Welcome to the Blue Jeans Biz for April 2008

Can you believe it! April is already here. The first quarter of 2008 has simply flown by at an incredible pace and tax day is fast approaching. March zoomed past with birthdays, deadlines and some exciting new business opportunities. I even took the time to create a web page showing some of my photography! Yes as some of you know, I am a hobby photographer and I love to share my work. You can check out my online portfolio here.

The last few months I have been concentrating on business development and marketing so when I ran into the question of freelancer vs. entrepreneur it made me stop and think and ended up being this months article.

Make sure to read all the way to end and check out our brand new special offer for new clients.

Happy Spring to you all!

Marta, The Blue Jeans VA

Are you a freelancer or an entrepreneur?

This is an interesting question that I recently came across in the Seth Godin book, The Bootstrapper’s Bible.

In his book Seth defines each as the following:
Freelancer: Sells her talents. While she may have a few employees, basically she’s doing a job without a boss, not running a business.

Entrepreneur: Is trying to build something bigger than herself. She also takes calculated risks and focuses on growth.

This was an interesting idea and I had to stop and think about it. I came to the conclusion that for many, it is a fine line between the two and many times it is simply a matter of ones attitude.

It is so easy to get bogged down by the everyday “stuff” of running a business that we lose sight of our Big Picture, which as Seth points out that as an entrepreneur, it means building something bigger than ourselves. That “stuff” can also get in the way of decision making which ultimately has a huge impact on our business and the direction it is heading.

It is important to stop once in awhile, take stock and examine where we are at and ask some questions:

• Is this direction inline with my values?
• Am I heading where I want my business to go?
• Does it fit into the Big Picture I have for the future of my business?
• What areas do I need to work on? Time Management, Delegating, Marketing, Customer Service?
• What are some of the new opportunities up ahead and how can I take advantage of them?

Later in the book, Seth Godin goes on to say that it is good to form a regular habit of examining our goals and current status about every three months. Things change, ideas change, circumstances change and as entrepreneurs we need to be flexible enough to recognize when it is time to change. The entrepreneur has the option and ability to adapt quickly and meet the needs of their market.

Can you make that change? Have you taken a step back recently to evaluate where you are at and where you are headed? Do you like where you are headed? If not, what can you do to adapt and redirect your focus and go towards your Big Picture.

Barbara Winters, author of Making A Living Without A Job, says that “Isolation is the dream killer”. That is such a true statement! So much of the time the everyday “stuff” hinders us from seeing what is ahead and what needs to be done.

It is important to find a support system where you can bounce around ideas, talk about your business and network for new opportunities and markets. This could be your spouse or significant other, it could be a networking group you are a part of or what about an online forum for small business owners (or maybe even your virtual assistant –wink)?

One of the most important things you can do is to look for ways to bring your focus back to the Big Picture. In his book The E-Myth, author Michael E. Gerber, calls it, “Working on your Business not In your Business”. This is an important distinction.

Learning to delegate and ask for can be one of the hardest things an entrepreneur has to learn. We think we have to do it all and if we don’t, it will all fall apart. Sooner or later we all learn, we can’t do everything ourselves. When you can learn to delegate and ask for help and find someone who understands what you are trying to achieve, then you have the incredible freedom to work on developing your business into the idea you had in the first place.

What support systems do you have in place? What areas would you like support in?

I invite you to leave your comments and feedback on our blog. We would love to hear from you!

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This Months Quote

An entrepreneur tends to bite off a little more than he can chew hoping he'll quickly learn how to chew it.

~Roy Ash~
Litton Industries

Contact me today for your free consultation and together we can create a plan for you to be an Entrepreneur and create something bigger than yourself by helping you work ON your business and not in it.

The Entrepreneur's Virtual Assistant

info@thebluejeansva.com