Growing a Lifestyle Business

I’ve always loved New Year’s. It’s such a good time to reflect on what you have created in your life and business, to process what you have learned, and to imagine your life ahead in the coming year. Recently, I took out a sheet of paper and listed all the things I love about my business. They included time, freedom and flexibility, fun, authenticity (for me to be really me), and of course, financial reward, especially by way of residual income just to name a few.

All of this essentially adds up to what some call a “lifestyle business.” I know many agents who are in this business for similar reasons. Most agents love and are good at what they do, but their ultimate goal is to have a business that supports the lifestyle they want:

• Time and flexibility to spend with family and friends
• Money enough to pay the bills and have some extra to help others, put some away and to play with
• Pleasure through contributing their unique strengths and talents

On another piece of paper, I listed current challenges within my business. What I have found is that for my business and most business out there (in our industry and beyond), the challenges essentially boil down to one of three areas:

1. Protect Revenue
2. Grow Revenue
3. Improve Efficiency (which really supports 1 and 2)

One very specific key challenge we agents are facing is the pace we’re moving at and the breadth of knowledge needed to maintain. We are in an industry that is moving so fast and converging so quickly, that it’s likely you feel you are missing the boat on one particular area (or more). We hear, read and get “pitched” so often and from so many different angles that it’s almost numbing. Have you ever heard yourself saying, “I really need to learn and start selling hosted VoIP, or wireless, or conferencing, or TEM, or managed services, or SaaS, or cloud computing, or energy, etc. etc.?”

Well, I have some good news and some bad news regarding this common challenge: The bad news is that you do have to learn some of this stuff as our industry and channel is undergoing a major transformation that will reach all of us. The good news is that you don’t have to learn it all, you don’t have to learn it perfectly, and you don’t have to learn it overnight.

So with that said, let me invite you to take a deep breath and relax. Maybe close your eyes for a moment. Now, take a step back, and think about when you started this business. Weren’t there challenges? Didn’t you feel like you didn’t know enough? Weren’t you worried? These concerns can be quite common at any stage of business, more so at a time and place of major transformation. So if we decide to embrace these challenges as opportunities, and let go of the need-less worry part, we’ll probably get rid of some stress and might even clear up the fog so we can see clearly down the road. And the great thing is we all have past successes on which to drawn whereby we faced such challenges and overcame them.

Now, let’s take a look at the big picture. Think high-level and strategically first. What do you need to do to accomplish your business goals for the coming year? (It’s important to know what you want first.) More than likely, your biggest challenges actually are current roadblocks in the way of your goals. You must simply find a way to navigate around them. Take the “too many things to learn” challenge I previously mentioned. This is really part of the goal of protecting revenue and growing revenue.

So here is a potential solution for that specific challenge: Make a recurring appointment with yourself for “learning time.” Read up a bit, take a look at your current suppliers and see which of those are successfully selling and supporting “x” area well, and see if you can get some support from them (i.e. training, white papers, case studies, etc.). Also, find out which of your peers is doing this well and see if you can learn from them in any way. What can you offer in return? You get the point.

One of my good friends and colleagues often says, “Do what you do best and partner with the rest.” You don’t have to do it all and/or learn it all. In fact, that is not a very good strategy. Continue developing the parts of the business you do well. To bring on complementary skills or products, look for partners. Every successful agent I know partners in many ways, so think about how it makes sense for your business. You have an ideal opportunity coming up at the Spring 2010 Channel Partners Conference & Expo, March 1-3 in Las Vegas, to make potential contacts as well as learn about opportunities to grow your business. Be sure to attend the Peer-to-Peer Networking Mixer to spend more constructive time with fellow peers. There are many agent entrepreneurs dealing with some of the same issues, as well as those who already have and might be able to share a tip or two on what they did.

I wish you much continued success, peace of mind and a thriving business. And I hope to see you in Vegas.

Dan Vidal is the co-founder and Managing Director of Telecom Advisors Inc., an independent firm that specializes in advising companies on the procurement of voice and data services. He also is a member of the 2009-10 PHONE+/Channel Partners Conference & Expo Advisory Board and a member of the organizing committee for the Peer-to-Peer Networking Mixer.