I generally try to focus on the positive aspects of running a home business and looking for ways to take risks and move forward in growing our business operations. But, it would be naïve of me not to also mention that there can be some very real threats that can inhibit our ability to do business and work at growing our home businesses. For many of us, we need to be able to identify what are the real threats and which are the ones that we are imagining to be larger than they are?
The reason that I want to focus on how to identify REAL threats to our businesses is that so many of us have fears and concerns that we carry around with us that are based in the past or that are not actually based in what is going on for us now. For example, if we have been through a difficult time financially or come from a low income background, we might be constantly afraid that we will go bankrupt or lose our businesses. This might not be a real threat or a real possibility but it feel real enough to us! Deciphering which threats are parts of our psychology and which are truly threatening our home business operation is the first important step.
Often, sorting out the real threats from the fictional can be a great confidence-building activity in itself. Once we identify what the real threats are, we can then go about problem-solving how to combat those threats. If a possible recession might hurt your business, what can you do to make adjustments in anticipation? If you are about to hit a cash flow crunch, what can be done to get through—minimizing expenses? Taking out a line of credit? Often the threats that we refuse to look at, feel much bigger and scarier than those we actually identify and work on.