Whether you’re loving, loathing or just knee-deep in building your business, it’s easy to forget that it won’t last forever.

During a recent family holiday, we met up with a couple that we hadn’t seen for a few years. What they’d achieved in the intervening years made me feel like I was standing still!

Turns out that they’d not only built their own house from scratch on a picturesque coastal property, but they’d also created stunning guest accommodation and now run a successful bed and breakfast business. A massive departure from their past careers as sheep and cattle farmers.

While some people do settle into a few roles, for most of their professional lives, many experienced business people I’ve spoken to have pursued several, often wildly different, paths.

And it’s not always just one after the other. Within the Flying Solo community, we find more and more entrepreneurs run a portfolio of multiple businesses at the same time. Also, in his article In praise of blooming late, Robert gives examples of people who are doing their finest work later in life.

While I’ve spent some time in real jobs, as well as having a couple of small businesses, I’ve never strayed very far from the marketing/communications industry. So, while I’m very happy exactly where I am now, it’s still exciting to think that something entirely different is waiting down the track.

Have you considered what you might do for a living if it was in an area totally unrelated to what you do now? It can be both an exhilarating and daunting prospect. It’s that infamous interview question “Where do you see yourself in five years?”

Whether you’re starting out or winding down, all fired up or even feeling burnt out, we’d love to hear your career change thoughts and experiences here.

Read 40 comments or add your own at Flying Solo

Between political correctness and sucking up, butt-covering, politeness and advertising spin, the big and small business world is awash with meaningless conversations and wasted activity. Does honesty in business exist anymore?

For example, during a recent stint back in corporate land, a friend of mine found herself in a group hug chanting a positive mantra to start the day. It was clear that no individual in that circle thought it was a great idea. So how did it come to be?

We often drift aimlessly into dead-end projects, bad ideas, long meetings and subject ourselves to futile conversations because no one is willing to openly speak their mind. Even when their mind’s eye is rolling madly and the voice in their head’s saying “Like that’s ever going to happen!”

Let’s say a colleague or client approaches you enthusiastically to recruit you for a business project that you really can’t see working. There are several responses:

• The politically correct and least awkward thing to say: “That is an interesting idea. Sure, let’s meet up and talk it through further.” Leads to wasted time.
• The thing they’d like to hear: “Brilliant idea! You should put together a business plan.” Leads to wasted energy.
• The truth: “Personally I can’t see this idea working because of x, y and z.” Leads to productive discussion.

I think people worry that speaking out – particularly to those in senior positions – will make them appear to ‘not get it’ or not be a ‘team player’. For me, the fear of causing offence or appearing rude has seen me go along with things unnecessarily for way too long.

But recently I’ve been consciously more direct in all situations. Invariably, I’ve found that people appreciate respectful honesty – in fact in most cases that’s what they’re seeking.

The goal is to peel away the layers of politics and emotion and get to the facts of the matter.

As for the group hug exercise, it may have come about like this. Head honcho says “Boost employee morale!” Head people person says “I read about hugging hormones.” Assistant people person says “You’re so smart.” Training agency says “You are a genius, here’s a quote!” Team leader says “Hugging is in the process manual, so hug dammit.”

Is honesty in business always the best policy, or does a little diplomacy go a long way? Tell us what you really think.

Read 28 comments or add your own at Flying Solo

It’s fair to say that ‘getting out there’ and business networking – online or offline – is not something that comes naturally to me.

Truth be told, if left up to me I’d slouch alone in my home office all day listening to folksy music with headphones on and ignoring the telephone.

So I was obviously euphoric when Robert informed me we were off to mingle with 1000+ business owners at last week’s launch event of Energise Enterprise, Victoria’s small business festival.

I know the drill. Robert swans off to be Mr Big Shot presenter, while I’m left manning the stand.

However, the funny thing is that as much as I dodge them, I always love these events when I get there. It was great to chat with a constant stream of wonderful business owners and entrepreneurs. And the massive business benefits in terms of contacts and promotion are obvious.

For me, the challenge is simply turning up. I’ve found that once you get there, the conversations and connections just seem to happen by themselves.

