Today's a good day for the owner-operator of a small business, like myself. My partner took the kids away for the day and overnight. I stayed in bed-working-until noon. Did a few errands, then went back to bed-working-for a few more hours. I'm really lucky. I like my business; I enjoy what I do. Even though I work alone, my work keeps me engaged with the world and keeps my mind sharp. I see that I keep getting better at what I do and earning more money every month. Because I freelance from home it's sometimes hard to keep work and family life separate. That's why sometimes. I ask everyone else in the house to go away so I can have a good business day. They have fun and I get work done. It's money well spent. I'm a little worried about the economy these days-who isn't. I don't know if my business will survive or not. It could go either way. I provide a service; I'm someone companies outsource to when they don't have someone on staff who can do the work. On the positive side, with layoffs companies need to outsource more of their work. On the negative side, with layoffs other people in my trade are looking for work and the competition is fierce. One of the ways I protect the survival of my business and maximize profit is by being very careful about money. I don't spend a dime if I don't have to. But I do spend money if I think it will save me money. I learned that philosophy the hard way. This is what happened: When I started my freelance work, which of course is online, I didn't have a decent workstation setup, so I improvised. I thought about buying a proper desk and chair, but I didn't want to spend the money. So what happened? My back went out because of my lousy chair and I had to spend money on a chiropractor and I still had to buy a workstation. That was an avoidable, unnecessary loss, and I'm kicking myself about it. I did not understand that thoughtful investing saves money. There are business consultants out there who teach about this-it's called loss control. I gave you a simple example, but it can be much more complicated than that. Experienced business professionals can help a business survive by cutting losses. They can find losses and potential losses that many business owners can't see by themselves. With my old way of thinking, I wouldn't spend money on a consultant; I'd consider it a waste. But then I remember the chair and I realize that if I don't get help reducing my losses (and with other business strategies), I could lose money. And then I'd still have to pay for help. My new motto is to seek professional help. I sure hope people will do that when they need my services. As a businessperson I wear many hats. But I don't know everything. From now on I'm going to stick with what I know best and hire people to take care of the rest.
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