Home
>
Small Business
>
Are You Running Your Business or Is Your Business Running You?

Are You Running Your Business or Is Your Business Running You?

Being a small or home-based business owner can be loads of fun and very rewarding.

You may have decided to go into business because of your need for personal freedom or to fully unleash your creative genius. You may also have decided to go into business to supplement your existing income, to make yourself available for young children or aging parents, or because the organization you were working for downsized, leaving you to fend for yourself.

There are hundreds of different reasons why we become business owners, but the results we aim to produce remain the same ?

- You want to be your own person, doing something you love.

- You want to generate a profit that will provide you with the lifestyle you desire.

- You want to be recognized, respected and acknowledged for your contributions.

- You want to help others solve problems or fulfill needs.

- You want to make your own decisions instead of having them dictated to you.

- You want to pick and choose whom you work with and how you work.

- You want to experience freedom ? freedom to travel, enjoy quality time with family, set your own agenda, eat when you want, sleep when you want, etc.

Running your own small or home-based business can be immensely rewarding, yet if you get too involved with the routine daily matters and finer details of each task, you can get pulled into the vicious cycle of working "in" your business instead of "on" it.

When this happens, you become misguided and stop focusing on the tasks necessary to move your business forward at an optimal pace.

Whether you are a solopreneur or have a small team working for you, it is important that you don't allow yourself to get caught up in every fine detail of your business operations.

This doesn't mean that you shouldn't be aware of what is going around you, but simply means you only have so many hours in a day and how you spend your time will determine the rate your business grows, the profits you earn, the quality of service your clients and customers receive, and your overall happiness and personal satisfaction.

Are you the only person working your business at this time? If anything were to happen to you, for example, if you were to become sick and unable to work for a month, would your business operations come to a grinding halt and would your cash flow be brought to a standstill?

Do you arrange your own appointments, handle your own e-mail, do your own word processing, create your own marketing materials, keep your own financial records, manage your own web site, provide customer service and enter all prospect and client data into your database? Do you package, label and ship your own products?

If you answered yes to several of these questions, you may want to take some time to sit back and think about what these responsibilities are costing you, particularly if you are still working full-time while trying to get a business off the ground.

If you have been in business for several years and if you are still performing all functions within your business, how might this be holding you back? Are you working a 40-50-60-hour week, seeing little of your loved ones, feeling exhausted, and neglecting your health and nutritional needs? Is the fun no longer there?

Evaluate your current situation and determine whether you are running your business or whether it is running you. If you are being run by your business, consider the options of automating, delegating, bartering, leveraging and creating multiple streams of income.

When thinking long term, how do you see your business serving you? What kind of results do you want to create?

If your current activities are not moving you towards these results at an optimum pace, change your actions so you can free yourself up to do what is necessary to move you in that direction in the most advantageous way possible.

Laurie Hayes works with small and home-based business owners who are struggling to maintain a healthy work/life balance. To receive valuable tips, strategies and techniques designed to grow a successful business without sacrificing quality of life, subscribe to her free bi-weekly newsletter at http://www.wheretheheartis-lifecoaching.com

cleaning service near Park Ridge .!

In The News:

Hotel TV privacy risks go beyond forgotten passwords when you sign into Netflix or other streaming apps on shared devices you don't control.

Apple's iOS 27 Visual Intelligence now lets your iPhone search objects directly on screen, but Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel have a head start.

x47.c Windows malware uses xAI's Grok to maintain persistence on infected PCs while stealing passwords, browser cookies and API keys from victims.

Frankie LaPenna fought three robots in a cage, including two modified EngineAI T800 humanoids that can kick with up to 850 pounds of force..

MacSync malware hides malicious commands inside iCloud calendar events to download additional payloads onto infected Macs without raising suspicion.

Joseph Holycross dismissed his racing heart for nearly two years until his Samsung Galaxy Watch detected atrial fibrillation and changed everything.

Home title fraud begins when criminals forge your signature on a deed. Here is how to check your own property records and set up free alerts.

Jeffrey Ladish, a former Anthropic security team member, warns AI agents are colluding and hacking with no reliable solution to keep them in check.

Instinct Concierge and Meta Muse can now place phone calls to businesses on your behalf, but the privacy and data access tradeoffs are significant.

Olivia Moore spent $100 to create a fake RushTok influencer using ChatGPT and MiniMax, and thousands of Bama Rush fans couldn't tell the difference.

RatHat Android malware uses AI to steal banking credentials, intercept two-factor authentication codes and reconstruct your PIN from touch inputs.

The Fox News AI Newsletter covers the latest artificial intelligence technology advancements, including the challenges and opportunities AI presents now and for the future.

Apple and Google password managers can flag compromised, weak and reused passwords on your phone before credential stuffing attacks can strike.

Researcher Peter Garrigan says Moonshot AI's Kimi model was manipulated into providing instructions for biological weapons and assassination plans.

iPhone, Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy phones now offer call screening that asks unknown callers to identify themselves before your phone rings.

Ransomware can lock your irreplaceable photos and documents in seconds. A tested backup strategy and stronger cybersecurity habits are your best defense.

ShinyHunters claims it breached FBIJobs.gov and stole Social Security numbers, home addresses and sensitive assignment details of FBI personnel.

Find My iPhone, Google Find Hub and Samsung Find have critical tracking settings to enable now, before your phone ever goes missing or stolen.

The FTC proposed a new enforcement policy on personalized pricing, warning companies that hide how personal data shapes the prices shoppers see.

The $250 million Apple Siri AI settlement is now accepting claims, with eligible iPhone owners potentially receiving up to $95 per device.

ShareAScan turns T-shirts into scannable digital business cards with QR codes that link to profiles the owner can update anytime they choose.

BragJack research reveals how a single malicious browser extension could hijack Gemini, Perplexity Comet and Edge AI agents with zero clicks.

A phishing campaign impersonating OpenAI uses fake ChatGPT billing emails with a convincing login page to steal credentials and payment details.

Startups are helping modernize America’s defense industry with new technology and innovative ideas as the War Department diversifies its inventory.

New account fraud victims jumped 31% in 2025, reaching 5.4 million. Criminals open accounts you may never see on your regular bank statements.

Are You Running Your Business or Is Your Business Running You?

Small Business