I remember the first time  she was learning the differences between pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters. We would play a game where she would be offered a “trade” and would have to decide if she wanted to make the deal. For example, I might have two dimes and offer to trade them for one of her quarters. It was fascinating to watch how in the beginning she would eagerly make that trade. I could also easily get her to hand over those two dimes for just five pennies. Of course, given her basic understanding of numbers – two was better than one – and five was certainly better than two!

Well, let me tell you, just a couple of years later, negotiating “financial deals” with my daughter is like going a few rounds with the toughest banker out there. She knows every penny she has earned doing her chores. And, should I have the misfortune to need to borrow a few dollars, when I don’t have enough cash for the babysitter – my seven year old is just about ready to charge me interest. On a basic level, she has received the financial education that keeps her from making the bad financial deals she could easily be persuaded to make in the past.

As a solo entrepreneur are you putting the necessary time and energy into your financial education to avoid making poor financial decisions?

The business world is a tough neighborhood. There are many out there eager to trade you two dimes for a quarter AND there are many lazy business owners who are content to believe that two is always better than one. This form of decision making is the absolute opposite of financial responsibility and will absolutely keep you from success.

Every day solo entrepreneurs face critical financial decisions that can make or break a business. When does it make sense to incur business debt and when is it time to cut back? Should you be investing any available capital and if so, what kind of vehicles will you invest in? Is it time to develop new products and services or should you increase the marketing of your current offerings?

Small business owners must be willing to learn. We must really understand money – the pitfalls to avoid and the ways we can leverage our resources to achieve maximum stability and growth. Visit http://www.AbundanceBoundSystem.com for the financial education you need to confidently make the decisions that allow you to create the success you desire and deserve.

It got me thinking about how often as adults – especially as solo entrepreneurs – that we feel like we’re just running round and round in circles. The problem for us is that it certainly isn’t fun. When we feel like our businesses have stopped growing and like all our hard work is no longer moving us forward, it’s easy to get exhausted and discouraged.

Over the years, I’ve found 3 places I look first when trying to pull myself and my business out of a “rut.”

1. Business plan

Traditional business plans generally include things like an executive summary, mission statement, description of products & services, company vision, goals & objectives, and an overall financial plan. All of these things are important, and if you don’t have them on paper – you should. However, what I’m talking about here is a detailed model that lays out clearly how you intend to achieve your target revenue goals.

Each January, you should decide how much you would like your business to earn for the year. Then, map out precisely what it will take to reach that number. Itemize the different products and services you currently offer as well as those you will be introducing. What are the prices of each product and service? How many of each will have to be sold for you to earn the amount you want?

This process will firmly direct the daily, weekly and monthly tasks and activities you will have to implement to achieve your revenue targets. Each month, you will want to evaluate your progress to determine if you are on track or if changes need to be made for you to reach your goals. Achieving this clarity of purpose goes a long way towards staying on the path of progress.

2. Marketing, marketing, marketing!

Show me a company that isn’t marketing their business in multiple ways and constantly introducing new and fresh marketing ideas – and I’ll show you a business that is stuck.

Draw a circle on a piece of paper and divide it into 8 slices like a pie. Now fill in each slice with a different way you are currently marketing your business. Some examples might include: advertising, articles, joint ventures, networking groups, etc. Many of us will find we can only fill in a few slices. To achieve constant and lasting growth we need to be able to fill in the entire pie – and that’s at a minimum! Adding additional marketing sources that you use on a regular, consistent basis will help your business take a leap forward.

3. Delegating

Let’s face it – there’s a lot that needs to get done to run a small business. Success comes faster to those of us solo entrepreneurs who realize that we simply cannot do all of it ourselves. My virtual assistant is one of the best additions I made to my company 6 years ago and now I cannot imagine life without her. Assess the work you have to do and figure out what other people can help you with. Find individuals you trust who understand the message of the company.  Delegating can be one of the hardest things to do for a small business owner who is used to running the show.  Being able to hand over the reigns and trust that things will get done the right way, is a big accomplishment.