It’s the same thing with business networking online. Before getting involved in Flying Solo, I’d never commented on an article. And before we started the forums a few years ago, I’d never made a post on any forums, let alone helped look after one.

I’m far from alone in this. Our surveys and feedback consistently reveal an aversion to (okay, fear of) networking amongst small business owners. In fact, generally more than 95% of readers online – affectionately known as lurkers – don’t actively join in the conversation, preferring to listen and learn. Which is, of course, totally fine.

But today, I invite you to take the plunge. If you’ve never or rarely posted anything online, take the first step towards online networking and leave a comment on this article.

To make it nice and easy, simply tell us what you enjoy most about running your own ship and if there’s one thing you’re looking for that will make your life easier, tell us that too and let’s see what the community can do to assist. If you’re a regular commenter, then by all means hop in and show us how it’s done.

So, tell me something I don’t know. I’ll start.

Read 58 comments or add your own at Flying Solo

If you take your business seriously, then it may be time to lighten up. Adding a dash of humour can be a seriously powerful and often underestimated tool.When you’re wading knee-deep through a prolonged business drama or a nightmare project, it’s all too easy to get sucked into a humourless quagmire. Even the daily routine of business can stealthily drain your personality and turn you into a robot.

Some perspective, however, shows us that business, like life, treads a fine line between being dreadfully important and ludicrously futile. After all, most of us are not saving lives in what we do.

And even medical professionals that are saving lives use humour to manage stress and maintain the focus that enables them to perform under pressure. Plus therapeutic humour is used to improve patient outcomes throughout the health industry.

Whether you’re selling insurance or fixing fences, if you can maintain your sense of humour you’ll not only be happier, you’ll perform better.

I’m not talking about practical jokes, telling gags or a wearing a Donald Duck tie. It’s just about being yourself, taking your personality to work and relaxing.

Friendly banter in business can deliver real benefits. It can:

- Instill confidence
- Create rapport
- Put people at ease
- Drive creativity
- Show intelligence
- Reduce stress
- Indicate to the world that you are on top of things.

If your work sucks all the humour out of you all the time, then your work sucks. Laugh at your clients, laugh at your colleagues and most importantly laugh at yourself.

As the barman said when the horse walked into the bar, “Why the long face?”

Are you having a laugh? Let us know your thoughts on using humour in business.

Read 20 comments or add your own at Flying Solo

Elite sports people often have a routine they go through before a game to help them get ‘in the zone’ to perform at their best. This powerful concept can apply to business professionals too.

Also referred to as being ‘in the flow’, ‘in the groove’, or simply ‘completely absorbed’, the concept has been studied by psychologists for many years.

A state of flow is commonly described by musicians, actors, gamers, spiritual practitioners, programmers, presenters, writers, stock traders and all kinds of business professionals. Young children seem naturally gifted at ‘getting lost’ in a painting, dance or imaginary game.

While getting in the zone can be a complex and hit-and-miss affair, one big part of it is in the preparation. A lot of my job involves writing. And while it’s not something I consciously created, I realised I have a routine that I follow whenever I have a big writing task to focus on.

Here’s my working ritual:

1. Take my mobile and office phones to the other side of the house

2. Clear all the clutter off my desk and put it on the floor out of sight

3. Pour a large glass of water and make a fresh cup of tea

4. Put on a trusty cap

5. Put on a big set of headphones

6. Play the same ancient music mix that includes New Order and Pet Shop Boys (don’t ask!)

Even though none of these things are at all essential to the task at hand, for some reason once I’ve gone through that ritual I feel physically and mentally ready to work productively.

For other business owners it might be cues like starting a fresh notepad, wearing a favourite outfit, cleaning their tools, using a certain brand of equipment or mental visualisation. It’s different for everyone.

Do you have a routine you use to get yourself into the zone, or is all this flow talk just management mumbo jumbo? Let us know your thoughts.
Read 22 comments or add your own at Flying Solo.

Working for myself and being able to do it from home is fantastic. But there are some downsides of course, and one of them is a lack of motivation on the odd occasion.

