Self-Employed? Passion is Not Enough For Success

Sep 7, 2011 by Rebecca

Very few self-employed people ever become truly successful.  It is not enough to have a passion for web design, writing, or photography.  If you want to work on your own, then you need to become a true jack-of-all-trades.  Your gift of creating amazing websites is not going to take you far if you do not also tackle your weaknesses in sales and marketing.  Your gift for sales is going to fall flat if you do not also develop the practical sense of how to get things done and manage projects.

Everyone has strengths, but we all also have weaknesses.  When you work for a company, a lot of those weaknesses are inconsequential because the math dunce has an accounting team to keep track of the budget, the spacy “big-thinking” manager has an executive assistant with an amazing attention to detail.

If you are going to go out on your own and start a small business, you will need to either learn or hire out all of your weaknesses.  Unfortunately, most people do not do either.  They keep plugging along at what they are good at and they ignore their weaknesses.  A year later, they are still struggling and finally give up and start job searching.

If you want to overcome the odds that you will be one of the estimated 90% of small businesses that fail, you need to be brutally honest with yourself about what your weaknesses are and come up with strong strategies to work around them.  Those strategies can include hiring help, but there are also many other resources that you can use to teach yourself how to overcome and succeed.

Some of my favorite books to start with:

• Good in a Room – By Stephanie Palmer  — This book is great for learning how to network effectively and naturally, as well as how to tailor your sales pitch and engage your potential customers.
• The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It – By Michael E. Gerber  — This is a classic small-business strategy book.  If you are struggling with whether you should go into business yourself, or if you are having trouble figuring out why you are not successful, I would highly recommend it.
• The Wealthy Freelancer: 12 Secrets to a Great Income and an Enviable Lifestyle — This book is great for marketing strategies for small businesses.  It really has something for everyone.

 

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Want to feel successful with self-employment but having a hard time figuring out what weaknesses are holding you back?  Maybe you actually know which weaknesses you have, but are having a hard time creating to strategy to work around them? Drop me an email at rebecca@whowinsandwhy.com or contact me here. I would be happy to answer any of your questions; or if you would prefer, help you get started with a free initial session to get you moving forward.

 

Photo by 1uk3