Illustration: Rachelle Baker There’s no special sauce for starting — and sustaining — a small business. Instead, many entrepreneurs figure out what works along the way, often under intense pressure. Here, six women share the tips no one gave them about keeping their head above water, especially when business got tough.
“Don’t worry about separating your personal life from your business.” — Jeannine A. Cook, owner of Harriet’s Bookshop in Philadelphia, P.A. A lot of people talk about separating the personal from the professional, or creating work-life balance. But for me, my personal life is a part of my business. Maybe that’s not the cool thing, but it feels right. For example, my mom is coming with me to the bookstore this morning to help me stamp and wrap books.
Another thing I did was keep my day job well past the point where I needed to. I worked for an investment firm, and for years I kept doing that during the day and would work on my business on the weekends or after I put the kids to bed at night. It was a slog sometimes, for sure. But I think part of what holds entrepreneurs back is the fear that we’re not going to be successful, or we’re going to lose everything.
What I like about Laura is that she’s trained as a therapist, but she’s a business coach. And for me, that was perfect. I needed a therapist, but my life is so tied up in my business that I needed someone who could speak directly to that, too. She did a 360-degree review of my company and interviewed all six of my employees about their experience working with me and our clients, which was enormously helpful.
I got myself a subscription package, so I have to go every month because I’ve paid for it. It’s on my calendar, and it’s an hour of time that’s just for me, getting taken care of. I look forward to it all month. I feel like it’s important for my ability to run my business, because it restores me.
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Source: Forbes - 🏆 394. / 53 Read more »