There are 5 things to think about if you are a part time entrepreneur or solo professional.

1. Assess your commitment honestly. You may say you want to build a business, but if you find yourself "never getting around to it" then your commitment isn't high enough for success. Consistent effort is the key. No matter what else your chores, jobs, or commitments are, you have to carve out some hours each week to work on your business. You can encourage yourself by remembering that what you do now changes your future later. If you are not willing to say no to other commitments and find 4 to 6 hours a week minimum, you are not committed. Quick torturing yourself and give it up.

2. State your commitment to everyone and ask for support. Things will have to change if you want to make this work. Your spouse will have to take the kids two nights a week and leave you alone to work. Your children will have to pick up after themselves a bit more, and learn that when your "office hours" are scheduled to leave you alone. Maybe you serve on one less committee at church. Maybe you eat out a few more times a week. The bottom line is, something has to change. Remember that you are loud and proud about what you are working for, and that it will benefit you, your family, and the community when you succeed. Ask for encouragement, ideas, and support. Stand firm when people try to make you feel guilty. Stay away from people who are negative about what you are doing.

3. Even though you are quite busy, take time several times a month for down time. Go get a pedicure, sit outside and read a book, take a long bath. Do whatever will give you respite and help you refresh your mind, body, and spirit. And no guilt, either. You're working a full time job and building another, after all!

4. Consider asking to work part time if at all possible. Your energy and commitment to your business will increase by leaps and bounds if you will risk doing this. And let me tell you, great employees are hard to find. You are valuable, and while you think your boss might "never" agree to let you work 32 hours a week instead of 40, you might be pretty surprised. It's all in how you ask and what you ask for. More often than not, you can work this out. You just say it isn't possible because it scares you and makes you really, truly commit to your own business. There's something to be said for stepping out and putting financial security on the line.

5. Get coaching. Yes, I know I'm a coach and I know you're thinking "of course she'll say that." Here's the truth - you can't do this without objective support and someone who knows the ropes and can save you time. Developing your business skills and mind set comes from spending time with those who know what you don't. You can work with many coaches just twice a month and still gain tons of expertise and support. It doesn't have to be weekly, and it doesn't have to go on forever. Don't fight this and make excuses. Just do it! You can get into a group rather than private coaching, and that will save you money, too.

Bottom line: It's much tougher to build a business that will support you financially when you are doing it part time. It's possible, will take longer, and will be more frustrating. Just keep in mind that there is a big difference between part-time and "when I can get around to it" time. Staying disciplined, focused on the long term, and consistent will bolster a part-time entrepreneur's success.

For instance, I?m still setting the alarm clock, every night. Sure, it?s not for 5am to get ready for a 7 o?clock conference call, now it?s 6am so that I can start my ?work day? at 8am! And my schedule, working all day, taking a break for dinner and back at it until 11pm, continues.

One of the jokes I made while working in corporate was how the job was getting in the way of my business! I?d meet other solopreneurs and small business owners at networking events and they would suggest breakfast, coffee or lunch meetings and I couldn?t make many of them because of work. Now that I am full time in my business, I?m there!

But a funny thing happened. I would still feel like I should be in my home office ? working! I still had ?stuff? to do! Stuff like creating teleseminars, writing articles ? marketing stuff! And now meetings with potential partners and clients were getting in the way!

So I can hear you shaking your head and probably laughing out loud while saying to yourself, she is still ?being? an employee! And here SHE thought it would be an easier transition.

Yes, I finally woke up and decided to smell the coffee at 9am instead of 7am! And with the extra sleep, a few other things ?occurred? to me and their lessons, I hope, will help you as well. ☺

Lesson #1 ? Give ME a break!

Well, I took the first full day of ?freedom? from corporate as a ?vacation? day, and then I jumped mind, body and soul into my business. But I didn?t really ?transition?. You?ve got to take the time to not only rest, recover, but ?re-program? your mindset. So taking a ?real? break, maybe a full week?s vacation, just to totally unplug from the old AND the new can do wonders! (yes, I?ve planned a full ?down? week, soon).

Lesson #2 ? Re-set your mind

Changing the mindset from employee to entrepreneur is not as easy as I thought! Since I was working on my business while working in corporate, I thought ?well, this will be much easier for ME.? But when I was setting the clock and wanted to be at my ?workspace? for those hours instead of out meeting with other solopreneurs, I hadn?t re-set my mindset. I realized that I had to ?own? my new identity as a solopreneur and business owner, with ALL that that means.

Lesson #3 ? The NEW work-life balance

?Once you recognize that the purpose of your life is not to serve your business, but that the primary purpose of your business is to serve your life, you can then go to work on your business, rather than in it, with a full understanding of why it is absolutely necessary for you to do so.? ? The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber

Michael Gerber said this best in the E-Myth Revisited. I read the book a couple of years ago and I remember thinking ? I get this. I?ll get the right team to support me and do the ?in the business? work while I set up the right systems and get out and meet clients and business partners. Once again, it takes a shift in the mindset and the revenue to fund it. I also recognize that he?s not saying to completely abandon what needs to be done ?in? the business. For me, this now becomes the model for the ?new? work-life balance. Balancing working ?on? and working ?in? my business.

It is a journey for anyone making the transition. Every day is a new discovery; enjoy each new and rich experience.

Let me ask you.....where is your business now, compared to that vision? Where is it compared to your secret thought? Have you given up on that dream?

I read a story about makeovers in a recent edition of O magazine that made me think about how women so often put their business at the bottom of their to-do list. We do it to ourselves and our businesses, actually. We think we're being unselfish and giving, taking care of others before ourselves. But are we, really? Listen to one comment from the O makeover article:

"With the new looks came a new attitude. What a makeover does for all of us is point out that there are BIG possibilities for us all. Maybe we'll get the idea that from a makeover, we can take another step toward change in other areas of our lives."

