Posts Tagged 'Strategy'

There are three types of business owners – The Professional Hobbyist, the Job Owner, and the Businessman.  Recognizing these types, and setting your expectations accordingly, can have a dramatic effect on the level of success you achieve in business.

The Professional Hobbyist: This person started out doing something they love as a hobby, and then they opened a business so they could get paid to do it.  They take great pride in their work.  You can recognize this person because they have all the newest and best tools and materials, and they love to show you.  They have invested quite a bit of money into their operation, and anytime the business has extra cash that could be profit, they use it to buy even newer and better stuff, even though they’re not using half the equipment they already own.  After all, they think that the capacity to do even more and even better work will eventually lead to bigger and better profits.  However, no matter how long they have been at it, their business has never shown a profit.

This economy gets blamed for everything. Granted, it IS causing plenty of problems for a lot of people. But that’s no reason to let other issues needlessly drain the profitability of your business. Let me explain what I mean.

After looking at dozens of businesses and talking with their owners, I saw a particular “economic” situation far too frequently. These businesses were struggling with reduced profits, or in some cases serious losses, due in part to a steep decline in sales. In every case, the owners told me this decline in sales was due to the economy. That’s where they’re missing the boat. What’s more, it’s the unspoken implications of this statement that make it so dangerous.