“Successful” is a very popular qualifier–whether we’re talking about families, individuals, or businesses–just by adding the word “successful” it seems to raise things up a few notches in everyone’s eyes. But, when running your own home businesses, I think it is important to decide for ourselves what “successful” means, instead of inheriting someone else’s definition…
So, what does successful mean to you when you think about your home-based micro business (or businesses)? Does it mean making a lot of money? enough money? Or does it have anything to do with money at all? There’s no law that says money has to be the main motivator for your home business. Perhaps for you it’s about the freedom to build your own business? Do something you love? Run a family enterprise? Be more available for your family? There could be several factors that you are striving for in running a home business, and they could be typical or incredibly personal.
I think were we struggle and get into trouble is when we start applying someone else’s definition of successful to our own business efforts, or when we feel we have to meet someone else’s standards in order to prove whether or not our business enterprise is valuable and successful. Having a strong vision of what we want and what we are working to accomplish can help us keep our priorities and focus straight (and, hopefully, keep us from beating ourselves up when we don’t meet someone else’s expectations or garner some external validation.)
So, take some time to think about what “successful” means to you when it comes to your home business. You may find that you’ve gotten off track in terms of what you want to accomplish or you may find that, according to your own definition, your business is much more successful than you’ve been realizing.
See Also: Getting Comfortable Talking About Money and Setting and Monitoring Priorities