Lack of attention to one's self is no way to teach our children to stand up and be counted, is it? Making sure that everyone else has new clothes while we schlep around in last year's sweats only makes us both look and feel at the bottom of the barrel. Paying for private lessons for our children while refusing to spend the money to take a workshop for ourselves sells ourselves and our business short.

Think about it. If you fail to give yourself and your business the nurturing you both deserve, you send a silent message that you are not worth your own time and care, and that your business isn't important enough to make a difference in anyone's life. Is that the truth? I doubt it. But you are showing how little you believe you can make it really big when you continue to play safe and small. You are refusing to serve others with your business, in a way that only you can uniquely serve.

When you really tune in to your old business vision what does it look like? Have you lost your early enthusiasm? How can you get it back? And if you did, how much cleaner and better would you see the way to that secret vision you have? How much more freedom would you have to be with your friends and family? How much less worry over financial matters would you have? What kind of example would you set for family and friends and other entrepreneurs if you kick-started your business again and made it provide for you at a high level? It would be a powerful message, wouldn't it?

That's just not going to happen if you take care of everyone else's current needs first. Take care of yourself and your business, so that you have the wealth needed to take care of those you love. You aren't here to serve your family and friends everything on a platter. In fact, if you do, they will learn directly from you to lean on others rather than themselves. Is that what you want?

I heard a quote last week that really made me stop and think. "A strong focus now creates a different future later." How do you focus now on your business, so that you can have that different future? Here are three ways:

* Change your lifestyle and your schedule around so that you are spending at least two hours every single day building your business. No excuses. You are in business for yourself, right? Two hours a day is a bare minimum. Otherwise, your business is nothing more than a hobby. You can work part time, but you can't work no time. Two hours, minimum, every day.

* Create a calendar for the entire year. Plan in your vacation weeks, at least three long weekend retreat times for yourself to focus solely on your business, and time for learning what you don't know but need to know in order to build your income. If you are running out of hours in the week, get help for the low-level stuff and keep your eye on the stuff that creates future income.

* Get a mentor or a coach. Virtually every single wealthy business owner works with someone who can pull them out of the weeds when they need it, give them perspective, and save them a lot of time in mastering new tasks. No excuses. Don't tell yourself you can't afford it, tell yourself the cost of doing without is much higher than what you'll pay. Think return on investment, not cost. That's how a business owner thinks, after all. Are you one, or not?

1. Business plan templates often ask for information not relevant to your business, such as detailed plans for capitalization through ?old-business? mechanisms such as bank loans and venture capital.

2. Commonly used biz plan templates often do not support newer business models such as Internet-only businesses, those with little or no physical inventory, or direct marketed businesses.

3. The templates also often short-change the marketing and customer service aspects of the business, arguably the most vital parts of business activity for micro-businesses.

Even though commonly used business plan templates or outlines don't serve solo professionals particularly well, you still will do better in your business if you have a written business plan. So if the dirty little secret of your business is that you've done no formal planning, listen up! You need a plan! Here are just a few reasons why.

* Completing a solopreneur biz plan forces you to become clearer and more succinct about what you offer, and that enables you to talk to prospects (potential customers) in a way that attracts them to your services.

* A completed plan gives you specific goals to hit at specific times, which allows you to review and reflect how you are doing up against what you said you could do 3 months, 6 months, or a year ago.

* Often even more valuable than both of the above, having a plan helps you avoid the "bright, shiny object syndrome" that so many of us have. It gives you a quick way to judge whether the opportunity is a distraction or something that will actually help you hit your goals.

There's much more that proper business planning can do for solo professionals. And by proper, I mean planning that is crafted specifically for a small, solo business that operates out of the home (or a small solo office). While you don't need a huge plan that talks about venture capital and bricks and mortar buildings, you still will benefit from thinking about your structure, your goals, and your timelines.

I suggest that you block out just 30 minutes twice a week, and begin to build a simple business plan that helps you guide and build your business. Give it six months, and you'll find your business has grown in ways you didn't expect!

You don't have to be a web guru or marketing genius to successfully market your business online, however you do need a lot of patience and a great marketing plan.There are several ways you can effectively market your company online, using message boards/forums, pay per click advertising programs, link exchanges, social media sites, blogs, video sharing sites and search engine optimization (SEO). As a rule of the thumb, it is recommended you apply one or more of these methods in order to increase your chances of success.

Online Forums(free) - Online message boards otherwise known as "online forums" are a community of internet users who discuss common interests and activities with each other. Some online forums allow each user to have a unique image, text, or other graphics that is always tagged to each of their posts, these are referred to as signatures. If someone clicks on your signature link they will be redirected to your website or online store. The more you post, the more exposure you get.

Pay Per Click Advertising (paid) - Another option for marketing your online business is using pay per click advertising programs such as Google Adwords or Yahoo Search Marketing. A clear benefit to these programs is that you pay only when someone clicks on your link, just as the name "pay per click" suggests. I would not recommend this method if you are just starting out. If you have a limited budget and have no clue what you are doing, you may want to save this type of marketing for later. PPC can get very expensive very quickly.

Link Exchange (free) - One popular method of advertising online is called link exchange. Just as the name suggest, you exchange links with other websites to gain exposure, you post your links on their website and in exchange, they post their links on your website. This is a great option for entrepreneurs with a limited budget because it is free of charge. You want to make sure though that the companies you exchange links with are not your competitors, as it will generate more exposure or income for them.

Social Networking Sites (free) - Social Networking has become and essential part of online marketing, websites like Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin can significantly increase traffic to your site if used correctly. Social Networking helps promote your site by sending you direct traffic and by generating awareness. With Social Networking people are encouraged to interact with each other and with companies, so you want to make sure you ads are appealing enough to generate some interest.

