Tossing Alarm Clock Humbles Fiery Grandma

 

Tossing Alarm Clock Humbles Fiery Grandma

Timely tips I wish I’d known

In a previous post entitled “50 Things I Wish I Knew Before Going Into Business For Myself” the first tip I shared was to set the alarm clock. True it’s your business; but remember the early bird does get the worm.

Today I thought I’d share a little wisdom I gained my first few days as a self-employed business owner…the hard way. I hope it helps make the transition of leaving your corporate job to work from home a little easier on you.

Freedom comes with tossing alarm clock

So, you’ve made the jump! The days of getting up to the alarm clock and dragging yourself into the office to that dead-end job are over. You have started your journey in entrepreneurship to work at home for yourself. Now you get to call all the shots including what time your business opens and closes. If you are anything like I am you can already feel the freedom. It’s almost the best part of being self-employed, right?

I remember when I first came home to work like it was yesterday. The lessons I learned were plentiful. Some were easier to swallow than others. There was one particular incident that jerked me into reality pretty quickly, it humbled me really.

For over 20 years I had risen to the clanging of the alarm clock, just like I’ll bet most of you still do. It’s normal being jolted out of a deep sleep, right? Not! Anyway, the first day of my on-site training I was told to be at the office at 7 AM.

For a lot of people that is no big deal. For people like my husband, who worked at the local mill that would have been sleeping in. However, for me that hour was crippling because I had to commute an hour besides getting myself put together. I’ll bet you can guess what this stubborn, fiery grandma said and did!

Yep, you are right! I said “I don’t think so. It’s my business and I’ll get here when I get here”.

The following day I arrived at the office at 8 AM. The phones were ringing off the hook; the girls working were frantically writing notes, faxing contracts and balancing two phone lines at a time.

What I hadn’t realized was that my new business was nationwide not localized. Customers on the East Coast were calling in three hours before my eyes were even open.

That first lesson was a tough one. I learned what it meant to take ownership and responsibility of my own future. I learned what it meant to be an entrepreneur. My lesson included learning what it meant to be the early bird who catches the worm. You must be an early riser using an alarm clock as a tool.

With freedom comes responsibility

Although it’s true being self-employed allows you the freedom to set your own hours; it does not mean that there won’t be sacrifices in many ways. For me, the trade off of earning the East Coast business was getting up early.

Using the alarm clock to rouse yourself now is a business tool to help you up your game, claim your profits and set yourself apart from the self-employed slackers who think they can come in at 10 AM, go home at 3 PM and still build a six figure business.

So, if you want to build that successful business use the tools available to you like the alarm clock. Don’t look at it as your enemy, look at it as your ally. Now it will alarm you of incoming profits for you and your family, not your employer.

There will be plenty of time for sleeping after you have your business operating like a well-oiled machine. Imagine leveraging your time and efforts by employing others efforts whose dreams and goals are similar to yours. Imagine earning money while you are sleeping.

If that sounds like something you’d like to look into, join me. I’ll share how I am using time, with the aid of that good old alarm clock to maximize my business profits.

Oh, and by the way…I still get plenty of sleep even waking to my alarm clock; my energy is up and my time is free from the bondage of a job.

 

[contentblock id=1 img=gcb.png]

 

 

 

[contentblock id=2 img=html.png]