Recently, I read an article written for small business entrepreneurs. One of the points in the article was, “Staying positive, focused, and sane.”
Well, there we have our lives in a nut-shell, don’t we? However, being a small business owner, I know from experience that often we feel like Tom Hanks with Wilson. It’s very lonely at the top, bottom and middle of our one-person organizations. Nobody could possibly understand all we are going through. With planning and marketing and production and social media and shipping and accounting and… WHEW! That, and toss in some semblance of a personal life. Suddenly, it’s Friday night and your idea of a great night out has distilled down to ordering in pizza and Netflix.
So, what to do? Reach out. As entrepreneurs, we tend to focus on the “inner” of our business. We’ve all heard the phrase, “Working IN our business” as opposed to “Working ON our business.” Working on your business requires you to promote yourself to thinker and planner status. It requires you to create systems to allow others to assist you in carrying your dream forward.
One first, easy reach out, is to get into a room with those with common goals, objectives and challenges. We call that The Botetourt Chamber of Commerce. Join. Get involved. Attend events. Take advantage of the educational opportunities offered. We just finished a day of our Emerging Leader series on Human Resources. A small investment that would save you thousands in missteps later! Plus, you meet others with the same challenges, and suddenly you’re sitting at lunch with someone that not only understands your challenge, but also has a practical solution!
A few weeks ago, local Chamber executives had the wonderful opportunity to sit down with and talk about our businesses. Yes, while a non-profit, the Chamber is a business just like yours. And yes, we have the exact same challenges! The best part of the meeting was realizing, being reminded yet again that none of us are in this alone. And while it may appear that we are competing, we all offer something unique to our area or audience- our customers. We found the sharing of ideas and challenges to be calming and invigorating all at the same time.
The Chamber is reaching out to you. We are here and ready to assist you with your business challenges. And we could use your help with one of ours. The Chamber has several areas where we could use pert-time volunteers to assist in what we do. Please call Grant at the Chamber office 473-8280 and discuss the various needs we have– running simple errands, accounting help, greeters at events and more.
We know that reaching out is how we’ll grow our Chamber. If you’re a business at any stage of development, looking to stay positive, focused, and sane, reach out to us and get involved. Your Chamber staff and fellow business owners are here waiting to assist you!
-Grant Holmes, Executive Director