Blogs (free) - Uses of blogs in marketing has really evolved and companies are finding that is a less costly way of promoting their products and services. You can use your blog to create dialogue with the customers and to explain features of your products or services. If you have incredible, original content on your blog and comment regularly on other relevant blogs, people are likely to link to it, increasing your site's PageRank.

Video Sharing Sites (free) - Videos can be a very powerful marketing tool and you should consider it an important part of your marketing campaign . You should also optimize it so it can be ranked high enough to help you. For example, if you were to get a top-ranking video on Youtube that mentions your site, it could drive a lot of traffic to your site. Entertaining videos can quickly become viral, being passed around by hundreds of thousands of people, most of them connected through online social networks like Facebook. A great example is the Diet Coke & Mentos video on Youtube, this video was seen by millions of people around the world. The great thing about that video was that it wasn't even produced by the Coca Cola Company or Mentos, but it had a significant impact on both companies. If a company were to pay for that type of exposure, they would most likely have to pay a ridiculous amount of money.

Search Engine Optimization (paid) - Search engine optimization (SEO) is a way of optimizing your website to be more search engine friendly in order to increase traffic. The keywords and metatags yo choose are very important.Content is the heart of SEO as your website needs to be saturated with keywords that search engines can pick up. As standard internet searches play a large part in generating traffic, SEO is an essential part of online marketing. Some businesses prefer to hire SEO specialists for this purpose, however if you are just starting out, I would not recommend you do this as it can be a little pricey.

Remember when you launch your small business, it is always better to start small. Always try to refrain from investing money in things that you can either do or get for free.

In fact, "seeing" myself playing a piano piece or "practicing in my mind" as I then called it is one of the first ways I learned that I could make things happen. An early-bird piano student, I somehow realized that I could read the music and then re-play it in my head, and "watch" as my hands played the piece. In today's world we call it visioning. Visioning is a key precursor to manifesting what we want to do with our life. And it's a very handy little tool to have. I've used it in all sorts of ways.

* Learning music for piano, flute, and guitar for recitals and concerts

* Teaching myself how to do proofs in geometry

* Remembering positioning, draping, and treatment routines for neuromuscular therapy treatments when I took my national boards

* Seeing myself walking again after back surgery as a child

* Finding the exact piece of furniture I wanted for a room in my home

* Speaking to large groups successfully

* Finding the perfect office space for my business

There's more (ask my husband about my "finding" the perfect car on Ebay for a song), but you get the point. The point is, visioning leads to manifesting, and manifesting is a critical skill to have as an entrepreneur. I'm not saying that one doesn't have to put the time in to get what one wants, but you can work with the flow of things and get there a lot faster than working against the flow. And working in the flow means having a clear vision, a picture if you will, of what you want to create in and around you as you work.

Here, then, are the three ways to make things happen. You can use them to accelerate your income, build your business faster, get clear about the products and services you want to offer, and even find the perfect office space!

1. Step one is to find about 15 minutes of totally quiet, alone time for yourself. Get some paper and a pen, sit or lay down, and close your eyes. Ask yourself "how exactly do I see my business?" And then wait until words or pictures form in your mind. Follow them, make them fuller. If you see yourself in an office, look around and get a detailed look. How much of the time are you there? Are there other staff members? What are you wearing? Where is this office located? Do you see people there? Make whatever pictures come to you as full as you possibly can. If you're traveling in the pictures that come to you, ask where, how much you travel, who you are with, what you do when you get there. No matter how outlandish the pictures or words are that come to you, let them become detailed and full, and follow where they lead. Jot down anything you think you won't remember about the words or pictures. Keep at it until you have a full vision of the things you want to manifest in your business.

2. Make a vision board. You can do this any way you like. I sometimes use large poster board, sometimes just a sheet of paper. Either way, go to Google images and search for pictures that represent what you want to make happen. Get the pictures out of your mind and into the world. Print them, stick them onto your vision board, and put it where you can see it often. Your eye will go to it many times during the day, and your brain and your energy will lock on to the visions you put there. Soon enough, you'll begin to see your way to each one of those pictures. Your energy will be so full of what you want to manifest that you literally will begin to pull the thing toward you. I've had completely doubting Thomases do vision boards in my workshops, only to call me up six months later and report that every single thing on their board was "magically" accomplished or found. No, it isn't magic. It's putting your energy and intention toward what you see in your mind's eye, and have helped to make real by creating your vision board.

3. Share the vision board you made with your family, friends, and team members. If you want to put even more thrust into your vision, take the time to share what you are going to make happen by showing your vision board around. You're not asking for help, you're just saying what you are going for to those you spend the most time around. You're creating a wider, broader energy for what you want, even if you don't think anyone will actually do something to help you. The fact is, you just never know. One person might mention something in passing to another person, who happens to be just the person you are looking for to help make something happen. Sharing your vision deepens your own commitment to it, too. It helps you lose the "oh, I don't know if this will actually happen" self-doubt that seems to always be lurking underneath us. Just make your board, share it with a few people, and go about your business. You don't even need lengthy explanations - let the pictures speak for themselves.

The thing about envisioning is that it will become a habit for you if you do it consistently. You'll find yourself stopping for a few seconds to envision even little things in your life - the perfect dinner one night, exactly how you want to look and speak in front of a group. Learning how to open yourself to the inner knowing, the vision inside yourself, is one of the most powerful things you can do for yourself and your business. Set aside visioning time once a week for the next six weeks, and notice how your life and your work begins to change.

