Building a small business requires entrepreneurs to wear many hats. Numerous books have been written about all of these roles such as The E Myth. By wearing all of these hats, the belief is that the entrepreneur will reduce costs and increase the bottom line. At the end of the year, that hard working entrepreneur is very happy when he or she reads black and not red.

Yet, even if they read black should they be happy? Why, because they probably failed to embrace this tip.

Pay yourself first

Mistake: Wearing all the hats and not paying yourself what you are worth. Entrepreneurs wear many hats when they establish their business. As time progresses, they continue to wear these hats because money is tight and they believe that they can do things better. The end of the year approaches and the company made a profit. By paying yourself first, you will focus on what you do really well and delegate those other activities to others at a far lower rate.

After providing this proactive suggestion to my clients, I usually hear the following reactions just to name a few:

• I cant afford to pay myself.
• You dont understand the business that I am in.
• What a ridiculous suggestion. And you call yourself a business coach?

I then ask them a series of questions. (And yes, they are usually still around because they really want to be paid more.)

• How much were you making in your previous life?
• Do you want to make the same, more (please estimate) or less (please estimate)?
• How many hours are you working wearing all of these hats?

At this point, I ask them to do the math. Take your total hours and divide it into your desire income.

Are you happy with that hourly rate?

If not, then lets answer the next series of questions.

• Wearing what hat provides you with the greatest income?
• Wearing what hat provides you with the greatest sense of accomplishment?
• Are you wearing that hat as much as you should to grow your business to the next level?
• What would it take to be able to wear that hat more?

If you begin by paying yourself first and rewarding yourself for those efforts that dramatically grow your business results, you will find that you will have money to have other people wear those other necessary hats. When your efforts are spread among a variety of hats of different sizes, shapes and colors, your overall achievements are diluted.

Focus on what you do well and reward yourself for those accomplishments. As the old and true belief goes Success Breeds Success.

P.S. The previous tip Invest in Your People is available at Ezine articles.

Leanne Hoagland-Smith

Good Day. Thanks for visiting. I hope that you have enjoyed my articles. In 1999, I founded ADVANCED SYSTEMS because I saw that performance could and should be doubled in warp time. Individuals, small and large businesses could not afford expensive solutions that may or may not deliver improved results in 12 months.

From my corporate, small business and education experiences, I recognized the individuals must have opportunities for connecting their passion to their purpose to secure the desired performance results, but many lacked the necessary skills, strategies and tools.

With over 20 years in sales management and 10 years in education, I understand how to unite productivity with profitability by developing a proactive working culture. My previous experiences resulted in cost savings through one of the first implementations of a computer software in a wholesaler distributor to the creation of a vendor performance assessment.

Since facilitating over 500 sessions, developing and editing over 25 training programs and writing numerous articles focusing on performance improvement, I bring a results focused approach to my clients. Also, I am proud to be one of the first five nationally certified facilitators of America?s Rising Stars (a Student Leadership developmental curriculum).

My passion is to help others connect their passion to their purpose to double performance. As The small business coach in Chicago, my clients have easily doubled their performance. Since our greatest resource is our young people, I am now working with large urban schools to generate the same results.

Education Background

• Graduated with honors from Purdue University with a B.A. in Education
• Earned M.S. from Purdue University in Instructional Design and Curriculum
• Published in the national trade journal, The Supply House Times, and numerous national newsletters
• Developed seminars and training on diversity, communication, leadership, sales, effective trade show behavior, networking, knowledge management, goal setting and improved educational outcomes
• Co-authored M.A.G.I.C.A.L. Potential: 7 Capicities for Living an Amazing Life Beyond Purpose to Achievement, to be available in 2006
• Working a another book focusing on performance in public education
• Speaker in a national bureau - Resource Associates Corporation