Take it Easy

By Anthony Hilb

I noticed I was stressed when putting in long work days, so I decided to research relaxation techniques. I considered myself a Type-A kind of person when it came to work, and I noticed I wasn’t completely happy with the results. Feeling drained the majority of the time isn’t the goal of owning a business for me.

The Type-Z Guide to Success by Marc Allen has been a tremendous resource. Here are a couple of passages from the book I’ve enjoyed:

“I started to see – and then to believe – that not only was it possible to create success in an easy and relaxed manner, in a healthy and positive way, but that it’s the very best way to do it. All our stress doesn’t help us one bit; in fact it works against us. The more we relax, the more effectively we do any kind of task.” -Marc Allen

In and easy and relaxed manner, in a healthy and positive way....

In an easy and relaxed manner, in a healthy and positive way….

“Many people in our culture don’t believe that it’s even possible to succeed and still have a life of ease. Or they believe they need to work really hard, maybe even be Type-A workaholics, before they can succeed – and then they can relax and have a life of ease.

Many people even equate success with stress: There’s a deep core belief that success has to be stressful, that’s just the way it is, you have to be a Type-A to succeed. I absolutely disagree with this belief (and I’m not the only one!). There are many people who believe exactly the opposite: The more relaxed you are, the more at ease, the more you can and will succeed.

You make better decisions when you’ve considered everything in a relaxed state. (Everyone knows the value of “sleeping on” something – what can be perplexing in the afternoon is so often simple and clear the next morning.) The decisions we make in stressful states so often lead to more stress; it’s the plans we make and ideas we have when we’re relaxed that can take our success to a much higher level.” -Marc Allen

06.04.13

by Microbusiness Owners

The Fallacy of Starting a “Real Business”

By Anthony Hilb

Be extremely careful with the advice people share with you…this blog included! What has worked for others may not work for you. Our economy isn’t what it once was, and technology is drastically changing just about every industry. Many traditional rules no longer apply. People have told me to grow my businesses, to start a “real business” and to get a “real job.” Yet I’ve been profitable since day one, and I make more than the average person my age. What’s so unreal about that? These are the same people that want me to take on debt and hire employees I don’t need. And that’s probably why 90% of businesses fail. People new to the business world frequently listen to their elders and take antiquated routes. This isn’t always the case, but it has been often enough from my experience. Every adviser at my local SBDC has not been helpful. I would have never even started the profitable businesses I enjoy had I listened to many of my risk averse elders.

Who has helped me with their advice? Incredible people who blog about business and authors who write about business. People like Seth Godin, Jason Fried, Jay Levinson, Gary Vaynerchuk, Tony Robbins, Richard Branson, Chris Anderson, Chris Guillebeau, Timothy Ferris, and many others have all been very helpful. They actually have experience and know what they’re talking about.

Take a route that works best for you. Pursue your business at a pace that works best for you. Some people are in a situation to start a traditional business with millions of dollars and employees, while other people prefer starting extremely small without debt. Determine a path that works best for you and get started! You may need to start your business part-time, or you may be able to start full-time. It’s all situational.

To traditionalists and many people older than myself, it may not appear like I own a “real” business. I don’t have 50 employees, and I don’t own a big office. I don’t buy everything I need for my businesses up front; I rent equipment and buy it used if I know I’ll need it regularly. Even if I do grow more and hire 20 people, those employees won’t have to come in to an office. As long as they get their work done, they can work from their home or from their own small office.

I started my first business two years ago, and now I pursue three microbusinesses each week. One of my microbusinesses gets the majority of my attention while the other two only need a few hours spent on them each week at this point. It only took a couple hundred bucks to start all of my businesses, and I hardly spend anything on marketing. I have no business debt, and I’ve always been profitable. All because I follow my instincts and grow at a pace that’s right for me.

04.15.13

by Microbusiness Owners

Improvise!

By Anthony Hilb

You gotta be flexible. Sometimes you MUST improvise. I’m improvising this entire blog post; I have no idea what I’ll say next at this moment, and I haven’t decided how I’ll end it. I’m only giving myself 10 minutes to finish this post. But so what! The importance of improvisation can’t be overlooked, and this is giving me a bit of practice.

Sometimes incredible opportunities unexpectedly present themselves to us. Often times these moments are when we’ll have to improvise. In conversations sometimes we just gotta improvise and go with it.

Not everything can be planned, and we have a restricted amount of time to work during the day. However, so much can be planned. To eliminate too much improvisation during your work week, set your priorities. Be ruthless about setting your priorities. This will help you predetermine what actions you will take in many circumstances.

When an amazing opportunity comes your way, you’ll be able to make an educated decision about your course of action. You might need to drop a current project or client in order to pursue a much better project/client. But you will still need to improvise and learn as you go no matter what you decide. There’s no doubt about that. Planning your every move won’t always work.

My 10 minutes is up. I hope you enjoyed my improvised rant. Get out there and take action! Set your priorities and improvise when you’re stuck!

04.07.13

by Microbusiness Owners

My First in Person Book Sale!

‘Big Al Carpenter’

By Anthony Hilb

My first in person book sale was one-of-a-kind. It was the first warm, beautiful day in Bloomington, Indiana. Me, My wife Nichole, and my friend Jay sat outside doing our best to sell my new book, Make Money with a Microbusiness. People were interested, but nobody picked up a copy for the first two hours. Then we met a really great guy named Al. He has been supporting Indiana University football for 60 years. Read more about him here.

Naturally, he’s a supportive guy. He’s known as ‘Big Al Carpenter’ here in Bloomington, Indiana. Big Al was on staff for the Indiana University football team for 10 years when Lee Corso was the head coach. He also shared some helpful life and business advice with us. I’m so happy I was able to meet Big Al, and I’m so thankful he picked up a copy of Make Money with a Microbusiness!