Running your own business is a huge learning experience. There’s all the obvious stuff like administration and accounting (and that’s just the A-s), which eventually become moderately manageable (or outsourced), but there’s also the process of learning to trust your own judgement, and conducting business in a manner with which you feel comfortable.
Big companies have Mission Statements and all manner of policy documents intended to nurture internal cultures (or just make them appear less ruthlessly capitalistic to the outside world), but when you’re running a one-man show you are the business. Your ideals are the business’s ideals, or at least that’s the way it should be.
Early on, I missed this self-evident fact completely, and expended much wasted effort on deciding quite how I should present my infant business to the world. It wasn’t until recently that I actually became aware of the fact that the bits of my business that work most smoothly are the bits that are natural extensions of the way in which I conduct my personal life.
Perhaps rather naively, I believe that if you’re honest with other people they’ll appreciate it and return the favour. I also believe that a relationship (personal or professional) built on trust is much stronger and more fulfilling.
Recognising and sticking to this basic belief has resulted in me developing processes that are (apparently) out of the ordinary, but which work well for me, and with which I feel comfortable. One example of this is the quotation document I prepare for every job I carry out; as well as listing the basic costs, and what the client will get for his money, I also take the time to list what he won’t get so there’s no confusion (or disappointment) later on.
In a similar vein, I charge for meetings separately, so I never have to pad quotes to allow for get-togethers that may never happen, and the client can clearly see where his money is going.
To me it’s just common sense, but to some of my clients it’s refreshingly open, and in direct contrast to what they have previously experienced. And the best part is that by sticking to my moral guns, and doing things in my own way, I’ve actually started creating my own USP that will hopefully lead to me being actively sought out by clients who share my viewpoint.
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