30 Ways to Build a Carefree Business

Photo: Giorgio Montersino

Business in its very nature brings along quite a few troubles. It’s why most people will opt for a job: they’re easier (in the short term at least).

But owning a business doesn’t have to be a living hell. They can be incredibly fulfilling if they don’t provide more stress than joy.

These are some strategies I’ve used or have begun to use to create a worry-free work environment as a business owner. Making use of them will allow you to focus on income generation activities, innovation, and creative pursuits. Well, at least, they should.

1. Backup. You simply can’t backup your data too much. For desktop backups I use Mozy and a Time Capsule (which isn’t working at the moment unfortunately). And the blog itself is backed up using the Wordpress plugins WP DB Backup and WP S3 Backups.
2. Secure. Backups are the cure to malicious attacks but security is the prevention. Follow the traditional advice of creating longer passwords and all that, but I recommend Bruce Schneier’s blog for a deeper look at security (he also has a book).
3. Embrace the snowball effect. Focus your efforts on strategies that snowball over time. Blogging, guest posting and video podcasting will provide you with exponential results the longer you persist with them.
4. Be aware. Know what’s around the corner. Subscribe to blogs like TechCrunch or use Fever to keep up to date with your medium (the internet). It’s not hard to be years ahead of the big companies.
5. Simplify. Eliminate all the fuzz. Identify what must be done and only spend time doing that. And if you can’t eliminate then…
6. Automate. Use software to automate business processes. Don’t waste time performing manual backups, or filtering your email.
7. Outsource. You don’t have to do everything yourself. If a task can’t be eliminated or automated with software and you don’t want to do it, simply hire a virtual assistant (elance.com is a good place to start) and have them do it for you.
8. Have patience. Trying to achieve too much in too short of a time frame increases stress and decreases energy levels. Work deliberately, enjoy it, and you’ll reach your goals soon enough.
9. Reinforce “the dream”. Remember why you’re building a business. If you can visualise the reason strongly enough it can get you through the less pleasant aspects of business.
10. Love it & live it. Make your business apart of your identity. If you can’t imagine working on it for the next 40 years reconsider if it’s the business for you.
11. Do other stuff. Have hobbies completely detached from your work. Have outlets of pure bliss (reading, drawing and to a lesser extent, video games work well for me).
12. Go slower. Work slowly to actually enjoy what you’re doing. Don’t fret about getting everything done swiftly. Just focus on what you’re doing now, not the list of things you still have to do.
13. Have mentors. Find people with lives similar to what you envision for yourself. Find what’s working them and model their strategies. Avoid idolising anyone though, because that puts them above you and feeling like you’re below your mentors can kill your self-belief.
14. Learn. Never stop learning. Start with the classics like Think and Grow Rich and How to Win Friends and Influence People and then reader the modern greats like The 4-Hour Work Week.
15. Brainstorm. Having ideas offers peace of mind. Take time out of each week (or day) to just sit and mind map ideas for content, products, marketing strategies…whatever you feel is important. Keep your mind ticking over.
16. Have a plan. Formal business plans aren’t necessary, but at least have an idea of what you plan to do each day, week, month, and year. Give yourself direction and focus.
17. Build a personal brand. Strong personal brands can be leveraged for greatness. Build a brand that goes beyond individual projects.
18. Be authentic. Not being you will backfire eventually. Putting out a fake persona means you have to maintain that fabrication. And that’s tiring. Be real.
19. Build relationships. People are awesome. Talk to them and get to know them. It’s not that difficult and with sites like Twitter and good ol’ fashioned email, it’s nice and quick too
20. Monitor your site uptime. Use a site such as aremysitesup.com to make sure you’re aware of any website downtime. Never be out of the loop.
21. Pay more for reliability. Aweber isn’t the cheapest email marketing service but the deliverability rate beats competitors by a long shot. Spend the extra couple of bucks for the peace of mind that what you’re paying for actually works.
22. Diversify. By all means, have focus in your business, but consider launching side projects for diversity in income generation or at least create multiple income streams (product sales, advertising, affiliate programs etc).
23. Save. Put away some of what you earn, or at least re-invest it into the business. Nothing is more liquid than cash, and that can certainly come in handy during unstable times (both in the economy or specifically your business).
24. Make progress. Do something every day to improve (and grow) your business.
25. Spread naturally. Let your content stand on its own legs. Provide the tools to share your content (StumbleThis, ReTweet and DiggThis buttons are good starting points) and soon enough others will take care of getting your content out there.
26. Build a self-sustaining community. Connect the individuals in your community with each other. Put them in the spotlight, give them their 15 seconds. Then you’ll be able to…
27. Lead a tribe of true fans. Be a leader and interact with your tribe. Give all you can until you have your 1000 true fans, then give even more. These fans will support you no matter what happens. Love them.
28. Don’t be lame. Scams are lame. Same with anything illegal. Don’t be lame, it’ll come back to bite you in the butt. And then you’ll have plenty of things to worry about.
29. Provide real value. There are plenty of me-too products and blogs that simply regurgitate what others have said. Don’t be one of those. Be original and focus solely on providing customers and visitors with as much as value as possible.
30. Don’t build a bigger business. Build a better business.

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