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Andrew is a self-educated business owner and entrepreneur with plenty of free communication (which is worth exactly what y'all pay for it!).

Tough Lessons

I've been on the roller coaster of running my own business concern for a long time now, and I've always had the entrepreneurial problems. However, information technology's only in the concluding 10 years or so that I've been able to starting time quantifying what makes a business more or less successful. Afterward a cracking bargain of self-teaching (I've read nearly fifty business books, met with countless mastermind groups, and made plenty of mistakes over the years!), I've distilled what I've learned into x central concepts or "commandments" that volition hopefully make your life a fiddling flake easier.

Commandment Overview

Without using the overly kitschy "thou shalt" or "thou shalt not," let'south become right to the x most important guiding business concepts:

1. Run your business; don't let information technology run you.
2. Automate and delegate properly. This ways a lot of initial grooming and gear up, only it pays off.
3. Make long-term plans (five-year programme, one year piece, one month piece, weekly, and daily planning).
4. Create SMART goals.
5. Start every mean solar day working on daily goals.
6. Get into a routine.
7. Go rid of distractions.
8. Do tasks in batches.
9. Pay your business start.
10. Learn.

Commandment 1: Run Your Business concern; Don't Let It Run Yous

This really could be the merely commandment, as everything else tends to autumn in line if you are able to follow this one to a tee. Near folks aren't able to completely concretize this (myself included), so it's useful to have a look at what'south realistic. The main concept is that you don't want to spend so much time on the technical work, even though that might be the main thing that drew you into running a business in the first place. Instead, your goal should be to spend the lion's share of your time improving the fashion things work.

The difference between spending eight hours doing menial tasks and, say, spending 4 hours on menial tasks and 4 hours on improving the business organisation itself will be like night and day. While there are probable dozens of folks who tin can practise the technical work at your business, there is only ane person who tin bulldoze the business organization in the right direction, ultimately making sure that everything is happening according to a plan that leads you to having a much better business 5 years down the road. That person is you.

Imagine that you lot are on a huge late 19th-century transatlantic transport. There are 3 main jobs that become this ship beyond the Atlantic ocean from London to New York. The start is the coal shoveler. Without this technical work, the send simply won't get anywhere. The 2nd job is the director, who makes certain the coal is actually being shoveled properly and consistently. Without this person, the coal shovelers won't necessarily do their jobs correctly (or at all). The third job is the helm.

The captain makes sure the send really goes to New York (and, equally importantly, makes sure that the send avoids obstacles similar icebergs). You are the captain of your business. Without yous, in that location is no style to be sure that the business organisation will be heading in the right direction. This entire article is actually almost this: how to make certain yous're heading in the correct management, and how to get there.

Commandment 2: Automate and Delegate Properly

You can't practise everything yourself if you have a grand vision (more on that beneath), but with the proper assistance, and past leveraging applied science, many more things tin can be taken out of your hands. The rule here is to automate and delegate properly, with emphasis on properly. It isn't enough to merely automate everything and let the arrangement run on its own or to pawn off odd jobs on whoever is available. Instead, you lot need to lay the groundwork in the beginning, and stick to your guns, making certain everyone understands why things need to happen.

Utilize autoresponders to answer initial emails, but follow upwards with real man interaction as soon as you have a conversation going, for instance. Set subscriptions on Amazon Prime for goods you lot use on a anticipated basis. Just don't forget to cheque any automations from time to time!

Revolution BJJ, a martial arts gym I run in Richmond, Virginia

Commandment 3: Make Long-Term Plans

You're in this for the long haul, or else you're in business for all the wrong reasons. Instead of what's going to happen tomorrow or side by side week, you need to kickoff thinking about where you'd like to be in five, ten, or fifty-fifty 20 years. While this isn't and so easy to starting time doing, one time you form a habit, information technology'southward almost addictive. Start with where you lot'd like to be in the truly long term (20 years is a pretty good ceiling).

Some of the concepts can be abstract, but endeavour to meet yourself where you want to be in two decades. Next, try to figure out where you need to be in ten years. Write all of this down equally yous become. Slice the ten-year goal into where you lot demand to be in five years, and then accept the five-year plan and piece it into individual years. You now know what your annual goals are going to be for the next v years, give or have.

I personally prefer a spreadsheet for long-term goal tracking (more on setting goals properly below).

Commandment iv: Create SMART Goals

SMART:

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• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Relevant
• Fourth dimension-bound

Love it. Live information technology. Focus mainly on the "attainable" aspect.

Commandment 5: Offset Every Twenty-four hours Working on Goals

For the offset one-half-hr of every day, get-go by making a listing of your daily goals (if it works ameliorate for yous to practice this the night before, go for information technology). Don't start any tasks for the residuum of the day until y'all accept these daily goals done. The daily goals should be derived from your weekly goals, which you lot should brand every Sun or Mon morning, and, in turn, the weekly goals should be derived from your monthly goals, which are derived from your yearly goals, and so on.

You've already taken the goal-setting procedure seriously and given it plenty fourth dimension; now, it's time to focus on execution. Don't answer email or check Facebook before you attain today'south goals, and brand sure at that place are no exceptions to this.

Commandment vi: Get Into a Routine

To that end, information technology's really important that you lot get into a routine. I run a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu gym, and so my routine looks something like this:

• 10 a.m.: Set up your daily goals.
• 10:10 a.m.: Accomplish goals for the solar day.
• 11:00 a.grand.: Answer emails (in batches, of course).
• 11:30 a.thou.: Social media (promoting events, interacting, and personal fourth dimension).
• 12:00–2:00 p.grand.: Personal time (walk dogs, play games, goof off, etc., but generally away from a figurer).
• 2:00–4:00 p.grand.: BJJ grooming time (if I'yard not training that mean solar day, I will do something active, similar prep meals or run an errand).
• 4:00–5:30 p.m.: Go far at the gym; interact with office admin and front end desk receptionist. Answer emails that take accumulated since 12 p.m. or so (and address any social media updates) during this fourth dimension.
• 5:xxx–ix:00 PM: Teach and train.
• 9–10 PM: Clean upwards and get dwelling.

