing I noticed was that the goals were usually big and very general, and therefore overwhelming. It’s one thing to have a goal and quite another thing to know how to reach that goal and make it real. Here is a simple three step process that will help you to make it more manageable and therefore attainable.

1. Vision
Create a crystal clear vision of what you want to attain. The more details the better. The process of making a vivid vision will force you to work out the unclear parts. If you were building a house, you would need to have detailed blueprints to follow. Your goal needs to be just like that; a blueprint of where you want to be and what you want to develop.

2. Plan
Once you have the vision, the next part is to write out a step-by-step plan of what needs to happen. “I need to call this person, get this information, complete this project, hire this person etc.” This is sort of a to do list of everything you can think of that would help to bring this vision into completion.

3. Action
It is one thing to have a goal and vision with the knowledge of what you need to do, and quite another thing to actually take action and do it. The first thing is to identify the obstacles in yourself  that are keeping you from taking action. How will you face these obstacles and what is the first action you will take. That first action will begin a domino effect and get you going.

You can use this simple formula for anything you want to accomplish.

Last week I  talked with to two different solo business owners who said they had lost the passion for their business.

In both cases they had worked hard for many years, put in blood sweat and tears and in the end,  the poor  financial return had affected their motivation to keep going. It reminded me of the job putting a big garden, doing the hard physical work and then seeing the crop yield poor. Very discouraging!

What was similar about both of these women is that they had a home based business,  not enough support and  felt a sense of isolation.

Passion and life force is something that needs to be “tended,”  It needs good soil , sunshine and love. Here are a five essential supports to help grow your business garden.

1. Mentor
A mentor is someone who listens and supports you, is positive, encouraging and can help you sort out issues and make decisions. Successful business owners have many mentors throughout their business life.

2. Mastermind group
This is a small group of five-six business owners who meet regularly and support each other, share their goals, learn from each other and build on each person’s strengths.

3. Community
All business owners need community in their local area. This often comes in the form of networking groups that meet regularly. as that offers the ability to build strong relationships. Online is good but nothing is a substitute for face-to-face meeting.

4. Inspiration
Everyone needs inspiration and this can come in the form of books, tapes, classes, webinars, videos and anything that brings you inspiration.

5. Spirit
This will take a different form for each person but it includes meditation, yoga, church, chanting. It can also include  anything that lifts your spirit and makes you feel connected to a greater purpose.

These five supports are good for everyone, but especially important for people who are running their own business. They will help you to keep your passion intact and your business life force strong.