"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer." - Henry David Thoreau

I'm curious. What drove you to start your own small business? A passion for the product or service you provide? A desire to be your own boss? A chance to dust off some ambition? A drive to stick it to "the man"?

Did you become a small business owner because you enjoy marketing or management? Probably not. But, if you're going to continue to grow your business you have to realize this important fact: Unless you want your Salt Lake County business to forever stay in the category of "side hustle", you must move on from seeing yourself as a service or product provider.

Let me quickly show you the difference between an OWNER and a service/product provider.

A Service/Product Provider:

• Has products or services
• Talked to prospects
• Has customers
• Owns a business
• Hopes they'll stay in business

An OWNER:

• Sells products/services
• Continually talks to a list of prospects
• Builds relationships with customers
• Grows their business
• Is building their business' future

So how do you make this shift? Well, here are a few questions you should be thinking about...

• Do you have a plan to move your "service-oriented" tasks off your plate?
• Are you building your prospect and customer lists in an ongoing, systematic basis?
• Does your business have a marketing "system" in place?
• If you stopped "doing your job" ... would your business immediately shut down?

What I'm learning: smart marketing and owner positioning can make the difference between doing "alright", and creating something of growing, ongoing value.

Until next time...

BE THE ROAR not the echo

Warmly,

 Janet Behm