Business Information for Entrepreneurs by an Entrepreneur

If business operated on an even keel day in and day out, everyone would be a business owner and there'd be very little challenge.

That's not the way it works. Business comes with peaks and valleys and if you are a sole proprietor (which means your personal finances and your business finances are the same) those peaks and valleys can seem very extreme.

A couple ways to get through the peaks and valleys include:

• Getting a line of credit to help you through the financial tough times.
• Find a mentor who can help you through the emotional peaks and valleys.
• Anticipate peaks and valleys based on your records and try to eliminate them with pre-pay discounts (if applicable).
• Create a new line of products or find a new use for your current product that runs counter to the cycle your current line is on.

This is a little trick I like to do from time to time. I should actually do it more often but to be honest, it slips my mind. When I do it, though, I notice a difference in my work and in the quality of my daily routine.

First, I list the 3 things that kept me from doing work last week. For most of us, there was possibly at least one crisis on there that needed our attention. For some of us, there was procrastination.

Next, I list the 3 things that will keep me from doing work next week. This is an interesting exercise because I'm so used to forward planning positive outcomes that trying to think about what bad things could happen or whether or not I will procrastinate is fairly difficult! But it's still good practice.

Finally, I try to deal with those issues before next week. The procrastination can be dealt with by planning a little better and creating rewards for work done. Anticipating crises and dealing with them today is where the real value of this exercise shows itself. Rather than thinking “I'll cross that bridge when I come to it” we're planning for and planning AROUND crises.

My roof needs to be reshingled. It's one of those necessary things in the life of a house. I've never had to have a roof reshingled before so you can imagine my shock when I discover the process of reshingling.

What shocked me was that I expected to call up a roofer, have them come by for an estimate, and then schedule my roof at my convenience. I am, after all, the customer. What I discovered was a grim lesson in the law of supply and demand.

It's summer and since I have never had to deal with shingling before, I really had no idea just how much in demand roofers are. I picked up the phone and called 3 places, assuming I'd get 3 estimates and choose the one that suited me. I left messages at all three places and heard back from one 24 hours later. He couldn't even give me an ESTIMATE for 5 days. No problem, I scheduled the appointment. Not really wanting to wait that long, I called 4 more places. I left messages at 3 places and at the 4th got hold of someone who couldn't do an estimate for 7 days.

In all, I called 7 roofers and actually spoke to two of them. The other 5 have not returned my calls. When the one roofer came for the estimate, he said he's booking his roof repairs 3 weeks into the future. What's more he couldn't give me an exact date, since his business is so dependent on weather.

I couldn't imagine running a business like this but I suppose when you're in that much demand, you can do what you want. All I know is, if I ever decide to start a business in the trades, I'll be roofing!