Guess what? Neither neuroscience or marketing research backs this up! I remember one of the first things I heard from Ali Brown a few years ago, and I've now heard it repeated by several other top Internet marketers. "The confused mind doesn't buy." Ali applies this to several situations. She'll say, for instance, that if your prospect isn't crystal clear about exactly what next to do to place an order on your website, you will lose the sale. But she also means it when she works with you in creating what you offer. "Don't make it too complicated, keep it simple and streamlined," she'll say. "The confused mind doesn't buy."

Sometimes this is tough to take for a solopreneur who is good at many things. Those types of people tend to fight narrowing down their target market and what they offer like tigers fighting over the last piece of carrion. But the truth is, if you say you are good at everything, you do make people wonder what, indeed, you are best at. It's wise to narrowly focus, knowing something very well and sticking to offering products and services around that thing. Later on, when you've met your market and built credibility, you can add another target or create another offer.

Professor Sheena Iyengar, who teaches at Columbia Business School, has been studying the science of decision for years. If you want to pick her brain on this topic, get a copy of her newest book, The Art of Choosing. She first discovered that children were happier when they were given only one toy to play with rather than a wide choice. Over time, she came to understand that what matters to us is the number of options we have when we make a decision, not just the options themselves. Another researcher, a professor at Princeton, discovered that after about five to nine items our ability to choose becomes too complicated.

This is one reason I teach my business clients to limit packages to three offers for their customers. We can easily wrap our minds around three. If you are a wedding planner, for instance, and you offer a bridge and groom 3 main types of packages, they will choose one and go happily on, perhaps asking you to customize one of the packages a little bit for them. But if you offer that same couple 27 packages, it becomes too complicated and overwhelming. They may well walk away, trying to decide. And BAM! someone comes along with a simplified version of what you offered, the couple sighs in relief, and picks one - from the smarter wedding planner.

Here's my best advice to solopreneurs who are wondering about how to showcase what they offer.

* Keep your offers very simple and clear. If you have several different categories of products and services, label them very differently.

* Offer no more than 3 options of any one category. You can always charge more for customizing one package if that is requested.

* Keep your payment plans simple. Depending on the price point of what you offer, provide options for a single payment and perhaps a two-pay or three-pay installment over one or two months. Keep in mind that you want to collect your money before your product or service is entirely consumed, however.

* Use a matrix (a chart) to show what options are included in each package. People can then see at a quick glance what they are purchasing, and what is not included. It makes choosing easier.

Keeping your selections simple also goes for HOW you offer your products and services, but that's a topic for another day. Don't overwhelm your potential customers, and don't overwhelm yourself, either. You will make more money in less time, and you will also have more satisfied customers. It's a win-win all the way around! Less choice = more sales. Strange, isn't it?

I just spent over $200 on Magellan's travel supplies website. Why?

1. I got their new spring catalog in the mail (direct mail, timing was right as I have several trips coming up, the catalog renewed my TOMA (top of mind awareness) about Magellan's.) The key here? Timing! I regularly receive Magellan's catalog and most usually pitch it without looking. But I'm excited about upcoming travel, and I needed to refresh a few things. LESSON LEARNED: Keeping in touch with your customers over time is critical, even if they haven't bought from you in a while.

2. A notice on the catalog's front cover offered free shipping on orders over $100. I figured almost any order would come to that amount, and free shipping saves me money. A deadline on the free shipping (May 9th) spurred me to take action now rather than put it off. LESSON LEARNED: Make your special offers time-limited, with a relatively short time frame.

3. Let's look at what I ordered and my reason for each purchase.

Spill-proof pouch - because the last time I was on a plane one of my face care products leaked out into my cosmetic bag. This pouch SOLVES A PROBLEM.

Electronics travel case - I didn't go looking for this item, but I saw it browsing the catalog. I'm thinking "Hmm, I'm sure tired of all my various chargers and USB cables getting into a big knot at the bottom of my briefcase, so maybe I'll try this. This purchase SOLVES A PROBLEM and was a win for Magellan's because of 1) A GOOD IDEA and 2) SUGGESTED SELLING.

Personalized Luggage Strap - This is actually a gift for my husband. His luggage looks similar to many, and more than once he's picked up someone else's at the airport. The strap WORKS AS A GIFT and helps SOLVE A PROBLEM.

Extra-large mesh pack-it cube - These things are hard to find in large sizes, so Magellan's gets a star for carrying them. They allow me to pack clothing inside my luggage and quickly pull out what I need without digging around. And if you get stopped for inspection, you can easily pull these out without re-shuffling and wrinkling your clothing. For years now I've used 2 gallon kitchen zipper bags, but the zippers don't hold up to being open and closed over and over again, and for some reason the 2 gallon size is now hard to find. These mesh cubes SOLVE A PROBLEM but also GAVE ME A FEELING OF LUXURY. I get to graduate from packing my clothes in baggies.

Blackberry pouch - When I'm sight-seeing I try hard not to lug around a purse, but I often need my phone and camera with me. This handy little pouch hangs around the neck and will hold both my Blackberry and my small camera. Perfect! Again, solves a problem and makes something easier for me.

Walk stool - One of the downsides of having a new knee is that it's still hard for me to stand on concrete for very long without pain. This innovative product offers a sturdy, foldable instant stool but weights only a pound and can hang off a belt, a backpack, a purse, or my shoulder. Next time I think I better not go on a walking tour because we'll stand and listen to a guide for 15 minutes, I'll be able to go and know I can sit when I need to. HUGE problem solved for me and a solution I can live with (not too heavy or too bulky, small and easy to pack).

Blow-up neck pillow - I use this on planes all the time, and foolishly over inflated mine a few trips ago. POW! It burst at 30,000 feet and that was the end of that! I've looked around in airports but balked at paying $30.00 or so. Magellan's had one on sale for $12.99. What sold me? REASONABLE PRICING and PROBLEM SOLVED.

