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"The Passion and the Rhythm of Small Business"The Passion Remember when you first put the plan together? Remember when you received your first box of business cards with your name and your company logo on it; the tingle of excitement when you handed the cards out to friends and relatives, proudly announcing that you were now a `business owner`? There are a lot of important things that you accomplish with the passion you first started your business with.The passion you had in the beginning was motivational, even inspirational. At first you talked to everyone you knew about what you did - you may have even done brilliant things like add your brochure or catalog to all your outgoing bills and mail. But as you look back doesn¡¦t it seem like you peaked? You¡¦ve been busy and now you¡¦re out of steam? Where did all the business go anyway? The customers used to be everywhere; your phone was always ringing. Now what? The Purpose Why do you own a small business? You must have this clearly defined so that you can project it to others when the passion is running high; and yet follow it diligently when the passion seems drained. When you look up and say ¡¥Why?¡¦ you need only to review your purpose ¡V your reason for being in business and you can keep serving others. The Plan This is where the `rhythm` of business comes in. You must have a formula, a plan that when you apply it to your business with the discipline of an athlete in training --organized, finely tuned, and flawlessly executed every day of your business life - will reward you with steady growth. I¡¦m talking about the mechanics of how you bring your customers in; how you service them when they¡¦ve done business with you once; how you keep them so loyal they¡¦d rather `fight than switch.` To be successful in business you must have clearly identified activities that are you money making daily duties so that you don¡¦t get off track with busy work. For example, you might have on your list the following: „Ï Contact 5 new prospects each day „Ï Call 5 previous customers each day „Ï Create 1 new alliance relationship „Ï Follow up on 2 current alliance relationships „Ï Add 5 new link swaps to website today With a list like this ¡V if you¡¦re just ¡¥not up to doing business as usual¡¦ you can give yourself the day off if you do ¡¥the list¡¦. It¡¦s remarkable what transformation you will go through if you create a list like this. Your business will grow daily and you will pull yourself out of ¡¥the glooms¡¦ more often then you might realize just by going through the motions. Remember, when the passion of your small business seems gone, look to your purpose and put the rhythm of your plan to work for you. When the success is steady it will create the passion again. (c) 2002 Melody Campbell, The Small Business Guru
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