#GrowNOW The Podcast

What is the reason why we push harder at the end of this year 2021, compared to other years? Talking with our community of international entrepreneurs or discussing with coaching clients, we come to the realisation that the answers are not so straight forward as they may seem. But one recurring theme shows up in all the discussions: the approaching deadline of December 31st is an extraordinary wake-up call.

Rushing through tasks, taking on responsibilities that we don’t enjoy, not delegating and the list can god on; these are recipes for extra pressure, procrastination and feelings of not moving forward with the business.

In this episode we approach some ways of removing unnecessary entrepreneurial pressure at the end of 2021.

There is no secret that chasing your dream, your life plan, is at times extremely challenging and exhausting. Entrepreneurs feel this pressure all year long almost and yet it amplifies at the end of each year. Finding the life/work balance is truly important but is not a standard set of techniques that work for everyone, right?

In this episode, we are putting on the table 5 questions that every entrepreneur should take the time to answer for themselves and for the sake of their business, so that they don’t lose the enthusiasm and high energy that fuel them normally. Approach the end of the year pressure in a logical way!

What made this 2021 so stressful and difficult? No doubt, one one hand the Coronavirus implications and its global impact. But once we remove this from the picture, what else has the entrepreneurs on edge about the way this year will end?

There is an intensity just about every aspect in our lives now and as usual, entrepreneurs seem to have an added layer of responsibility and stress in the sense that for many of us, the business has become our very own purpose of existence because of the commitment and fulfilment that it brings us.

Sometimes we forget that IT IS ONLY A BUSINESS.

In this week’s entrepreneurs stories, we are looking at 2 examples of situations when solo-entrepreneurs had to take a step back and decide how much the stress, overworking and pressure was serving them or their business. In there words, just because we over-stress ourselves, that doesn’t mean that what we are afraid of will not happen.

In our previous episode 63 “Why entrepreneurs don’t hire people” we were looking at the reasons why sole-entrepreneurs are so reluctant to hire and we provided a checklist that can be used as a guideline to understand when SHOULD be the moment to start hiring, in any business for that matter.

As the world has evolved and communication has become more digitalised, so has evolved the world of “getting help” and needing additional ‘hands on deck’ for your entrepreneurship journey. The burdens and obligations of an employee contract are made easy by the use of commercial contracts and subcontracting people.

Solo-entrepreneurs need to understand that hiring somebody means they are delegating, they are getting help accomplishing some tasks, they are not looking for a replacement of themselves. This episode is here to shed some light on When and Why hiring is a productive move for the business.

It’s very difficult to delegate the core of your vision, but it wouldn’t be the worse if someone else can cut your invoices while you are working on that vision, right? :)

The human resource is the most valuable in any type of business format. But more so, in entrepreneurship, the founder of the business, the one who had the courage and the drive to invest and implement his idea, is the core of his business. So as the business is growing, so are the demands and the workload. But hiring somebody will change the format and the dynamic of the business. And that may be why sole-entrepreneurs are so reluctant to hire.

In this episode we go over a few reasons why in entrepreneurship we don’t see so many people getting hired.

You can use this checklist for your own business, to understand if you are using some of these limits beliefs to call them, and hinder without knowing the growth of your business.

In this last episode of this mini-series on Negotiations, we will not be focusing on the techniques of negotiation ( as those are readily available already ) but rather on the mindset, on knowing how exactly we want to feel about ourselves and the deals we are getting.

Can compromising be a winning strategy? Should we want to win at all costs? Here we give you the 5 golden rules.

When we enter any kind of exchange from a win-win perspective, we may end up winning much more than we expect at the beginning. Especially when having to deal with negotiations that have an emotional power over us, when we are attached to the outcome.

A first step is seeing the situation form an objective way, not better, not worse. And the second important step that follows, is to see this negotiation from the other perspective, analyse their outcome and intentions. Remember that we are going for win-win, right?

A clear assessment of what the other party is trying to accomplish will only bring you closer to reaching your goal in this case and understanding what compromises you can bring to the table.

For more on the topic of negotiations, please listen to the previous 2 parts of episode 60 “Negotiation skills for entrepreneurs”

In coaching we talk about different energy levels and this is valid also when we are on the topic of negotiations.

Entering a negotiation deal of any kind, bearing the energy of a “victim” has totally different results than when, for example, we have an angry energy and we bring that to the table with us.

In both cases, are we still focused on the end result or did we just get lost in proving the other party what we can and cannot do?

There is of course the 3rd way, the rational mindset, the calculated, logical energy. The empathic way to go about the negotiations is also a valid and often used approach. Do you recognise yourself already yet in any of these “recipes”? Or maybe you are the type that goes in win the “win-win” attitude.

That’s why we have dedicated the 2nd part of this topic to the actual techniques used when negotiating.

When you want to run your business on your own terms, having strong negotiation skills truly helps, to balance the constant “give and take” that we encounter in our life daily. Nevertheless, 2 important questions arise before you can consider any type of negotiation:

1. Do you truly know what YOU want?

2. Do you know what the opposite side is wanting from this?

In this 2 parts episode on the art of negotiations we will go over how to detach emotionally from the outcome, meaning to observe, to stay factual, to add data, to use the techniques and skills available to us to change the actual circumstances when needed.

So entrepreneurs, do you know how to separate using your emotions from being emotional about something? What is your mindset about negotiations?

On the heels of what happened a week ago with the 7 hours fall of the online Facebook network access, we are looking today into the ways we can continue to function, as businesses, when the proverbial “rug” is pulled from our feet.

For example, the lesson we learn when we end up loosing all our work because we didn’t save the file we were working on and our computer unexpectedly crashed, should make us wise enough to now learn our lesson this time around also and start cutting some small cords with what we refer as Social Media.

Us, entrepreneurs, pride ourselves on being independent and self-standing so the opportunity looks promising right about now.

In this episode we share the ways to go further with your business and, as solo-entrepreneurs, why you should not put all your communication and marketing power into one organisation alone.