An open letter to my fellow entrepreneurs and business owners

Being in business, whether you are an owner, entrepreneur or running a franchise is hard. You will have days when you will win that client you wanted, and then have other days when all you can see is despair. With no two days alike, I can see why non-business owners must think we are crazy. But isn’t the unpredictability, partly why we went into business in the first place? If every day was the same wouldn’t that be boring? For me, I started Vent2Me because of a hunger inside of me. I wanted to push my limits and strive to be the best I possibly could be. I know I have a lot more to learn, but for every challenge I have faced I come up on top and you too can achieve the same.

This time of year tends to be very hard for business owners, it’s generally a quiet time because of the Christmas and New Year period. As a result, business owners tend to panic about finances and where they are heading. Business owners can be confronting individuals, passion can be mistaken for anger and some may blame others for the challenges they face.

I’m however here to tell you that the reason your business isn’t where you want it to be is because of YOU. There will be times when your services or products will be cheaper than your competitors, but there will be times when your services or products will be dearer. There will be times when that client you really wanted (or have) will go to your competitor and there will times when you will win. That’s the world of business. You win some, you lose some. If you aren’t winning the clients you think you deserve to have, don’t blame your competitor or undertake a price matching war – instead look at your internal processes and ask yourself:

‘If I was a potential client would I use my services or products?’

Your answer might shock you. Chances are there are things you are doing wrong, that you need to fix first. For my business personally, I always struggled with processes. So I spent this holiday period developing processes for my business. I now have processes – things that I should have had right in the first place. These lack of processes stopped me from moving forward, so when a competitor won a client I wanted, I didn’t blame them, I evaluated, improved and am now ready to rock. And, guess what? I’ve got work from clients as a result.

Being a business owner or as I like to think of myself, an entrepreneur in the making is tough, we should be supporting our fellow business owners and entrepreneurs, because ultimately a win for them is in a way a win for you too.

So next time you feel like cutting down those tall poppies, think hard before you do. The Zuckerberg’s and Branson’s worked damn hard to get to where they are today. Admire their achievements, research what worked for them and aim for continuous improvement.

Wishing you a fruitful and successful 2016!