29 Questions to Help You
Determine if What You're Doing is a Business or a Hobby
Are you a true business owner
and entrepreneur? Or are you pursuing your business dreams more like a hobby
but may not even be aware this is what's happening?
In meshing business and personal
life in the past...
I took a lot of time off when I
felt like it... ,
I worked around the kid's
school schedule and family meals... ,
if I didn't feel like making
calls for a few weeks, I didn't make them... ,
when the sun came out, the kids
and I headed to the park and work was the last thing on my mind... ,
I would fit in a few hours here
and there to work on my business... when time allowed around my other
commitments...
What about you? Do you let
family, friends and other factors take you away from working on your business?
Or are you 100% committed and invested in your business success?
Here are some questions you can
ask yourself to help - you might be surprised with some of the answers if
you're being honest with yourself!
1.
Are you clear on your business's focus - have you defined the
product or service you provide and have stuck to it or are you continually
trying out other things?
2.
Have you registered your business name with your local
government?
3.
Do you have a business licence with your local community?
4.
Do you have a dedicated business phone line? A toll free number?
5.
Do you have business insurance?
6.
Do you have legal contracts in place dealing with the various
aspects of your business?
7.
Do you have a clearly defined mission statement?
8.
Do you have a business plan? One that gives you a solid
blueprint on how to achieve your business goals and how much it's going to
cost?
9.
Do you know who your competitors are and what they are doing?
10.
Is your business scalable in a way that it doesn't depend on you
being hands-on 100% of the time?
11.
Do you have a marketing plan that provides you with specific
steps on how you are going to attract your perfect client and how much it's
going to cost?
12.
Do you have a set budget for advertising and marketing to build
your client base?
13.
Do you really know who your target market is?
14.
Do you have a professionally designed logo to establish your
brand identity and appeal to your ideal target market?
15.
Do you have professionally designed business cards, letterhead,
promotional materials and other items to market your business?
16.
Do you have a professionally designed and developed website that
represents your business brand effectively, 24 hours a day - 7 days a week?
17.
Do you continually update and employ SEO tactics to your website
to ensure optimal results?
18.
Are you outsourcing certain tasks to help you with the things
that are not your core competency such as bookkeepers, web developers,
marketers, virtual assistants and graphic designers?
19.
Do you have a separate office space where you can shut the door
at the end of the day and leave it closed until business hours start again?
20.
Do you have set business hours where no emails and no phone
calls occur after hours?
21.
Is your office space organized and systemized so that anyone
could come in and take over where you left off?
22.
Do you keep proper books and track all of your business
receipts? Or is everything stuffed in a shoe box or file folder until tax time?
23.
Are you aware of all the tax write-offs that you're entitled to
and use them to the fullest?
24.
Do you have a dedicated business bank account?
25.
Does ALL of your business income go into this business account
and you pay yourself on a regular basis?
26.
Do you work all year round with vacation breaks or do you take
whole summers off and tell yourself you'll get busy working again in the Fall?
27.
Do you diligently work at your to-do list of items that will
help achieve your goals or are you telling yourself you'll kick things into
gear after... (fill in the blank)?
28.
Are you truly happy and passionate about doing what you do?
29.
Is your business fulfilling your life's purpose or are you just
going through the motions of trying to make some money?
The questions above do not
cover everything when considering what is involved in running a business, by no
means, but I hope they got you thinking enough to help you determine whether
you are running your business like a hobby or are you seriously running your
business to earn a healthy living.
I encourage you to take an
honest look at what you are doing and decide today on what your future holds
for you - nothing will happen until you make that decision!
Did this article strike a chord
with you? Are there areas in your business that you could be improving to get
you beyond the hobby mentality?
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