6 Things Business Owners Do To Undermine Their Own Success

Lots of publishing people are starting their own businesses--necessity being the mother of invention. So you may be interested in my blog post from earlier this week.

In the small business I own, I’ve noticed an ebb and flow through the years–periods when I am really “on it” and other times when I am either coasting or not as engaged as I need to be. Fortunately, I’ve been very much on my game for the past two years (thanks in no small part to my collaboration with my coach). For the two years prior to that I was up and down and, no surprise, my results were erratic. I have been thinking about what’s different now compared with then in terms of my activity and attitude. I bet that anyone with a small business goes through the same cycles. Maybe if you read this you’ll snap out of a down cycle and get back on your game. So here goes: 6 Things Small Business Owners Do To Undermine Their Own Success. I am not going to to focus on what to do about each factor, basically because just noticing the problem is in itself the cure. But if you have other solutions, please comment.

* Get Fried by Their Business. Not much in life is harder than building a successful business–whether it has one employee, 10 or 100,000. Nature does not want your business to succeed. All gravitational forces and systems conspire to kill a new business, so you have to overcome the viruses, diseases and mutations that want to extinguish your venture. Often, small business owners are the business. They play many roles, not necessarily by choice but by necessity. Not everything can or should be delegated early on, or maybe ever. So owners get fried. When you’re toast you can’t be creative. If you are not creative in your business, it is already starting to die.

Continued reading.....