[Courses] chapter five: Running A Business- A little monomania is good

[Carla Schroder]

A self-employed person can't afford to think conventionally. You're on your 
own- if you are not productive, you won't make money. For me that's a big 
plus. The better I am, the better I do.

Working for yourself is the ultimate form of self-expression. You don't turn 
it off at 5pm. Everything is an opportunity. If you're cut out to be an 
entrepeneur, you're already seeing opportunities everywhere. People love to 
complain, whine, gripe, moan, and bellyache about their computers. I listen, 
smile, nod, restrain my desire to yell "If you would take some courses to 
learn to USE the darn thing you wouldn't be so frustrated!", and toss out 
some ideas for improvement. "Hey, I have an attractive group rate for 
training." "Why don't I come have a look, I bet I can make it a lot better." 
That sort of thing. Listening to people and getting to know them gives you 
all kinds of great approaches. In fact, the Linuxchix rules are a great 
customer service foundation: be nice, be helpful.

In "The Millionaire Mind" the author discusses the importance of building a 
good support team. We already talked about professionals, such as a CPA and a 
business lawyer, and choosing supportive, positive friends. The most 
important person of all is your significant other. Running a business can be 
demanding, even all-consuming at times. You don't need a SO who undermines 
your efforts. Who gripes about putting in long hours, or filling the living 
room with computers, or putting a nice sign on your car, or whatever it is 
you need to do to succeed. 

Yes, I am suggesting that you dump your SO if they are whiny, obstructive, 
and unhelpful. Why would you want a person like that in your life for any 
reason? 

A self-employed person needs a broad outlook. The more you read and talk to 
people, the better. Not only publications and books that pertain to your 
profession, but also business news, especially local, and the trade pubs of 
industries you want to target. They are gold mines of useful information and 
opportunities.

I bet you are already thinking along these lines and just needed to hear 
someone else say it....

-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Carla Schroder, Bratgrrl Computing
Plain English Spoken Here
www.bratgrrl.com
this message brought to you by Kmail,
on Red Hat Linux 7.2
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~