Most solo business owners are “Do it yourself-ers,”  and become highly skilled at juggling, working long hours and avoiding paying for anything they feel they can manage themselves. If this sounds like you, read on!

If you are one of those people who started your business literally from the ground up, beginning with no clients and no money, you had to do it all yourself. If you followed good advice, created a marketing plan and good organizational systems, eventually your business has grown and now you are just too busy to stay on top of everything.

Stuff begins to fall through the cracks, your blog posts aren’t getting written as often, your desk is piled with papers, you have new ideas you have no time to develop.

You might begin to realize you need to get help.You have likely had contract employees for certain tasks like web development, editing or graphics but what you need now is someone to help you grow your business.

The problem is you are good at your craft or practice, but don’t have a clue about how to hire someone or manage them. Maybe you even tried it once and it was a disaster so now you are cautious.  Here are a few things to help you to make a shift from being a solo-business owner to being an employer of a small business.

1. Look at all the parts of your business and begin making a comprehensive list of every job and task that you do. You can use my Whole Business Circle to help you divide your business into eight pie pieces. Although some areas will overlap, this will help you to cover each area without being overwhelmed!

2. Make a list of every job you have not been doing because you haven’t had the time. If you are like most people, you are doing the jobs that seem urgent, have direct financial gain and/or are fun.  Once you have your list, rate each one by how important it is to long term growth. It is actually those jobs that are not urgent, but might be important to long term growth, that need to be addressed.

3. Create a short list of jobs you would like to have someone else do. Notice if they seem to fall into categories and skill sets. How much training would be required to teach someone how to do these jobs? Do you have step-by-step systems in place to make the transition easier?  Developing systems with clear steps and focus will make it easier for you to be a manager and will help your employee feel confident and supported as well.

4. What kind of person do you want?  My business consultant friend said that the difficulty is that most people want to hire very smart, sharp people who can work well on their own, be creative, stay and become more involved with the business, however to begin with, they might be doing boring, less interesting jobs. You need to be clear of your intention and the “why” behind it. It requires thinking long term as it can be a very time consuming task to train a person and then do it again and again.

5. Employee via virtual assistant. The advantage of the VA is that they are generally paid by the job and not on salary. You only hire them when needed, however once they learn the task, they can do it over and over.  The advantage of an employee is that this person becomes part of your business, is not working for many other businesses and has the potential to become invested and can grow with your company. They make a time commitment to  you and you are managing them. A VA is running their own  business and they set their own hours.  Once you look at your job list and think about what is important, it will be easier to decide what’s right for you.

In order to move from being an overworked solo-business owner to growing a stronger sustainable business, you have to let go of doing it all yourself. If you keep trying to do it all yourself, your business will stay small.

Many solo serviced based business owners struggle with the whole issue of pricing.  Am I charging too much, too little?  How to get people to buy seems all mixed up with people’s self worth, self doubt and unresolved money issues.  Some common pitfalls include:

• Looking at what other business owners are charging for a similar service, and then end up comparing yourself to them and feel bad and confused because you are not them and your business is not exactly the same.

• Being desperate to bring in cash right away in any amount,. Money stress will cause you to  feel poor and constricted, which turns into a downward spiral.  You become lost in your own feelings of failure which make it hard to make good money or business decisions.

•  Choosing a ‘stab in the dark’ price based on what you feel ok with and what you think people will pay.  Since your self-doubt is high, you end up picking a low price thinking you are not good enough to charge more. The truth is, if you truly feel you are not good enough at what you do, why would anyone pay you anything?

Solutions:

1. Focus on helping your niche clients and giving them value.

2. Don’t charge by the hour because your price includes your whole business with all the systems, development, office, marketing etc.

3. Be an excellent money manager and learn to manage well what you have. This will lower your anxiety.

4. Make a business plan that reflects your financial goals and then figure out the income streams and where the money will come from.Use the Money Map and sales funnel to figure this out.

5. Give high vale and bonuses but avoid discounts because it makes you look desperate and it will confuse your customers. People buy services for value first, price second.

If you do all these things your self-doubt will decrease and your confidence will increase.

One of my mentors, T. Harv Eker told me, “until you can manage a small amount of money, you won’t be able to handle a large amount.”

When I first heard this I felt like I wanted to crawl into a cave because my money management was atrocious. I never really knew how much I had (or didn’t have was more accurate). I just checked my bank balance every so often  and made sure I was still in the black.

My mental space was filled with creative and visionary ideas.  Money management seemed boring and a sure way to pop my helium balloon. Harv also said, “The way you do one thing is the way you do everything.” I woke up and I realized that ¨until I began to clear out the money cobwebs I would stay in a place of struggle.

