It is one thing to have a plan and goals, it is quite another to actually be able to identify the areas in your home business where you need to put your efforts to make those goals come to pass. Figuring out what exactly you need to work on can be one of the challenging tasks of running your own home business.
Without a boss or board of directors to give you guidance and take the “guess work” out of steering a business, you are left to your own devices to determine what it is that needs to be done. This can be much easier said or intended than actually accomplished. How can a beginning business person develop the objectivity to determine what needs to be done?
I’m not just talking about personal weaknesses here, nor am I talking about a “To Do” list of goals and steps to achieve those goals, I’m really talking about all of it–learning how to take into account all the personal and external elements that make up operating a home business and prioritizing what needs to be worked on in order to maximize productivity and help a person feel successful. In a more traditional job, a person has an annual review and one of the elements of that review is dedicated to going over what the individual needs to work on. This is usually decided jointly. In your own home business, you may need to be uncharacteristically objective and honest with yourself in order to figure out what you need to work on. Look at yourself as an individual, as well as the business as a separate entity. This way, you can develop a plan of attack for what is best for the business, and see how your own personal development needs fit into that. This can keep you from spending too much time on personal weaknesses that aren’t actually benefiting the overall health of your business. As a matter of fact, what you perceive as a personal weakness, may actually be a benefit to the business.
Periodically (once or twice a year), have a good work session where you try to objectively look over the needs of the business and identify what is in the best interest of the business, and how you can make personal improvements to your work style to reach those goals. You might even want to evaluate yourself once a month or so to see if things have changed and if you are doing what you need to do in order to make things happen.
See Also: When You Get Emotionally Attached in Your Home Business and Facing, Coping With, and Fixing Our Imperfections