As you can see, I'm a buyer who will spend for solving problems. I also respond to suggested selling and to the feeling of having something a little fancier for myself. But these are not the only reasons Magellan's got $200 from me.

1. Their website is easy to maneuver and loads quickly.

2. They offer customer reviews of their products, which talked me into the stool and the Blackberry pouch.

3. Their page for each item tells me immediately that the item is in stock. (One of my pet peeves is ordering online only to find that the item isn't due in for 30 days or so.)

4. Their page for each item offers more pictures than the catalog, allowing me to "look" at items in detail.

5. Their check-out process is easy. I've jumped off of more than one website that was hard to maneuver or had excessive checkout procedures, and I'll bet you have, too.

Take a look at what you've spent money on and list the reasons why you bought. You can then look at what you offer to others and think about whether your offers are attractive for those same reasons. If they don't, tweak them and your sales copy, and see if your sales improve. Knowing why you buy and turning it around will help you to see why some of your customers buy from you.

I think there are a lot of reasons for that, and I know that it is a peculiarity of American culture much more than in other cultures. We seek to be entrepreneurs who always shines, don't make mistakes, look perfectly in control.

The problem is, holding perfectionism as your goal means that you are always chasing your tail. Just like a puppy who goes round and round until exhausted, you chase after yourself. You go round and round, when what you want to do is move forward. I've had clients who take months to write perfect copy for a website launch, losing tons of time in building their list. I've had more than one mompreneur resolutely stay exactly where she is in her business, because every single time she will chose to service her family rather than her business, indulging in a fantasy of being the perfect mom.

It's my job to help entrepreneurs lose that habit of chasing perfection. Replace perfection with curiosity. You give yourself much more opportunity for growth. You quit using perfection as your excuse.

* Consider launching your website with the copy you have right now. As the weeks go by, see how it draws people (or not) and change the copy if you need to. Websites are, in fact, never done. It doesn't matter if your website isn't perfect. It does matter if your website isn't launched.

* Consider baking one less set of brownies for your child's homeroom, or missing one out of hundreds of sports events. Instead, take that hour to complete and launch a new product or service offer, and consider that being a financially successful mompreneur might be just as important a model for your child than the memory of an extra set of brownies. Which serves you and your child more?

In Stephen Mitchell's The Second Book of the Tao is a verse I love:

"The mature person is like a good archer. When he misses the bull's-eye, he turns around and seeks the reason for his failure in himself."

We have total responsibility for what we do. When we get stuck in seeking perfection, we use it to hide, to keep ourselves from being responsible. Instead of the problem being within us, we look for an outside person or event to blame. It's much easier to say "I'm just not sure if the web copy says what I want it to say" than it is to to say "I'm scared to move forward." It's much easier to say "Oh, I have to cancel our meeting, I have a soccer practice to attend" than it is to say "I'm going to get this done now, it is equally or more important for me and my child."

If you want to fail as an entrepreneur, practice perfectionism. If you want to make money, practice shooting the archer's bow, and keep practicing until it hits the mark. Learning from what doesn't work is just as important as hitting the bull's eye first time out. Replace perfection with curiosity, and watch your bottom line improve.

Okay! to get a clearer picture as to whether or not you should start a small business, you may want to analyze a few things. These pros and cons may help make it a little bit easier for you to decide whether or not to launch your own business.

The first pro to launching your own business is the fact that you would be living out your dream. There are many people who have dreams to launch a business, but many rarely end up doing so. That's because they are so afraid of failure that they convince themselves that they are better off working for someone else. Of course your business could fail, but many people say it's worth the risk, no matter the outcome. Even if you had a secure job working for someone else, there's a chance that you may loose it. This would leave you right where you feared you would be if your business failed.

Another pro or plus side to starting your own small business is type of businesses that you could start. For instance, you could start a fashion accessories line, an interior design firm, write children's book and much more. The point is, when it comes to launching your own business, you will find that the possibilities are endless.

The greatest pro to launching your business is one that drives most people to go after their dreams. Financial stability! being able to do and buy things you could not afford in the past. Not having to worry about money is definitely a motivating factor for many.

Although there a number of pros to launching a business, there a few negatives as well. One of those negatives is the fact that there are no guarantees. Sometimes even the best business plans are unsuccessful. There a quite a few elements that go into determining whether or not a business can be a profitable one, like the ability to reach the targeted market, startup costs, monthly expenses, and location. While there are things that you can do to ensure a better chance of success, there are still no guarantees.

Another negative to starting a business is the startup money that you may need. Although there are some businesses that have significantly lower startup costs than others, almost all businesses do have startup costs. The good news though is that if you don't have the required funds, you may be able to obtain some type financing for your business. If you wish to obtain financing for your business, you will need to have good credit. So, if your credit currently isn't in good standing, you may want to get that cleared up.

These are just a few pros and cons to consider, you may want to sit down and write down some more that are personal to you. You need to think about your situation and try to assess whether or not it would be feasible to start your own business. You may discover that perhaps you're not ready to launch a business today, but maybe sometime in the near future you would be in a better position to do so.

Here are some pros---and some cons---to entrepreneurship:

Pros:

---You can do it part-time. No one ever said that you have to quit your day job to become an entrepreneur. Many people who are now running their own businesses full time started off working nights and weekends on their dream business. Doing what you love in your free time can even make your day job more tolerable. And once your business is making enough money, you can happily give your two-week notice.

---You are the boss. You make all the decisions. You are in charge of every bit of the business. You don't have to answer to anyone, you don't have to justify a project because the buck stops with you.

---You decide your schedule. When you have your own business, you can set your own hours. No longer do you have to beg your boss to leave early because your child's soccer game starts at 3 p.m. No longer do you have to feel guilty when you're really too sick to work. No longer do you have to use up vacation time and your own sick time to stay home with a sick child. If you want to work out in the middle of the afternoon, you can.

