Small Business Q & A: If It Was Easy Everybody Would Do It

Written by Tim Knox


Q: I started my business about a year ago and everything is going fine. We're growing and making a profit, butrepparttar stress of runningrepparttar 104835 business is really starting to get to me. I spend more time worrying than working. Sometimesrepparttar 104836 pressure is almost more than I can take. I'm starting to think that I'm not cut out to run my own business. Do you have any advice that might help me decide what to do? -- Steven S.

A: I'm full of advice, Steven, and it's totally free. Just remember, you get what you pay for and I can't be held legally or morally responsible if my advice somehow lands you behindrepparttar 104837 counter at McDonalds. I'm not Dr. Phil, for petesake. I'm shorter and have more hair and less money.

Seriously,repparttar 104838 first thing you need to do is take a few deep breaths and take comfort inrepparttar 104839 fact that you are notrepparttar 104840 first entrepreneur to feelrepparttar 104841 weight ofrepparttar 104842 business world on your shoulders. Every business person, including yours truly, has feltrepparttar 104843 way you do at one time or another. For some, it's a feeling that occurs daily, especially when things aren't going as well as we'd like them to. And don't thinkrepparttar 104844 stress will magically disappear if your business takes off. I know people who run multimillion dollar corporations and they will tell you thatrepparttar 104845 stress level goes up in proportion torepparttar 104846 size ofrepparttar 104847 business. These same people will also tell you they love what they do and would never consider doing anything else.

The difference between these entrepreneurs and you, Steven, is that they have been in business longer and have learned to not only handle stress, but to take stress and transform it into a driving force. They feed offrepparttar 104848 stress. It fuels their creativity and innovation. Stress challenges them, it makes them think, makes them better entrepreneurs.

I thinkrepparttar 104849 real question isn't whether or not you have what it takes to run a business. The real question is do you have what it takes to handlerepparttar 104850 stress of running a business. These are two very different questions andrepparttar 104851 answers depend totally on you.

Even onrepparttar 104852 best of days running a business can be incredibly stressful, not to mention overwhelming and exhausting. It's only natural that there will be times when you wonder if it's really worth it. Asking yourselfrepparttar 104853 "should I just get a real job" question simply means that your human side is showing. And as a human you have a limited tolerance for things you can not control. And that's really whererepparttar 104854 stress of being an entrepreneur comes from. We worry about things we can't control. Things like finding new customers, payingrepparttar 104855 bills, making payroll, and a thousand other things. Sure, we can put forth our best efforts to make these things turn out in our favor, but we really can't controlrepparttar 104856 outcome.

So we worry. And worry breeds stress and stress breeds doubt and doubt breedsrepparttar 104857 feeling that an 800 pound gorilla is using your chest for a lawn chair. It's only natural that you being to wonder, "Is this what I really want to do? Do I have what it takes to run my own business?"

I remember once complaining aboutrepparttar 104858 stress of running my business to an elder entrepreneur. He waved at me like he was swatting a fly and said, "Son, if it was easy, everybody would do it. Now suck it up and move on."

Suck it up and move on… probablyrepparttar 104859 best business advice I've ever gotten. No fortune cookie was ever so onrepparttar 104860 money.

My mentor's eloquent point was this: running a business is never easy and always stressful, but that's what makes it so dang exciting. Running a business is like walking a tight rope… backward… with your eyes shut… and your pants on fire… Man, sure beats working for a living, huh.

Small Business Q & A: Writing The Book On Great Customer Service

Written by Tim Knox


Q: One ofrepparttar big chain bookstores recently opened up near my small book store. Already I can see my business starting to decline. Is there anything I can do to compete withrepparttar 104834 bigger store or should I just acceptrepparttar 104835 inevitable? -- Peter Q.

A: A wise man once said, "The inevitable is never a sure thing."

Don't be so quick to closerepparttar 104836 book on your business, Peter. You probably can't compete withrepparttar 104837 superstore on volume of inventory or on price, but there are other things you can do to help keep repparttar 104838 customers coming in your door. One ofrepparttar 104839 best ways to ensure customer loyalty is to offer superior customer service.

It's funny that you're a bookseller. Let me tell you about my last visit to one ofrepparttar 104840 big chain bookstores just a few weeks ago.

I took my teenage daughter in to findrepparttar 104841 classic book, The Once and Future King, for a school project that has to be done overrepparttar 104842 summer. It was a Sunday afternoon andrepparttar 104843 store was crawling with customers. We spent fifteen minutes scouring this great warehouse of a bookstore, but couldn't findrepparttar 104844 book anywhere. We also couldn't find anyone who worked there to ask for help.

Finally, I went up torepparttar 104845 front counter and askedrepparttar 104846 apathetic looking teenager who was manningrepparttar 104847 register if they hadrepparttar 104848 book in stock. She looked at me as if I'd asked her to do advanced calculus in her head and said, "I dunno."

I asked if she might check her computer for me. She looked at me again, this time as if I'd just asked her to rotaterepparttar 104849 tires on my car without a jack. After a minute of tappingrepparttar 104850 keys with her long fingernails (which were painted black, byrepparttar 104851 way) she said, "Yeah, we have it."

"Great," I said. "Where can I find it?"

She glanced atrepparttar 104852 screen again and said, "It says that it's inrepparttar 104853 classics section."

"Great," I said again. I userepparttar 104854 word "great" a lot when I'm trying to restrain myself from strangling incompetent sales people. "Where mightrepparttar 104855 classics section be?"

She didn't bother to look at me orrepparttar 104856 computer this time. She just shrugged and said, "Beats me, man. I've only worked her a week. "

I wanted to ask if there was anyone who had worked there long enough to know whererepparttar 104857 ^%$# classics section was, but by that time there were a dozen or so people lining up behind me to pay for books they had somehow managed to find on their own.

I went home and orderedrepparttar 104858 book online. So much for supporting my local bookseller.

It's a shame your store isn't located near me, Peter. I'll bet if I walked in and asked for a copy of The Once and Future King you would be able to tell me almost torepparttar 104859 square inch whererepparttar 104860 book is onrepparttar 104861 shelf in your store. I'll also bet that if you didn't have a copy in stock you would go out of your way to order it for me.

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