Consider developing an operations manual and task descriptions to create a smooth transition.  Knowing what you want people to do and having them understand their responsibilities as it pertains to the job, makes for a much better run business.

The next time you find yourself running in circles it should be because – like my son – you really want to! At Abundance Bound, we teach small business owners and solo entrepreneurs how to effectively focus on the areas that will give your business the healthy kick start it needs to get you moving in the right direction. Visit http://www.AbundanceBoundSystem.com for the support that will put you on the path to success with your small business.

Well, just like a small dog who thinks he is a Great Dane, a small business doesn’t always have to act small.  Small dogs know their strengths and use them to their advantage.  They know they can be more agile, move quicker and get away with things because they are cute.  A small business has more flexibility, quicker response times and more personal customer service than the bigger guys.  Knowing your strengths is the key to success.  Small business owners who know what to focus on can take their business to the top.

A small business should never assume that because they are small they do not need to polished and professional.  They should operate with a big attitude and dress for success.  From interviewing, hiring and training to day to day work schedules, work policy and customer service, a small business should operate on a large scale.  All procedures and policies should meet the standards of any big business.

You want to make it clear that you intend to be around for a long time and are not a fly by night company.  You want to instill confidence and trust in your patrons or clientele by offering the security of a big company, but with the personalized service of a small business.  Everyone knows that a small company can give the client more attention and for this reason a smaller company is preferred most times over a larger one.

I call on my fellow solo entrepreneurs to remember that while we can learn from the big guys, we also have our own style and way of doing things that makes us special. It has always been important to me to limit the number of clients in our private coaching program. While I know there are companies that take on dozens (or even hundreds of clients at a time), I offer a personalized and hands on coaching style that ensures results for the individuals and businesses I work with. Most small businesses can adapt to more special requests or changes than a large business.  They can also get things done much more quickly than a larger business, as there is not as much red tape and organizational chain of command to go through.  This alone is a big draw for clientele who want to be able to have personal interaction and have input on the result.

To achieve success as a small business owner, choose to focus first on quality and second on quantity. Small business owners who can compete with the big guys in professionalism and procedure but offer their own specialty revealing their own strength, will almost always be the winners. Stop by http://www.AbundanceBoundSystem.com for powerful tips that will ensure you stand out from the crowd.

The next critical step to creating success as a small business owner, is figuring out exactly where you would like to end up.  Where you are going is almost as important as your starting point.  It gives you a destination, a target, a place on which to set your sights.Think about an entrepreneur that you really admire – whose business has the size, scope and profits that you imagine for yourself. You can be very sure that behind the scenes there is a business plan, one that was put in place when the organization was born and one that is centered on a Vision.  In this business plan, the entrepreneur will have laid out where they want to be in 1 year, 3 years, and 5 years.  They will know what their ultimate goal is in very specific terms.

But for many small business owners, our Vision doesn’t extend that far beyond just wanting more money.  We know we are tired of struggling to pay the bills.  We hate the fact that we’re buried under debt.  But because our financial vision is not SPECIFIC, our plans tend to be equally vague – leaving little mystery around why they are often never actually implemented.

Think of your financial life as a road trip.  You know where you are starting – New York.  How many of us would actually get in our cars and start driving, without having actually decided where we want to go?  Now let’s say that you choose Miami.  Well, because you have your starting point AND your destination, you can plan exactly how you’ll get there.  You may plan it in stages.  You may stop to see some of the sights along the way.  You may even take a wrong turn now and again, but because you know where you’re headed, you’ll quickly be able to make corrections that will put you back on track.

