Only one wins to be an entrepreneur
I woke up today at 5 am and only had to look at my first email to feel like saying “Oh brother, here goes my day”… Didn’t even get the coffee brewing to feel slightly agitated. I was mad at the paper delivery person for not having my paper here by 5:30 since I already felt rushed to read it. It did come minutes later but it felt like forever when I kept looking out the door. I then proceeded to wake my girls up to get them ready to school, make breakfast and wave goodbye. But my mind was racing in so many directions by the time 7:15 came about. I am sure the vast majority of readers are small, independent craftsmen (and craftswomen too – need to be politically correct, LOL). Anyone ever have a similar “get out of bed, read an email or listen to a voice mail, then feel behind before you start the day feeling”?
But then I reminded myself that THIS FEELING IS EXACTLY what a Entrepreneur and Business Person is supposed to feel. An Entrepreneur should be excited about the opportunities they face – whether positive or negative. A Business Person should be able to think out the right course of action, which gets better and better as time and experience passes. Life events try to pull me back even when I try to push ahead.
UNFORTUNATELY many contractors look at their day first as a Craftsman and then maybe as a Business Person but rarely as an Entrepreneur. A lot can be said with how you feel as a contractor if you wake up in the morning with the Spirit of an Entrepreneur who then says I am a Business Person who happens to be a Craftsman – whether they be a remodeler, painter, plumber, electrician, roofer or handyman or any other service provider.
THE WONDERFUL THING OF BEING A CONTRACTOR is that it doesn’t take much to stand out amongst the majority. There is many times a negative stigma that can easily be used to a contractor’s advantage. Simply waking up with a great attitude is a start. Answering the phone with a nice demeanor every time goes a long way. Leaving a polite message and avoiding the automatic “You’ve reached 123-4567 please leave a message” or “Yo, you know what to do” messages will bring in a few better leads over time. Looking professional and showing up on time will give you an edge towards closing more sales. Knowing a little about marketing and basic organizational skills will give you an advantage to promoting yourself better as well as having the time to stay focused on what you like to do most – your actual craft.
Of course being a good craftsman is important – but it is equally important to being a Good Business Person so you are as effective as possible in getting more work and making as much money as you deserve. And being a good business person is a trait that can be learned over time. And the best way to learn is to be inspired, and that inspirational spirit is within the inherent nature of a Entrepreneur.
Every person reading this has an objective to find good customers and make good money. That always seems to happen when you have a good customer with the same objective as yourself. And even better is when you have a great relationship. All of this goes hand in hand.
Many people ask me why I write so many inspirational stories. Many ask me why I create so many inspirational educational videos for contractor marketing education. Many ask why do I volunteer at local schools to teach Entrepreneurialism. Many ask how do I find the time to also coach both my girls’ soccer teams. The answer is the same “I get inspired and it feels great to help inspire other people to reach their goals”. Sure, some of them come full circle for business opportunities, and why not, since an inspired customer always leads to a win-win success story. And others just provide a feel-good-feeling. With that feeling I am able to achieve whatever it is I am faced with during the day – planned for or not – good or bad. But regardless, it is all an entrepreneurial opportunity to take business advantage of the day to the best I can.
Oh – I forgot to tell you, the email I got before 5AM was an alert that my servers were down, but there was also another email that I did not see saying an auto-update was installed and the servers were already rebooted and back to normal. So my original “Oh brother, here goes my day” was a wasted emotion. There was nothing for me to do in the first place, and I should have known better to scan my emails before getting upset. I made a mistake even with all my experience.
So at the start of each day, I ask all contractors to just consider every day like an Entrepreneur who is going to do their best being a great Business Person who happens to be running a company that specialize in being a Craftsman. It doesn’t matter where you left off when you went to sleep, what matters is how you will approach your day based on the commitments you have already made and the future opportunities and relationships you are looking to pursue. I hope this helps inspire just one fellow passionate Entrepreneur and Business Person who happens to be a Craftsman.
Good luck with your day!
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