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Photo: Zoran Zeremski, YFS Magazine, Adobe Stock

Small Business Owners Reveal Favorite Things About Entrepreneurship

Google Small Business recently asked small business owners: "What’s your favorite thing about owning a business?"


Google Small Business recently asked small business owners: “What’s your favorite thing about owning a business?” Here’s what they had to say along with further insight to dive deeper into their experience and how it fuels success.

 

1. Doing something you believe in

“Doing something we believe in every single day – to help and support other small business owners to succeed and live their dream!” says My New Venture, a tool designed to help aspiring entrepreneurs cut through the noise and get expert advice to help them make better decisions.

Belief in an entrepreneurial mission and vision is critical to long-term success. As the late English philosopher, John Stuart Mill once wrote: “One person with a belief is equal to a force of 99 who have only interests.”

This suggests that if you want to build an effective business, there is one condition you must meet: You must believe in what you do. Belief in what we do may seem trivial, but it can make a huge difference.

Do you believe in what you do?

 

2. Tangible results

Gaurav Gupta attests that the best thing about being a small business owner “is to see a direct correlation between your effort and the outcome, that internally drives [you] to do even better.”

Research suggests that our chance of success impacts the effort we put in. In fact, we tend to focus our effort on outcomes that will lead to positive feelings (a.k.a., Prospective Outcome Bias). Simply put, people invest effort in likely outcomes rather than unlikely outcomes and the most attractive likely outcomes are also those that have larger rewards.

Studies indicate that “we often focus on the outcomes of our efforts rather than on the process for achieving a goal. That makes sense in some ways. A lot of the reason we put in effort in the first place is to achieve our goals. But the process by which we achieve our goals often matters more for our long-term success.”

Inevitably, tangible results are always tied to the process.

 

3. Client goal achievement and feedback

Adam H. Tidrow, MBA, the President, and CEO of the Tidrow Group, is an entrepreneur, educator, author, and strategist whose mission is to make entrepreneurs better business owners.

“I love hearing the excitement and relief in my clients’ voices when they hit their goals,” says Tidrow. “More so, I love hearing their resolve and strength when they set their next, level-up goals.”

So, how can we reach our goals and level up? Prevailing wisdom suggests the best way to achieve what we want in life—and business—is to set specific, actionable goals. Yet as James Clear writes, “Goals are good for setting a direction, but systems are best for making progress. A handful of problems arise when you spend too much time thinking about your goals and not enough time designing your systems.”

If you want to achieve your goals, and help clients do the same –– create better systems and teach others how to do the same.

 

4. Control of my calendar

Sonya Barlow is the founder of LMF Network, a female-centric edtech platform for building confidence and careers through life skills masterclasses and mentorship. For Barlow, control of her daily schedule to manage her life and business is essential.

“Honestly? Managing my calendar because I have chronic migraines x neurodiversity, aligning my clients with values, and finding clients in cool locations so I can travel,” she tweeted.

As a business owner, it sometimes feels like there is so little time and too much to do. But with control over your own calendar, in contrast to working for someone else, you can make those 24 hours each day seem like plenty and set your own time management goals, even if that includes hybrid work from your favorite lakeside retreat – and copious amounts of travel.

 

 

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