Of course, the primary way job-like thinking hurts an entrepreneur is that the principles that go with having a job do not apply, and can even destroy you.
In the corporate world, one-upping those you view in competition for the same job you want, sadly, might get you ahead. People stab each other in the back and are rewarded for it. Whether this is right or wrong is not the point – some people believe that all is fair in love, war and business, and maybe that’s fine for them.
But if you own a small online business, your focus is on relationships. You could say something you don’t think you’ll regret about your competitor today, and in three months, miss out on a potential partnership.
Then there is the fact that in business, doing the minimum gets you the minimum or worse. If you view your customers as one-time transactions, and not potential future clients or even partners, it will reflect in your conduct with them.
And if the one product you start out with turns into a product line, you could constantly be in a fight for more and more new customers, and spend ever-increasing costs struggling for new clients, when developing a real relationship with existing clients could get you easier sales that are more inexpensive to make.
For an enterpreneur, our businesses are not just jobs, particularly if we wear many hats as webmaster, marketing department, product fulfillment, research and development, as well as sales. For some of us, our careers as entrepreneurs also represents our passions. For many of us, our jobs are simply a way to make money.
In either case, changing the way we approach our duties can have a huge effect on our incomes.
In a job, you can afford not to give your all to customer service. As a small business owner, you’re not in possible contention for a future reward that you’ll someday get if you keep your nose clean. The future is right now, and you’re competing to hold your position.
How can the job mentality be overcome? And is the job mentality ever a good thing for those of us who are business owners? I’ll be back with the answer shortly…
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