Continuing this analogy, let’s say that you had indeed made a wrong turn on your way to Miami, and ended up in New Orleans. You might like it there, maybe even enough that you consider staying, and giving up on ever getting to Miami at all. You have a nice place, are happy with the climate, and have made a few friends. If your concept of Miami is simply “somewhere nice”, then you may be content to stay where you ended up, because it is simply too much effort to move on. What does it matter if the weather isn’t exactly what you wanted, or your house is not quite what you had imagined? Where you are is an improvement over where you were, so you give up your travel plans, and settle in.

How different would it be if your general dream of “Miami” became an actual vision of what your life would be when you got there? What if you had researched and found the exact condo you wanted on South Beach? You knew the purchase price, the mortgage payments, what your view would be, what the good local restaurants are. You knew what friends you had down there, what car you would drive, what you would wear on the beach, and where to find the best snorkeling. Your vision of your life in Florida encompasses everything, from lifestyle to partner, business success to financial abundance. How content would you now be to settle in New Orleans? Chances are, not very. And yet that is what we all do. Repeatedly. Because where we are is better than where we were, and the immediate discomfort it might take to move on overshadows the pain of staying.

At Abundance Bound, we take entrepreneurs through an exercise of creating a “3-Year Vision.” This involves writing down a detailed vision of where we want to be in 3 years time, and being as specific as possible about it. It is not enough to say “I will be rich”: you need to know what that means. To some that may be a passive income of $8,000 per month, living in a condo in a respectable part of town, and driving a new Jetta. For others, making $20,000 per month, and living in a house in Beverly Hills with a Porsche in the driveway would only be halfway there.  When you read your Vision you should feel happy – you should feel a sense of excitement and joy as you paint a vivid picture of where you want your life to be. And you should use that excitement to fuel you as you move forward.

Writing down your Vision will play a huge role in whether or not you reach your destination. From this will develop your action plan, which is your journey broken down into manageable pieces, and the specific, measurable goals that will comprise each step of that plan. It is absolutely critical that you fully visualize the end result and know clearly and vividly where you want to go.

Come to http://www.AbundanceBoundSystem.com for all the help you need drawing your personal entrepreneur’s  road map from point A to point B. We’ll support you along the journey and make sure you reap the benefits of careful planning and hard work.

These factors make it even more critical that we develop financial consistency.  Keeping a handle on the ways of managing our money that are within our control, will go a long way towards building financial stability and avoiding the financial roller coaster that plagues many small business owners.

Following are 5 simple steps to becoming financially consistent:

1.  Pay Yourself First

This is the corner stone of any long term financial stability, let alone wealth. Every month, you should put a set percentage of your earnings into a high interest savings account, and then don’t touch it until you are ready to invest with that money.  This is not the “rainy day” account that you dip into when things get hard, nor is this the “splurge” account to get something special for yourself as a celebration. Money is only withdrawn from this account to buy assets with – an asset being defined in this case as something that either makes you money, or appreciates (increases) in value (so a new car would not be an asset under this definition!). Do this consistently and, over time, you will build up a very nice amount of cash to be investing with.

2.  Schedule Regular Money Days

“Money Days” are key to your success as a small business owner. This is simply a day that you set aside to work on your finances.  The jobs might include filing, entering receipts into a computer program, balancing bank statements, etc.  Now, it does not have to be a whole day, of course – unless your situation merits it… usually because you haven’t done one for a long time! Personally, I set aside a couple of hours every other week, and then a meeting with my accountant over the phone every couple of months. Doing this accomplishes several things: Your accounts will remain orderly, allowing you to continually track your financial progress and identify potential problems early on.  Money Days also allow you to focus on your finances for short, isolated periods, which frees up your time to think about and do other things… like growing your business.