This type of routine is really important, whether or not you utilise a like design construction (I adopt intense, tranquility work spaced out betwixt periods of inactivity or relaxing). If you're in the habit of doing these things, yous're going to practise them every day. If you're not, well . . . you're not going to do these things every 24-hour interval.

Commandment 7: Become Rid of Distractions

Although this concept follows naturally from the in a higher place sequence (the thought is to get everything done in a given day, including—no, especially—your daily goals), it still takes a lot of conditioning to master. Tim Ferris has said that there really isn't such a affair as multitasking for homo beings, and I tend to hold with him, with very few exceptions. Instead, the mode to become "super productive" is simply to get rid of everything that distracts you from your intent.

I find that I work best in ane to two-hour bursts with little to no distractions, although I tin can become quite a lot done in xv minutes of solitude in forepart of a computer. Apparently, I'm not opening a bunch of recreational tabs when I exercise this, and I'm not working with the Tv set on in the groundwork.

I do notice music to be helpful, and even useful in measuring fourth dimension if I mind to a full album and know all the songs on it, simply you'll need to decide if you work better in absolute quiet or with music. No matter what, though, get your telephone out of the flick (out of sight), and get rid of any other opportunities to end y'all from getting your 1 hour of diligence in.

Commandment eight: Do Tasks in Batches

Batching tasks was something I got right away from my piece of work in the restaurant concern. Most larger restaurants operate with the paramount goal of maximizing efficiency, and this frequently means doing the aforementioned thing xx or 30 (or 100) times earlier jumping to a dissimilar task. For example, if you have a dish that includes 5 dissimilar vegetables, all of which demand to exist peeled and sliced, it probably makes a lot more sense to peel and slice all 20 onions that yous're going to demand for the day alee, and then move on to peeling all l or then carrots, and and then on; equally opposed to peeling one-half a carrot and a quarter of an onion that you demand for the dish right in front of you.

Similarly, use the batch concept for answering emails: Don't respond two or three emails, and then head over to Facebook for a few minutes, then come up dorsum to answer one or ii more. Instead, employ your newly found subject area (removing distractions) and respond all emails at once. Then, shut your email tab so you aren't tempted to peek dorsum over there to answer them! This is very difficult for someone who is used to existence connected all the time, but the cease result is an amazing heave in productivity. If you need to check email more once a day, only reopen your tab when you demand to . . . much, much later on.

Commandment 9: Pay Your Business Outset

I know what you're thinking—I've been at that place. It's really, actually tough to run a concern without bringing any income home from the business. I'1000 not necessarily advocating zero salary if that isn't something you tin can beget, but I am definitely suggesting that you calculate whatever it is that your business concern would need to survive for six months with absolutely no income, and then make sure your banking concern account remainder reflects that.

Be certain that you have a separate checking and savings account for your business concern, and be admittedly sure that y'all take the completely carve up nature of these accounts seriously. Now, build your majuscule upwards until you tin can reliably bring home a paycheck. I've certainly made the fault of paying myself too much as well soon, and it is non a lesson that I want you lot to have to larn the hard manner. Instead, build your business concern upwardly to where information technology needs to exist earlier taking home whatever income from it. Bonus: If you're more diligent nigh this, or if you accept more starting majuscule than I had (goose egg), shoot for a year'south worth of expenses in checking and a year's worth of expenses in savings.

Commandment x: Learn

Never stop beingness a student of the game. I take personally read about l concern books, some of which are genuine game-changers. If you lot oasis't read, start in that location. If yous have a hard fourth dimension sitting down to read a book on how to run a business, try audiobooks. What a game changer this has been for me over the years! Whatsoever time I'chiliad driving, I'thousand learning, and I drive quite a lot.

Any time I'm walking my canis familiaris, or washing the dishes, or even cutting the grass, I'yard learning how to run my business better. I know this one might be hard for y'all to get into if y'all're not already a huge fan of reading nonfiction, but only 1 business organisation volume can give you a concept that utterly changes the manner you market, administrate, or atomic number 82 at your business, giving you a tremendous edge, and potentially doubling your profit in as little as a year. Seriously, read.

Patience

I'm certain that these ten tips can seem daunting to implement, but if you endeavour to use one of them at a time, I'chiliad confident that you'll come across results over time. All of these lessons are conclusions I've fatigued over the last decade and a half, and several of them cost me quite a bit of money and fourth dimension. They don't have to cost you near as much, though, considering you can start doing things the correct manner, right now. Let me know if you've been helped by whatsoever of these concepts, and if you have your own "tough love" lessons, please share them with me!

This article is accurate and truthful to the best of the author's knowledge. Content is for advisory or entertainment purposes only and does not substitute for personal counsel or professional person communication in business, financial, legal, or technical matters.

Andrew Smith (author) from Richmond, VA on June 30, 2018:

Thanks, John! Best of luck. Feel free to reach out some time if you have general business questions!

Ray from Philippines on June 28, 2018:

This is a prissy article, Andrew. I am looking forward to establishing my own business organization in the hereafter and this is very helpful and informative. Thank you, have a smashing day!

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Source: https://toughnickel.com/self-employment/The-Ten-Commandments-of-Running-a-Business

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