---The pride of ownership. Whether you have a small Internet-based business or are selling artwork from a home studio, having your own business gives you a sense of pride that money cannot buy. Knowing that every success is because of your hard work can be extremely motivating.

--- Salary Potential. Generally, people do not want to be "short-changed"; they want to be paid for the amount of work they do in full.

Cons:

---You are the boss. Yes, it's also a negative. Because if things don't work out, if you make a bad decision, if your business fails, you can only blame yourself.

---You're taking a risk. It can be scary to strike out on your own. Sure, it's also exciting, but some people cannot take the stress of being solely responsible for a business's success or failure.

---You may end up working longer hours. Most small business owners work far more than 40 hours per week. And the more successful you become, the more hours you're likely to work. However, if you're doing something you truly love, it really won't matter.

Many people who become entrepreneurs say they are happier than they've ever been. The trick is to find something you love to do and then do it. Don't do anything simply to make money, because you'll just end up as miserable as you were before you started your journey.

First, entrepreneurship can be your ticket toward financial independence. How much you make really depends on you; you set your own goal and by it you determine how much you compensate your efforts. Of course there are necessary things you need in place before you could realize total financial independence, but working toward your goal is another exciting thing that you could do for yourself as a person. A study by Michael T. Childress and others in 1998 (Entrepreneurs and Small Business - Kentucky's Neglected Natural Resource) found that entrepreneurs make more money, and pay more money to their employees, than working in big businesses or corporations.

Second, entrepreneurship allows flexibility in your life. Once the necessary things are set in place and operation is properly delegated, the entrepreneur can start to experience flexibility in work schedule than working for somebody else. After all, one of the top benefits of entrepreneurship is that you are your own boss. When all aspects of your business are fully functional, you can start to do other things that you love. You can finally make time for your sport, hobby, and, most of all, for your family.

Moreover, entrepreneurship can open endless possibilities for the entrepreneur. Working for somebody else often force people to do jobs they don't like; entrepreneurship can free you from the drudgery of imposed tasks. In fact, your business should be a self-expression, a form of outlet for your creativity and the things that you love to do. It's simply doing the things that you love to do and making money while doing it. No longer will you be in the mercy seniority and office politics to rise and achieve growth. Entrepreneurship will bring you to new heights that not even your limitations can hold you back if your determination is solid.

Other more noble benefits of entrepreneurship are that you're helping provide opportunities for other people and contribute to the society through responsible business. In fact, small business owners are respected people in the community because they are responsible for spurring community development starting at creating local jobs. Jobs provided by entrepreneurs are even more fulfilling in terms of pay and recognition compared to jobs in high-rise offices. You're not only providing for yourself and your family, you're also providing for the community in your own little way. No economy in the world can survive without the ingenuity, creativity, and labor provided by entrepreneurs.

The best part about entrepreneurship is that it doesn't discriminate: men, women, young, old, educated or not, everyone can become an entrepreneur through hard work and dedication to continuous learning and improvement.

When it comes to deciding if you should open a physical store or an online one, there are a number of important factors that need to be taken into consideration. One of those factors is your local economy. There are some cities where the unemployment rate is high. These are the types of areas where it may be a little difficult for you to open a brick and mortar store. Other factors that should also be analyzed include the competition and the available commercial space; are there any affordable spaces available in or around your designated location? What about the traffic in that area? How many people walk or drive past the location? Is there access to public transportation? The best way one can answer these questions is by doing extensive research which also includes speaking to other business owners in the area.

In addition to examining opening a brick and mortar store, from a local standpoint, it is also important to consider starting an online business. Just about anyone these days can open an online store because the overhead costs are not as high as that of a brick and mortar store. To have a profitable online store, you need to have an attractive website, especially one that is easy to navigate. You also have to have a product that is easy to sell online and easy to ship to your customers. As with starting a storefront business, the less online competition you have, the better your chances of being successful are.

One of the most appealing factors of having an online store is that your customer base is a lot larger. People from different parts of the world may come across your site and decide to purchase your products. This of course can have a dramatic impact on your sales as opposed to having a brick and mortar store where your profits rely solely on the foot traffic that walks in.

As a first time business owner, you may want to take the time to thoroughly research and examine both options, having an online store or a physical one, or even both. Small business owners should always think of starting small and then gradually expanding their business. This will reduce the likelihood of failure from trying to expand to quickly.

Let's look at some of the pros and cons :

Brick and Mortar Store
Pros: Customers can touch and try on the products before buying. Customers can pay with cash You meet new people You can see how people react to your products.

Cons: Overhead costs-you still have to pay the rent even if you have no business Dealing with difficult customers Dealing with damaged merchandise and theft Large cash investment at startup Not having what your customers want Traffic outside but not in your store Long hours

Online Store
Pros: Lower overhead costs Customers from all over the world Your business is open 24hrs a day Less Shrinkage You can do just as well as the big boys More exposure

Cons: A badly made website can kill your business You have to be careful and watch out for scams, fraud, hackers, etc You have to constantly find creative ways to bring traffic to your site You have more competition

As you can see there are positives and negatives to both options. The key is to always start small, do as much research as possible and then decide what is the most feasible option for you and your business.

Over the past month, I've had the great privilege of interviewing five extraordinary social entrepreneurs on my radio show -- each a 2008 or 2009 Purpose Prize winner. The Purpose Prize is the brain child of Civic Ventures, a San Francisco-based think tank, which awards ten prizes every year to social innovators over the age of 60.

Nasrine Gross grew up in Afghanistan at a time when girls still went to school, and her mother was a member of parliament. Today, 85% of the population is illiterate and women need their husband's permission for just about anything. So, Nasrine created a literacy program for couples, and is changing the face of Afghanistan's future through her organization, Kabultec Inc.

