To Become An Expert, You Have To Become An Expert DIY-er!

When you're a business owner, there's no shortage of stuff you have to do yourself. Sometimes that's because there's no one else to do it. Staff? What staff? Other times, you do something because you're the best person for the job. It's your business, your expertise. You are the business! When I first ventured out on my own, I had my hands in every aspect of the business. I was in the kitchen, met with customers, did the books, ordered the linens, fixed stuff when it broke, I even did errands.

After a while, I was able to hand off certain jobs to other people. First to go were those errands (pretty much everyone can be trusted to drive a car, right?). Though strangely, I kind of missed my "alone time" in the car, which I'd come to enjoy. It was about the only time of day I was by myself and could belt out a song or two without a pained-looking audience. But enough about my "me time." Once I started bringing in regular money, me doing errands was no longer good use of my time. My time was money and I could pay someone less money to sing in the car while they picked up stuff and sat in traffic.

Be An Informed Business Owner!

Soon I was farming out other tasks as well. Espresso machine broken? Call cute repair guy with Italian accent. He actually knows what he's doing and hopefully won't laugh at the MacGyver-type fix I did myself on the steam spout thingy last year. Gradually, my "farming out" of tasks became more delegation of work as I was able to hire people to train or people who had a specific expertise. In both cases, I learned from these employees. When you're training someone, you always learn a few new things about the job at hand because of the questions they ask. And new hires with a specific skill set can bring insight to a part of the business you aren't an expert in.

While it felt good to offload some of the jobs I didn't like or didn't think I was very good at, not doing that at the beginning was an important part of my learning process. Because I was so hands-on in running the company — I was basically broke and couldn't afford to do it any other way! — I learned about every aspect of my business. Years later, this enabled me to delve into analyzing where all my time and money went. And that led me to develop a system of accounting that ultimately improved my profitability. But it all started when, out of necessity, I had to do most everything myself. Many a business owner will tell a similar story. And it's this hands-on "DIY" involvement that can make you a true expert in running a small business.

Be Oh So Quotable This Week!

I always say running a business means the work never ends! Ain't that the truth? I bet your to-do list is a mile long! Make sure that the items at the top of your list are the things that relate to being more profitable. Everyone is so proud of being so "busy"...But Are You Making Any Money? Don't be too busy to focus!

Check out the summary of last week's business tips and motivational quotes from my Instagram page which you hopefully got to see in real time! If not, let's make sure we're following each other on Instagram!! So...here is this week's roundup of Instagram images of My Top Business Tips and Motivational Quotes.

Business Owner – Tip #1:

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"Great acts are made up of small deeds." – Lao Tzu

Business Owner – Tip #2:

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"Have patience. All things in life are difficult before they become easy." – Saadi

Business Owner – Tip #3:

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"He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life." – Muhammad Ali

Business Owner – Tip #4:

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"If you really want to do something, you'll find a way. If you don't, you'll find an excuse." – Jim Rohn

Business Owner – Tip #5:

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"It's not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives, but what we do consistently." – Tony Robbins

Let's talk! I'd love to hear some of your stories about being a business owner!

Are you an expert business owner? Did you do a lot of DIY in your early days? Tell us! What advice would you share with your fellow business owners? Which tips above did you find helpful? I would LOVE to hear from you!

Anyhoo...I publish these business tips and motivational quotes to get you fired up for your work week! And, if you want more business tips, get my book, But Are You Making Any Money? or contact me to really take your business to the next level!

xoxo M

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