3.  Forecast your spending

Forecasting is the process of allocating where your money will be spent. Visit http://www.AbundanceBoundSystem.com for tools specifically designed to help small business owners, network marketers and solo entrepreneurs determine exactly how they are currently spending. You’ll then decide which categories cannot change (rent, for example) and which ones can (groceries, entertainment etc).  You can then make strong, educated decisions about what amount you will CHOOSE to spend monthly in each category.  This tends to be far more empowering (and effective) than just blindly trying eliminate entire categories, That is the big difference between this process and traditional budgeting.  Budgeting encourages cutting out “frivolous” categories entirely and forgets the fact that we’re human!  You won’t stick to something long term that makes you feel deprived.  But as opposed to going to Starbucks every day, can you go every other day? Or order a Tall instead of a Venti?  Making these kinds of choices in several areas can make a huge difference to your overall spending.

4.  Keep business finances separate from personal

You must have separate bank accounts for your personal life and your small business.  Identify one credit card you will use for personal expenses and a different one to be used for business.  You would never see the CEO of Kinkos write a check for company expenses out of his personal account, and yet many small business owners do this all the time.  Separating your finances will allow you to clearly see what your business is spending and earning.  It will also legitimize all the tax deductions you are taking.

5.  Regular financial learning

Keep doing what you are doing right now! We take time to take business classes on marketing, using the internet, and creating products… but we expect our finances to somehow take care of themselves. Not only is this not realistic, it is dangerous, as we can make numerous serious mistakes blundering around while we try to find our financial way. The reason that most small businesses fail is because they are unable to financially sustain. Knowing this, doesn’t it make sense to put some time into financial education now, so that you have the skills to develop the financial stability that will keep your business around for the long term? Carve out some time for financial seminars. Learn how to manage your money as an entrepreneur and how to invest it so it can grow faster.  Learn the strategies to handle your business expenses, reduce your taxes, and create multiple sources of passive income.  It will be well worth it in the long run.

So there you have it.  Consistently doing these five things will significantly improve your financial picture over the coming months and years. Visit http://www.AbundanceBoundSystem.com to learn to incorporate each step into your daily and weekly life. It requires only a tiny time commitment of time, but the dividends from doing so will last forever.

Have Discipline – a wonderful aspect of being an entrepreneur is the freedom to create your own schedule. For the most part no one dictates when you have meetings or when you start and end your workday. However, for many entrepreneurs this freedom is also their curse as they struggle to develop the daily disciplines that lead to success in any small business.  We cannot imagine the Olympic runner pausing between laps to check his e-mail or agreeing to grab coffee with a friend in the middle of a scheduled training session. Likewise, as you plan the daily and weekly activities that will result in growth and business progress, block out concentrated work periods where nothing is allowed to interrupt.

Don’t Train on Your Own -  If 100 people were asked to name the single most important thing needed by every serious athlete, you could put money on the fact that the majority of responses would be a Coach. It would be unthinkable for any athlete wanting to reach elite levels to even consider training themselves. Additionally, most athletes spend the bulk of their training time working in groups – fueled by the natural support, energy and accountability that comes from a team. And yet, so many small business owners work completely on their own (thus the term SOLO entrepreneur) and wonder why they are struggling. At every stage of your business it is absolutely critical that you surround yourself with the individuals that will help you progress to the next level. This group should consist of both “experts” – those who have already accomplished the things you are working to achieve – AND fellow entrepreneurs who essentially make up your “training team.” No single person has every achieved great things on his or her own. Don’t fall into the trap of being a lone ranger – find the people who have gone before you and learn from their experience.

Take Breaks When you Need Them – This may seem to contradict our first paragraph about discipline, but in fact, a part of discipline is the creation of balance. Athletes train hard but they also take the breaks they need to allow their bodies to rest. Without these periods of recovery, injury and burnout become inevitable – taking them (sometimes permanently) out of the game. As an entrepreneur, you must also create the periods of downtime that will allow you to refuel. This allows you to return to your business with the renewed sense of energy and purpose that will keep you moving forward.

For step-by-step tools to financial success as a small business owner, visit http://www.AbundanceBoundSystem.com and register to join us for our next FREE teleseminar The Power of Prosperity.

Abundance Bound System

Enjoy!