The devastating loss of Liz and Steve Alderman's 25-year-old son, Peter, in the Twin Towers on 9/11 changed, as Steve says, the trajectory of their lives forever. Inspired by a Nightline story on the one billion people on the planet who have directly experienced torture, terrorism, or mass violence, Liz and Steve are honoring their son by becoming a force for global good. Today, the Peter C. Alderman Foundation trains indigenous mental health care professionals and builds mental health clinics in post-conflict countries around the world.

Growing up homeless with a "big mouth and a bad attitude", Ann Higdon's life was changed by one teacher's confidence in her. When she realized that in the state of Ohio once you've dropped out of school you cannot return to get your diploma, Ann started Improved Solutions for Urban Systems (ISUS) which trains 16-22 year olds in construction, technology, manufacturing and health care with a combination of schooling, community service and hands-on training. The three charter schools ISUS runs are consistently ranked at the top of Ohio's schools, and ISUS students are reviving entire neighborhoods.

Finally, Barbara Cervone was fed up with the way youth are portrayed in our culture, so she created What Kids Can Do, Inc. and gives voice to this underutilized resource. With a 40 year background in education, Barbara knew first-hand that kids didn't want to be seen as part of the problem, they wanted to be a part of the solution. Through the use of audio, video, books, and the internet, What Kids Can Do is re-shaping communities and tapping this rich resource.

Are you wondering if you have what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur? Here are the qualities that all five social innovators have. They:

1. Are highly innovative. Well, of course, they are. But what's interesting is that out-of-the-box, creative thinking is a must natural for them. They're always searching for new ways of doing things, and when something fails they...

2. Are persistent. They keep trying until it works. And, they never let road blocks, obstacles, or naysayers deter them. It's their can-do attitude that keeps them moving forward -- no matter what.

3. Have found a cause that inspires them. It might seem obvious, but each is fully committed to and believes in what they're doing. They may come at it from different places (Ann and Nasrine's childhood experiences, Barbara's career experience, and Liz and Steve's tragic experience, but each is passionate about their cause.)

4. Have boundless energy. Barbara describes it best when she says that while many of her friends are slowing down at this stage, she has more energy than she's ever had before, and often feels like a teenager. I'm not sure if the work creates the energy or the energy keeps the work going. Probably a bit of both!

5. Are exceptionally collaborative. In every case, these social innovators are masters of seeking out partnerships that support the work they're doing, help spread the work, and make it sustainable.

6. Have a positive vision of the future. There's not a gloomy Gus in this bunch. No matter how daunting the social problem (85% illiteracy in Afghanistan, one billion victims of mass violence) that some might call "hopeless", they see the possibility and the potential for change and are hopeful and optimistic about the future.

These self-described "ordinary" people are doing the truly extraordinary in their Encore Careers. And, I'm not sure if this is a requirement to be a successful social entrepreneur, but Nasrine, Liz, Steve, Ann and Barbara are - without exception - five of the most gracious, humble, and delightful people I've ever had the honor to meet. Inspired?

When I left all that to open my own business, I soon discovered that my support staff, creative people, big bosses, janitorial staff and technical staff was the person I saw when I stared into my mirror. My business was brand new and very small, one room in an office building. I had to handle everything, whether I was "trained" to handle it or not. I had to discover what I did well, what I enjoyed the most, what I hated to do, when I could afford to hire help, and what help I needed to hire first. I had to stretch and grow quickly.

Fortunately, because I had solid experience in growing a business, the Touch Therapy Center built itself quickly. Within the year, I could hire help for cleaning and laundry service. Next came a bookkeeper. Now, 13 years later, I manage the business while other staff do most of the therapeutic massage, I'm in a medical office building with multiple treatment rooms, and I have a practice manager to handle the front desk, errands, and most administrative tasks.

What I want to point out is the rocky path of personal growth it takes to get from year one to year thirteen, turning a profit the whole way. Here are some of the things I had to learn or consider.

1. Watch my operating costs and bottom line - I had to remain profitable even if I was spending more money on getting help with cleaning, laundry service, and so forth. Watching my weekly financial statements was critical, or I could have worked myself crazy and not made a dime.

2. Know myself well enough to figure out what I liked to do and was good at versus what I am not so good at and am not fond of doing. One of these in the massage business is laundry. I didn't enjoy dragging home loads of sheets and spending my evenings sorting, washing, drying, and folding them. And I wasn't particularly great at it, either. On the other hand, I'm very practiced and skillful at attracting clients. I didn't need or want to pay anyone to handle marketing for me, other than getting help with a design for my business card. It was easy for me and saved me money to develop my own brochures and press releases.

3. I had to find out about my willingness to take risk and how to handle the good and bad that came from that risk. Should I move into larger office space and increase my rent? If so, how much more business would I need to generate to remain at my same level of profit? Could I get larger space, spend more money, and at the same time make even more money? Could I negotiate new lease terms that were favorable to me?

Before long, I had a very busy practice and was ready to hire other staff. Now, I could draw on my past experience as an Executive Director and use my past hiring skills. This time, if I made a bad decision, it was mind and mine alone to deal with, for better or for worse. After about 8 years, I had to make a decision about opening my second business, The Confident Marketer. Other entrepreneurs had been asking me for several years how I'd built my business, how I knew what to do when, and how I got profitable. I found that I absolutely loved helping other self-employed people be successful. So, about 5 years ago, The Confident Marketer was born. And with it, a whole new level of personal growth and challenge was necessary. It's one reason I keep myself always working with top coaches who can help me face up to the personal growth and new business skills I need to keep my business successful and innovative.