The surf might be calling or the kids hollering, but you know you need to bunker down and keep working. After all, that thing called ‘income’ is kind of important!

So in this article, I’ll share 5 tips that I use to motivate myself when lack of motivation strikes.

Everyone has their own way of pumping themselves up on days when you struggle to get going, but here are some of the things that I like to do when I feel a little unmotivated:

1. I read an old email from a satisfied client, a valued colleague or a supportive friend. They always seem to put a smile on my face and motivate me to get back to work.
2. I re-visit my business goals or dreams and really take a moment to think about what they mean to me. I focus on how I’ll feel when I achieve them and that’s usually enough to get the blood pumping again.
3. I grab the nearest picture of my loved ones and remember why I’m working so hard towards a certain goal. I think about how proud they are of me. This then motivates me to get cracking again. After all, there’s nothing more important than family.
4. I look at my last mortgage statement. That always motivates the hell out of me!
5. I write a motivational statement at the top of each page of my diary.

Think big and re-ignite your motivation
In regards to tip number 5, I read a brilliant book a little while ago called “The Magic of Thinking Big” by David J. Schwartz. Schwartz uses proven methods to show that you don’t have to be highly intelligent or have innate talent to attain great success and satisfaction. What you do need however, is to adopt the habit of thinking, believing and behaving in ways that will get you there. 

In short, there were so many positive and motivating tips in the book, that I summarised a whole bunch of them into a list. When I bought my new diary for 2009, I wrote one positive statement at the top of each page to read at the start of my working day. And believe me, it works a treat.

So next time you find yourself lacking a little motivation, try one of the suggestions above to get you back on track. After all, most of us don’t bound out of bed every single day yelling “C’MON!!” and pumping our fists in the air like Anthony Robbins.

Okay, so they’re easy to make and virtually impossible to keep, but with every New Year comes resolutions. At Flying Solo we put our heads together and came up with these 11 ½ practical resolutions for micro business owners.

Here comes 2009! Go and put the kettle on and get set to make some big promises.
 1. Get ruthless about distractions. Set aside uninterruptible blocks of time each day for your most important tasks. Be sure to switch off phones AND email.2. Take back your inbox. The inbox is not a workspace – when a message arrives, delete it, file it or defer it. Deal with it once. Check email at set times during the day and turn off automatic alerts.

3. Outsource more. Identify the repetitive low-value tasks in your business and outsource them. Focus your time where you can add real value to your business and customers.

4. Surround yourself with positivity. Stop reading negative press about the economy. Don’t listen to moaners. Focus on what you can control. Measure and report on what’s actually happening in your business, particularly financials.

5. Give more stuff away. Share your expertise freely and get up to speed with the real business value of generosity. Embrace the philosophy of abundance.

6. Stop talking, start listening. Don’t tell people about your business, ask open ended questions about their business and industry. Interested is interesting.

7. Stop marketing, start attracting. Get in touch with your opinions and rattle some cages. Demonstrate thought leadership in your industry rather than telling people about your expertise.

8. Express yourself clearly. The problem is often not the content, but the delivery. You may well have a great product or service, but you need to invest the time in speaking, presenting and writing about it eloquently.

9. Plant a seed every day. Do something, no matter how small, each and every day to feed your network and grow relationships. Send a thank you card. Make a social call.

10. Working less works. Get out and walk, run, swim or stretch. Great ideas rarely come when you’re tied to your desk or tools. Do something each week that is 100% for you. Your business, and those around you, will thank you for it.

11. Communicate more. Most client problems arise from a lack of communication. Embrace the power of progress reports, update emails, follow-ups, quick phone calls and general customer hand-holding.

11½. Stop boiling the kettle and then not making tea.

What New Year’s resolutions have you made for your business? Please share your resolutions or comments with the rest of us.

Here’s to a fun, positive and successful year ahead!

Read 27 comments or add your own at Flying Solo

The other day, I caught the end of a radio report on recent research into career paths and happiness. The researchers asked: “Are you doing what you’ve always wanted to do?” and, “Given the chance, would you change careers?”

