From the course: Small Business Secrets

Using the entrepreneur's mirror

From the course: Small Business Secrets

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Using the entrepreneur's mirror

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- One of the challenges of entrepreneurship is that you become so busy that you miss out on important things that need to change or improve in your business. Now, there are many things that you can do to get rid of these blind spots, but in this video, I want to talk about one of my favorite tools. I call it the entrepreneur's mirror. Now, in short, what is the entrepreneur's mirror? It's your business. You are a reflection of your business, and your business is a reflection of you. What this means is that your tendencies, your strengths, your weaknesses will also be reflected in your business, and what this means is that the fastest way to improve your business is to improve yourself. Now we've provided a worksheet that you can download from the exercise files. This worksheet, the entrepreneur's mirror, is something that will help you analyze very quickly what the business is telling you about yourself and vice versa. So, in the right-hand column you'll see your business, and in the left, you'll see you. Let's consider for a moment the strengths row. What are your strengths, and what are the strengths of your business? For instance, maybe you are very good at sales. Does the business reflect that strength? Maybe you are a highly productive person. Do we see that reflected in the business? Or it can also go the other way. Maybe the business is in a very creative industry. Is that a reflection of your own personal creativity? Take a moment right now and complete the strengths row. Pause the video, and then I'll still be here when you come back. Now, the weaknesses row. What are the things that maybe you need to improve on, or the business needs to improve on? Perhaps you're a little disorganized. How is that reflected in the business? Or maybe numbers aren't your strongest thing. Are we seeing that reflected in the bookkeeping or the accounting of the business? And remember, it goes the other way. Perhaps the business isn't as outgoing as it needs to be. Maybe it's not getting the sales it needs to get. Is that a reflection of you being a shy person? Pause the video right now and consider the weaknesses of both you and your business. And then, finally, the personality row. Now, this is neutral. This is neither good nor bad. It's not strengths or weaknesses. It's really just trying to figure out what the flavor of your business is. If you're a goofy person, for instance, perhaps the business is reflecting that in its branding, that it's a free and outgoing kind of brand. Or if you're very focused on the numbers and very professional, you'll also see that reflected in the business and its culture. Take a moment right now and assess the personality of you and your business. Now, as you change as a person, it is natural for the business to also change. Why does that happen? Because, first of all, if you have employees, they will see your changes, and they'll try to follow that example. It's just a very natural thing, and, of course, in a small business, there aren't that many people, so one person at the top changing their strengths and weaknesses and maybe even their personality will have a massive affect on a small business. Now, what I'd like you to do right now is to choose one area, one thing that you would like to improve in your business, and then ask yourself, what's one thing that I can do to improve myself in that area. Having the entrepreneur's mirror is a great opportunity. It's an opportunity for your business to improve as you improve, and it's an opportunity for you to improve yourself to help your business grow.

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