Owning your own business isn’t a problem of time, rather a problem of priorities. Have you ever heard someone say, “I would love to do that if I could just find time.”  Well sorry folks time cannot be found, everyone has 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year!  It’s what you do with your time that makes the difference.  The perception of “not having enough time” is really a misinterpretation of priorities. If you believe that you would love to start your own business, but you could “never find the time” I believe you are blaming the wrong culprit. Instead of ‘searching’ for time, maybe you need to take a look at reevaluating your priorities. If doing what you are passionate about everyday isn’t very high on your list of priorities (you do have a list don’t you?) you may want to reconsider what you are doing with all your time.  Most people are driven by money, “I need to work so I can pay the bills at the end of the month.” Maybe you should consider living below your means for awhile, save up some money and start your own business. In fact, money’s not that hard to come by these days (there’s millions of dollars all around us); however, the currency of the new millennium is time.

Building your business is like building your body.  You don’t have to go run a marathon the first night! Maybe it starts with a dream, an idea or a hobby.  Develop it and work on it consistently day by day.  Make it a priority to set aside a certain amount of time to work your business.  And when you do, one day you’ll be able to wake up and ask yourself, “should I go to work anymore or should I just keep doing what I love?”

Most businesses have a goal, a mission statement, dreams  to grow and vision to prosper.  But when you, the employee, takes a look at the mission statement, do the goals align with your goals? Does the business owner’s dream coincide with your dream?  When the business prospers, do you prosper? Or are you stuck making your capped salary?  These are all questions you might want to ask yourself when you head off to spend 40+ hours a week at your place of employment.  “But it pays the bills and gives me some extra spending money” you say.  Well money alone shouldn’t keep you “coming back for more” week in and week out.  I agree, money is nice and offers a lot of things: security, independence, comfort, and a means of survival.  But if all you’re doing is merely surviving then you might find just as much comfort in a community home or homeless shelter.  In this life there’s an inert drive in ourselves to grow, to move forward, to prosper and be of significance.  If your job or career doesn’t fulfill your human desire to improve yourself, then maybe it’s time to start doing something that will.

Prosuming is the business of people helping people.  Anyone can own their own business with little to no experience and large, and I repeat, large room to grow!  As a business owner you have ownership of your dreams and goals (not someone else’s), when your business prospers so too do you (isn’t that the way business should be).  When you prosume and build organizations of people to do the same, you help others attain their dreams and goals along the way.  Your stake is in other people and their ability to succeed.  People are not a “replaceable” employee where you can use fear as leverage; “If you aren’t meeting the company’s expectations, your fired!” sound familiar? No, as a matter of fact the business of prosuming sows into people, cares about their goals & ambitions and wants people to reach their full potential.

In an ever-changing economy, there is one kind of business, product or service that stands out over plethora of choices; one that adds value to people’s lives.  Success follows when you start offering value to others instead of looking for personal benefit.  With hundreds of millions of businesses and access to any part of the world, competition in business is substantially high.  So what makes your or my business any different then the rest?  Remember this pointer: value speaks loudly to people.  It sticks out like a sore thumb in the sea of products or services.  Coinciding with value, must come a commitment to never-ending growth and reevaluation of our business.  What is your personal statement?  Does it include contributing to others and adding value to their lives?  Is their a commitment to improve and always advance the organization?

Personally I believe that in this day of age value gets neglected.  We’re always looking for “how fast can we take this to the market?” Or “how much volume are we doing with this product?”  Value creates loyalty and a sense of belonging for that product/service in the client’s life.  As business owners and leaders we need to take a look at how our business is contributing to the lives of our stakeholders.  Are we offering them more than just a dollar amount, or do we value their growth and success as our organization grows?  Is the added value to our stakeholders’ lives part of the mission statement?  For example, “Through our concerted efforts as an organization, we are committed to the constant pursuit of improving our products and services; which in turn add value to the lives of our customers.  As stakeholders of our organization we are dedicated to consistent self-improvement of mind, body and soul, so that we are at our greatest potential to contribute our talents to others.” I encourage you to reevaluate your mission statement and hope that you find the importance of gearing your organization to add value to the lives of others.

In the 1950s after World War II had devastated their country the Japanese turned to an American engineer and renowned quality-control expert Dr. Edward Deming to revitalize their economy.  Deming established 12 basic principles in Japanese business that would eventually lead to one of the strongest economies world-wide in just a matter of years.  Deming’s focus was on quality, contradicting the American philosophy of “we gotta cut costs and increase volume sales!”  As a matter of fact, Ford Motor Company contracted a Japanese company to make half of their transmissions. When the cars went to the market, there was greater demand for the car with the Japanese transmission over the domestic-made transmissions.  Why, were they not the same cars with the exact same blue-prints?  As a matter of fact they were; however, since the Japanese instilled assurance of quality in the manufacturing of their product, they created higher demand and more satisfied, loyal customers.  In the long run, quality really does cost less!

The same controversy over quality plagues our nation today.  In the consumer’s eye, they are always looking for cheaper, lower cost, less expensive.  In fact, many companies base their slogan off of the idea of a “cheaper” product….”Always low prices, Always.” Reality check! Lower prices doesn’t “Always” cut it…as a matter of fact it hardly ever cuts it.  Gas stations and oil companies are held to a standard for the quality of their products. Why?  Well, because if you put cheaper, unrefined fuel in your car it’s not going to get you very far!  Yet, many Americans don’t care about the quality of consumables they’re using on their own bodies!  Can someone explain that one to me?  How about we stop reading from right to left (ever noticed where the price of the product is listed?) and let’s start focusing on buying quality over quantity.

Have you ever heard the expression, “If you can’t take the heat, then get out of the kitchen!”? The statement is attributed to the late President Truman.  The message is simple and clear; if you can’t handle the pressure then you shouldn’t be in the position you are in.  If you plan on being successful in life and in business you’re going to have to learn to take heat! Bottom line!

When the pressure is on, leaders want the final say; they live and die by the sword! They are not afraid to make mistakes, because they will and they know they will.  What most people don’t know is how they learn from their mistakes, they study them meticulously; like a clockmaker at work they turn them inside-out and upside-down until they know what went wrong and how to adjust.  Achievers come prepared, and when they get their opportunity (and they will) success will strike like lightening.  Cold blooded they call them, almost robotic in nature, hardly recognized as human.  The mind has transformed them, they are in a different world when the pressure’s on.  Like gocking pedestrians, people watch and wonder “how did they do that?”….They came prepared, saw the decision in their mind’s eye time and time again and reacted as if it were natural-born instinct.  Methodically and elegantly they move masses by their words and actions.  Nobody remembers the thousands and thousands of shots Michael Jordan missed in his life (most of the time no one even saw them), but millions of people can’t forget the cross over and jump-shot at the buzzer to win the 1998 NBA Championship (the 6th of his career).   Don’t be afraid to take the heat, even if you fail; because the process is always more important than the end result.

“The only thing to fear is fear itself” -Franklin D. Roosevelt