Unsurprisingly, the answers showed that most people don’t end up doing what they really wanted to do as a kid.

My almost seven year old daughter recently told me that she wants to be a part-time vet, part-time teacher and part-time flower shop assistant. She’d previously wanted to be a chicken holder, nurse and singer.

I remember wanting to be a gardener, psychologist, writer, cricketer and architect. Mum tells me the one consistent thing I did say was that I didn’t want to work in an office all day.

And a specific piece of career path advice my dad gave me was “Don’t be an accountant!” A career he’d been in for decades.

So why, after all that, I chose to study business and went straight into an office job for five years is still beyond me! A lot of people, myself included, tend to just go with the current and end up in an unsuitable career.

A majority of comments in response to my recent article, I don’t love my work, do you? were from people who really do love what they do every day. From this, I’ve deduced that starting a business is what people do once they know what they love.

I eventually managed to make a career out of writing, something I do enjoy, but only after several jobs that I didn’t.

What about you? Are you doing what you always wanted to do? Given the chance, would you choose a different career path?

Read 33 comments or add your own at Flying Solo

So your customer rings and says, “I need something fast, cheap and cheerful, nothing fancy. Could you have a quick look?” Don’t believe it. This is false economy and the result can be less than satisfying for all involved.

Having done quite a few of these small ‘favour’ type jobs over the years, I can tell you that often they cause the biggest headaches.

Quickies are often identified by language such as: “throw something together”, “mock something up”, “just give us your top-line thoughts”, “take a quick squiz”, “while you’re here”, or, “don’t spend much time on it!”

While these all sound fair, reasonable and innocent requests – and sometimes they are – typically these jobs have vague requirements, low budgets and fast timeframes. This false economy is a sure-fire recipe for failure.

The first problem is that people like what they like. If they don’t like the logo you designed for them, their opinion won’t change just because you did it in half an hour.

The second problem is these speedy jobs can end up taking the longest time. Even if the initial execution is quick, the subsequent liaising and clarifying eats away at time.

The third problem is that once a low quality job is delivered, all the control and context is lost. For example people won’t critique your work with the knowledge that it was low cost, they’ll just criticise it based on quality.

In the same way that people quickly forget a high price if you deliver high quality, they’ll also forget the low price if you deliver low quality.

These sorts of favours can work well, but do think carefully before putting out sub-standard work. In the long-term it may be better for you and your client to take a step back and insist on following your regular quality control process, even if you apply mate’s rates at the end.

What’s your experience of the quickie? We’d love to hear your advice or false economy disaster stories.

Read 35 comments or add your own at Flying Solo

The philosophy of “Do what you love!” and “Find your passion.” implies if you’re not bouncing out of bed every day with fire in the belly then you’re in the wrong career. But seriously, are we chasing the impossible dream?

Whether you run your own business or work for someone else, I believe it’s unrealistic to think you can truly ‘love’ your job.
I think it’s helpful to differentiate lovers from likers. Consider the following:

• If you had money to spare, would you still do everything on your to-do list? Would you run your business the same way or make major changes? Would you stay in your current job?
• Do you hang out for the weekend to finish so you can get cracking on Monday morning?
• Do you dread holidays because it’s a week away from work?

You might love drawing, writing, building, selling, coaching, presenting, designing, advising or balancing the books, but being paid to do lots of it dilutes the pleasure, I think.

I don’t mean to get all negative, but perhaps all this talk of loving your work is setting us up for disappointment and expectations that can’t be met.

I’m all for liking your job, enjoying your business or getting great satisfaction out of your career, but true love is just a step too far for me.

My love and passion for business comes from where I’m going, not so much what I’m doing. I love the idea of growing a business and creating a lifestyle I love. I love the freedom, flexibility and family time you can often get from being your own boss.

But it’s the outcomes I love, not so much the activity.

It’s the baby I love, not the birth, as my wife would say.

Can we really expect to love our work? Or are we just in love with where our work can take us? Tell us what you think.

Read 59 comments or add your own at Flying Solo