The point to my story is that it takes courage to be an entrepreneur. You have to be willing to find out what you don't know, get help with those things you don't do well, and become expert at a few things that are yours and yours alone. You have to be willing to step up to intimately knowing and watching your financial statements (something I find many new entrepreneurs don't want to do). You have to make decisions using both the facts and figures AND your gut feelings -- your intuitive skills. And when there is a problem, you have to be willing to meet it and work it through, taking time to consider whether and how much it affects your customer service and your bottom line. All this takes a great deal of courage and a willingness to grow both personally and professionally.

A great business takes three things - a solid business plan, a creative and well-thought-out marketing plan, and a willingness to engage in personal growth. Behind those three vital things is courage. Step right up, and see how quickly your business becomes unstoppable!

1) Make certain you spend more time in front of people than in front of your computer! (Especially in the growth stages.) Making those decisions of best color for your website or researching what other people in your field are doing all have their place, but they do not directly bring you the opportunity to start a client conversation. Use the 80/20 rule80% of your time networking, meeting, and speaking and 20% of your time on strategy and research.

2) Don't be so picky in the beginning. I hear people say they don't like this group or they are not sure if that networking organization will do anything for them. Just GO! You have no idea who someone will know or who they might be able to introduce you to. You will soon learn which groups serve you and which groups don't, but to start just go, meet, and share your movement.

3) Don't have a drunk cowboy message. You know those people who you ask, "What do you do?" and 10 minutes later you are still trying to figure out what the heck they are talking about. Be clear and concise with a 2 or 3 sentence message. I call this your impact statement.

4) Act like it's your party. Walk into every room as if you own it. Walk into every room as if these wonderful people have gathered here just to meet you. Greet them, be curious, ask questions, be gracious, and be in your power. People are attracted to confidence. Authority inspires.

5) Follow up and ask.

a) Follow up with everyone you meet within 48 hours, even if it is just a quick "nice to meet you" email. Be certain to ask how you can help them and offer them a session, a freebie, or an offer to move them closer to knowing your work.

b) Ask for what you wanta referral, an opportunity to share how you can work with them, or an alliance/partnership.

BONUS: Have fun! You are in a service business and one of the greatest joys of this industry is meeting people and building relationships.

1. Be clear about how many people you want. What size does the group need to be to function well, let connections and bonding take place, but still remain manageable? Share this number with your potential members, and spend a little time actually envisioning the group in your meeting place. See the faces as you look around the room. Clarity and visualization are two ways to manifest what you want.

2. Leave yourself enough lead time to schedule more than one "preview" workshop for something that is as big as a year-long higher priced offering. Choose a different location. It's rare to attract all the people you have potential with for just the one single day you have planned.

3. Schedule at least one teleseminar, and preferably 3. Use these hour-long open and free calls to provide valuable, useful content to your listeners. Have them sign up to gain access to your call through your website, so that you gain their name and e-mail address in return for sharing a sneak preview of your content. Talk about the what, but not so much the how. Take a break before the end of your call to spend a full 5 minutes making your offer for the big event. Talk about the benefits, not what you plan to do. Talk about the pain points you feel your listeners have and what can happen when these pain points are eliminated from a person's life or work.

4. Review the stories of the people who have already signed up for the big event, and ask yourself why they opened their wallets for you. These early adopters can tell you a lot about what other people are feeling, too. Change your sales talk and copy slightly if you need to, in order to cover and emphasis these benefits since you already know that they are strong selling points for you.

5. Consider offering a half-price ticket to the spouse or business partner or assistant of someone who has already paid full ticket price for a seat. This can be a very effective way to fill your seats. Essentially, you are upselling the already-registered client. It's a great benefit to them to bring someone along, and a great benefit to you to have another person at the event. (Be sure, however, that you are covering your costs with this 50% person.)

6. Be wise in the use of experiential work in your one-day workshop previews. People buy on emotion, not logic. So bring the emotion up at these workshops and when it is high, make your offer.

7. Make sure that your offer is time limited. You can offer the half-price "second person" ticket for a limited time. You can offer an early-bird discount for a very brief time. You can offer a bonus but only if the person registers for your big event within the next 24 hours.

Filling the seats at your events and longer-term programs takes persistence and the use of multiple marketing strategies. Using these can help you gain visibility and build excitement for your big event. Let me know how it goes!

Working with Convenience

Working with yourself as the employer creates a world of good. For one, you have no boss to please or employer who might terrify all the nerves in your body. As the CEO of your own company, you have everything at your command in order to materialize the goals you have set in a time frame. Opportunities will knock at your door which can increase your chances of success. Endless possibilities will come your way but only if you have an entrepreneurial mindset.

Entrepreneur Versus Self-employed

For a number of times, the people that we call self-employed are entrepreneurs, and those we know as entrepreneurs are self-employed. They both refer to somebody who owns the company he works at. But, the terms cannot be used interchangeably most of the time. As a matter of fact, the two words have different meanings. The big difference is that an entrepreneur has a luxury of time compared with a self-employed person. In other words, any entrepreneur can take time off to have a vacation anywhere while attending to his relationships.

Slight Similarity

You might contest this claim by saying that a self-employed person can do the things which any entrepreneur can. The truth is that any self-employed can enjoy all the pleasure as he earns huge profit but that rarely happens. A few days out of work can lead a self-employed person to the brinks of bankruptcy. An entrepreneur can spend a lot of time working not on his business, but still gain huge profit continuously. This might tickle your imagination and ask for the ultimate secret of becoming an entrepreneur.

Entrepreneurial Mindset

The secret is simply developing an entrepreneurial mindset. This state of mind can lift you up and let you be unbound from the chains that hinder your business to grow continuously. It allows you to exert minimal efforts with complete assurance that your business will let you earn the amount you want. With shorter time needed for business, you can spend more time with family and loved ones and take some vacations anytime.

But, how are you going to develop an entrepreneurial mindset? Let your mind generate the cash for you.