Mastering Change

Every business goes through evolution. It evolves in size, focus, niche, location, tools, income, and lots of other ways. Being flexible and adaptable are important traits for a business owner to have. Because evolution means change. Everything in your business is ultimately impermanent. Your customers will change; their habits will change. Your products or services will change. Your prices, rates or fees will change. The speed at which your business grows or declines will change frequently. All of this is normal, but can feel pretty scary when you have invested so much in it.

Even just reminding yourself that change is inevitable can help you in coping with the change dynamics of your business. Anticipating change can help as well. For example, if you are prepared to make changes when your business grows, it will not upset you or your business as much. In my own business, I started out doing everything myself. First I did everything manually. I wrote individual receipts and invoices using my word processor. I designed and produced my own business cards, letterhead, website, etc. I wrote each letter individually rather than have form letters I could change at need. At some point, the business grew to where I couldn't keep up with all the correspondence, financial records and online presence. The first evolution was to automate more of what I was doing. The second evolution is about to hit and that is to hire more help. Each stage was anticipated and this smoothed the way.

All blog content is copyrighted, all rights reserved, Mary Anne Fields and Life Unfolds, 2006