by Jason R Owens | Mar 30, 2020 | Self-Employed Sweet Spot
Anxiety can take you off your game
As business owners our most valuable resource is not money, time or even our network.
Our most precious resource is focus.
When you just lost your biggest client or simply going through a dry spell, it is only natural (and quite common) to get a little anxious about how you are going to pay the bills. This anxiety can either drive us to action or it can slowly drive us crazy.
Anxiety kills focus.
In researching how anxiety affects us entrepreneurs I learned there are two major ways we typically confront anxiety — either meet it head on, or flip out. The academics call these two behaviors problem-based coping (doing something) and emotion-based coping (freaking out).
People who respond to hard times with emotion-based coping tend to get into a state of paralysis like a deer in the headlights. Perhaps the most debilitating aspect is the second-guessing. “Is there some other place where I can go for money? Maybe I should start a job search now, or pick up a few hours from a temp service.” “Maybe I should have gone into that other business that my friend tried talking me into.” Doing this only puts you in the spin cycle.
The winners in this story are those who tend toward problem-based coping, i.e., leaning into the problem, doing something in the direction of their dreams. The most difficult part of acting here is doing it when you feel it won’t lead to anything.
Three ways to Kill Anxiety and Regain Your Focus
- Draw your line in the sand. This is your business. Your lifeblood. Don’t give up easily. Commit. Yes, I realize this is far easier said than done.
- Take a deep breath (or two, or three). Get one of your closest self-employed friends to help you with a quick strategy session. Take no more than 20 minutes to brainstorm how you can act your way out of the blue funk. You can either do this over the phone or together over a quick cup of coffee. See this article and this article where we were able to turn things around for one business owner in about 60 minutes.
- Take a spiritual approach. Lean in to your Creator. Ask for His guidance. Listen to Praise and Worship music. Put on a podcast of your favorite preacher.
by Jason R Owens | Mar 29, 2020 | High Attrition
Ways to Boost Your Confidence
- Do something. The worst part about telecommuting or working from home is that it is far too easy to lose momentum. Get out of the house. Most importantly, do some prospecting. Do a few walk-ins to local businesses. Pick up the phone and make 4 or 5 calls to previous clients with whom you have lost touch. Send the email campaign that you have been procrastinating on for weeks.
- Do the unpleasant stuff first. If you tend to procrastinate on tasks that you don’t like, just do them first and get it over with.
- Grab a quick coffee with a colleague. I’m not talking about time wasting idle chit-chat or rehashing the big game last weekend. Meet with a purpose. Take 3 conversation starters with you. Confide. Be vulnerable. “What 2 or 3 things do you do to get new clients?” “What was your longest dry spell?” “How did you overcome the difficult times?” You may find out that you are not alone.
- Get to bed early. Sometimes fatigue can lead to all sorts of performance issues.
- I know this last one is tired, but I mention it because it bears repeating — exercise. Your endorphins kick in after about 20 minutes and everything starts looking up.
by Jason R Owens | Mar 27, 2020 | Uncategorized
Readers,
Here at DeepWaterLabs I have made it a point to cover sales from the perspective of solopreneurs. I also make it a point to add value for people involved in sales management particularly for sales managers who lead sales forces comprised of 1099 contract sales labor.
Today I have chosen to add one more component to the mix – faith. I was asked to lead a small group at my local church. I have been attending this group for almost 2 years, and at one time it had a number of entrepreneurs who were regular attendees at our Friday lunch sessions.
I think this will be a valuable contribution to the content on sales because our respective faith backgrounds are an important part of our journey. You will find subsequent posts in a category I am calling The Venture Group.
by Jason R Owens | Mar 25, 2020 | Uncategorized
Welcome! You will see that the common theme throughout this site is my passion for helping everyday people become successful entrepreneurs. I hope that you will find my that my approach is down to earth. I don’t really go for gimmicks, and my followers don’t either. I like to use solid research principles to back up my work.
by Jason R Owens | Mar 21, 2020 | New Financial Advisor
This is my first video post from this site.
by Jason R Owens | Mar 19, 2020 | Uncategorized
Why I Do What I Do
I feel that each person should be able to take the skills and gifts that God has given him/her and use those to provide for his/her family. I am quite passionate about seeing small business owners succeed. I have dedicated a significant portion of my life over the past 12 years to being an entrepreneur and helping others pursue this path. For some it is quite easy. For others it is maddeningly frustrating. I have extreme empathy for those who are trying and have not yet reached the heights to which they are destined.
by Jason R Owens | Mar 18, 2020 | High Attrition
You help the organization by first helping the individual. If you do not capture the loyalty of the individual, you have nothing.
by Jason R Owens | Mar 17, 2020 | Uncategorized
Concord Small Business & Entrepreneur Resource Group
This is the first night of back-to-back presentations that I am scheduled to give on the week of August 26.
I will be presenting the findings of some of my research to a group of local business owners. This particular group is very intriguing, and I plan on writing an additional post on CSBERG in the near future.
I attended their event in June and was amazed at the energy in the room.
- Location: 8034 Concord Mills Blvd
- Day: Monday, August 26
- Time: 6:30 PM
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by Jason R Owens | Mar 15, 2020 | Uncategorized
Research Should be Generalizable
When I report on papers and articles that I have read keep in mind that we will always want to apply the test of generalizability. Often studies are performed in one location or in a small area with a relatively small number of people. Perhaps in a hospital in Maryland that employs 200 nurses.
Findings that are generalizable are quite powerful, and can provide true change in your organization.
Let’s say the study finds that nurses who work 8-hour shifts make fewer errors than nurses who work 12-hour shifts. For the research to be generalizable to the entire population of hospital nurses additional studies would have to show the same results in hospitals in Florida, New York, California, Prague, Milan, etc. Look for another post where I discuss the powerful facet of transferrability.
