A helpful exercise for moonlighting entrepreneurs is learning your strengths. Especially as you plan for 2009 and beyond, you should be analyzing what key activities accentuate your strong points and what activities you should be outsourcing. How does one find that out?
1. Know thyself. Really. What are you good at? Are you a deft marketer, but then hate to actually complete the work? Are you a good worker, but hate to market? Do you enjoy nitty-gritty detail work or big-picture work? Think about what activities in your moonlighting you truly enjoy and trust that those activities are likely going to be or already are your strengths.
2. Ask others. What do others say your strengths are? There is nothing more satisfying than to hear someone you respect tell you what they believe you are good at. I had the experience in my writing class last week. Really cool. You walk away with that “a-ha” feeling. It’s a shame, but sometimes, what we know to be true, we just don’t believe until someone else says it.
3. Read a few books on finding your strengths. I’ve been reading Marcus Buckingham, author of the three books, First, Break All the Rules, Now Discover Your Strengths, and Go Put Your Strengths to Work: 6 Powerful Steps to Achieve Outstanding Performance. I’ve realized that the key when working part-time is to focus on activities that don’t drain you, that empower you, and that obviously make you money. In other words: your strengths. Plus, this helps you to know how to hire for the tasks you’d rather not do. And as your business grows, the point is to automate as much as possible and to let others take those automated tasks from you.
4. Test yourself for a month. Keep a work journal. Record how you feel when you talk to clients on the telephone or when you are emailing clients or you are trying to close a sale. You might not even have to keep track for long. You’ll know when you really enjoy something. But use that work journal to record sporadic thoughts about areas in your business you’re unsure about. That might be something to develop later on.
5. Remember that you don’t have to be all things to all men. You don’t have to be good at everything, really. Trust me. I have a lawyer to handle my corporation, a CPA to handle my accounting, a VP (my husband) who helps me make decisions, and many friends and acquaintances that I trust who give good advice about my business. I even use a few famous faces as icons for my business (Martha Stewart, Michael Port, John Reese, etc.). I follow their career path and notice what they do, what decisions they make, their big dreams. It’s similar to Oprah following Mary Tyler Moore and her show. Find that inspiration and remember it takes a network (both offline and online).
I’m including a strengths section in my 2009-2011 business plan; why don’t you do the same?
