6 Signs You Might Be Playing Biz Rather Than Running It

Last week I did a scope titled “tough love” wherein I went over 3 key signs you might be “playing biz” rather than real biz.

But I got to thinking about it some more and realized there are more signs that indicate playing in biz…

Play biz is… well, here’s a visual for you:

Play biz looks like fun, for sure. But is it rewarding?

SO. Let’s recap and go a couple steps further.

Here are the 6 signs you might be playing business:

You don’t actually believe it is possible

Thus, you don’t behave like it’s possible. Your actions are wishy washy because your belief is wishy washy. Your decisions are wishy washy… etc.

You might be playing business if you haven’t separated your business funding from your personal funding. When everything is one big pot of money, you can’t see gain or loss in business dollars. This is a huge part of business that you are missing out on. Gain can be motivating, loss can be motivating, both can be enlightening.

You have no focus

You might be playing business if you just sell a random assortment of things, you have no product line clarity or you have so much going on, there is no definition of what you do. No signature product, style or theme. If you want to be in business, you need a focus. This doesn’t mean you can’t produce multiple items. It does mean (usually) that those items would have more cohesion than, say, a hamburger, a teeshirt, an embroidered pillow and a cutting board.

You are undercharging

YUP. Ain’t no business being run on $5 an hour wage here. YOU CANNOT sustain if your prices are too low. That’s play biz.

You refuse to invest in services, tools, trainings etc.

HUGE pitfall here. If you worked in corporate, you would be forced to be learning things by your employer so that you are more valuable to them. Same thing here, but you have to take the initiative to learn and grow. You are the most valuable asset in your business, don’t blow it by thinking you can scrape it all together with the free resources available. We all have access to the same free info. If that was enough, we would all be millionaires. When you invest in training, tools, and services you grow your business. No doubt about it. It’s a necessity to running a biz. Outsourcing or paying for more robust tools can free up precious time. Further, investing with others establishes you as a place even more worthy of investment. Think about it!

You ALWAYS or USUALLY bend your policy, vision or ethics to accommodate people.

This means you honor every request no matter how crazy it is. You have no backbone, you never say no, you never stand up for yourself, you let people take advantage of you, you answer questions that make you uncomfortable because you feel obligated. Etc. You need to have some moxie if you want to be in real business. Kindness to yourself is just as important as kindness to others. Constantly putting your own needs aside is a recipe for burn out, you also begin to resent people if you make accommodations for them that you truly did not feel good about.

So that’s your dose of tough love for today.