Here are a few typical types of money clutter and how to clear them out permanently.

1. Fear of really looking at your accounts and knowing what’s going in and out. This is an irrational fear that once you know it will be horrible. Avoiders  want to steer clear of fear at all cost because it is uncomfortable.  As a result, bills stack up, mail is left unopened or not dealt with properly and you never have an accurate picture of your money.

Solution: Become an excellent money manager. Check your accounts regularly and deal with stuff immediately. Get a good bookkeeper and put systems in place.

2. Spending money on impulse. As soon as you get some money coming in you think of ways to spend it on “stuff.” Some of the stuff could be useful but mainly it’s fun to spend it and it makes you feel prosperous.

Solution: Create a special account for play money and put 5-10% of your earnings in there each month. Spend that on fun stuff. Before you buy something you need for your business ask yourself, “Do I really need this?”

3. Worry that the money flow will dry up. When you are in business you depend on a stream of new business and your customers to pay you on time. Worry can clutter your mind and stop your creative process.

Solution:  Substitute worry thoughts for positive thoughts and keep your attention focused on what you need to do to provide excellent customer service and good value. Develop a solid marketing plan.

4. Unrealistic money goals. You know you want to earn more money but you never have actually sat down and did a strategic plan of how to get there. There are holes in your plan and you keep doing the same mistakes over and over.

Solution: Develop a business plan that gives you a clear map to how to reach your money goals. Get help if you don’t know how to do this.

5. Poverty consciousness. You feel unworthy and disabled. Maybe you are uncomfortable asking for money and receiving it. You don’t know how to close sales. Your clients sense your discomfort and don’t want to be around you. You feel small and make decisions from that place.

Solution:  Begin to hang around prosperous people and change your behaviors. Let go of staying small. Stretch out of your comfort zone as this is the only way you will grow.

Follow these five things are you will begin to  eliminate your money clutter and open the space for prosperity.

If you’re like many solo-business owners you started your business because you are enthusiastically passionate about your product or service. You love it, and you know that if people understood they would love it too. How could they not?

So why is it so hard to get people to make the decision to buy from you? You are truly puzzled because you know your stuff is good. You know they need your help and you know that they would benefit greatly. So what’s the problem? You are smart, out-going and committed and yet you still struggle to have enough money to buy food!

It could be just a simple adjustment you need to make in your pitch. Simple isn’t always easy because old habits die hard. If you ever tried to quit smoking or go on a diet you know what I’m talking about.

It may be that you are desperate to quit smoking and you know all the reasons you should, and yet you keep lighting up. A quit smoking expert corners you and starts to tell you all the facts about how bad smoking is and how he can help you with his wonderful program.

You listen and begin to fade into the wallpaper. You feel insulted because you already know all this. In fact, you could teach the class! He blabs on and on and you feel irritated because not once did he ask you about your situation, your awareness or your feelings.

Rule number one! Forget your pitch. Listen instead. Ask questions and determine what they already know, how they feel and what they need.

Never even invite them to work with you.  Maybe you are thinking, “right, I’ll never get anymore clients this way!” Wrong. Once you listen and care about them, you are building a relationship. You may even find out some information about this person you didn’t know and discover they are not a good a match for you. Maybe they will like you then and refer others.

Forget your pitch and LISTEN instead.  It’s amazing what will happen!

Do you want to learn rules two through seven as well? There are seven powerful steps to effective selling. When you learn them all, you will be unstoppable and people will love you, refer people to you and want to stay connected.

Part of what makes a business a business is the cash flow.  You need to have more money coming in than going out.

I remember my first year in business when  the flow had slowed down to a trickle and then almost stopped at one point. I  felt  hopeless, fearful and anxious. When I added a bit of self-judgment to that mix it was a sad sight.

What do you do when this happens? Quit, get a job, go into a cave?

Nothing is wrong or bad about quitting but that decision needs to be made in a place of empowerment and not in the face of fear.   It’s actually an excellent time to re-prioritize your business plan of action and goals.

1. Are you 100% commited to your business?  If your answer is anything less than 100% it’s important to look at what is making it less and what you need to do to bring it back to 100%.

2. Re-do your marketing plan so it is clear and targeted to exactly who you want to work with. Come up with ways to communicate with them that get’s their attention. Offer something of value for free to get them through the door.

3. Review your whole business plan and make sure you are on track of where you are now and where you are wating to go.

4. If you are in a funk make sure you get help. When you make important decisions from a place of fear they are never good. A good mentor will help you to stay objective and make decisions from a place of empowerment.

5. Do one positive thing for your business today and another one tomorrow. Keep watering and weeding your garden and it will flourish before your eyes.