Me. In a room. Just me. This is my whole company. Ask me
what I do and depending on the day I can give you a dozen different answers,
that is what being a solopreneur is all about. Sometimes it feels like I’m thinking
in a thousand different directions, my brain is on overdrive trying to get
everything done. Yet within the variety of jobs that I do there are 3 distinct mindsets
that I must have that are the most important. If I can wrap my head around
these 3 ways of thinking I can pretty well guarantee that all that needs to be
done will be.
Think like a boss.
Sometimes there is crap that just has to be done and in a
micro business guess who is going to do that crap? Yes, that would be you. As
much as you’d like to be playing with your crafty supplies or making pretty things
there are plenty of chores that require regular maintenance. Bookkeeping
anyone? These are the tasks that every business needs and without them your
business will sink.
When I’m faced with a list of icky tasks that I don’t want
to do, I find it helps to put on my boss hat and just do the job. If I were
working for someone else then they would expect me to do the tasks. And if I
were lucky enough to have staff then I would expect them to do them. So, I
pretend that I am the boss and I tell my employee to just do it.
Think like an employee
I am not self-employed, I work for a business. The fact that
I own the business and that I’m the only one working here is irrelevant. In the
spirit of taking myself and my business seriously I always think of my jewelry
company as a business. And when you work for a business sometimes you have to
just buckle down and do the jobs at hand. Someone has to do the not-as-much-fun
parts. That someone is you. Once your “boss” (see the above paragraph) tells
you to do a task, do it. If you were working for someone else you couldn’t blow
off a task because you didn’t feel like it, or wanted to do something else. Be
a good employee and do it. Then maybe your boss will give you a treat.
Think like a customer.
Without customers you don’t have a business. And as unique
and fabulous as you are, there are a whole lot of other unique and fabulous crafters
out there. Customer service is where you have a chance to stand out and shine.
Excellent customer service isn’t hard. Put on your customer hat and think about how
you want to be treated. Then do that. If you don’t feel like it, think of
yourself as an employee, suck it up and do your job. This is your job. Do it.
How would you feel if you were trying to buy something at a craft show and the
vendor was rude to you? In many ways, online customer service is even more
important than offline service. Online, your competition is closer, just a
click away instead of across the street.
Every single time you
interact with the public put your customer hat on. This means when you respond
to an email, post on facebook or stand in your booth. Never open your mouth
without thinking first. Watch your language and always be positive and
pleasant. No matter how crappy you are feeling or how bad your day is, keep it
to yourself.
Make sure you say thank
you in every conversation. Remember that each of your customers has friends —
and happy customers are the best referrals
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