People have always had side hustles. For instance, can you name a plumber, electrician, or mason who doesn’t do some sort of side jobs for friends and family? How about that person doing “the books” for several small business owners on nights and weekends or that salesperson also contracting with a start up to help get their sales off the ground?

Health is one of those things we take for granted until we don’t have it. Especially as a business owner. So what do you do if you get a negative health diagnosis? Are you the type of person who will let everyone know about your diagnosis? Will you keep it close to the vest? Will you “tap out” and say I’m done and focus on getting well? Or will you just keep grinding away?

One of the biggest enigmas for small businesses is balancing time vs. money spent on their Marketing Plan. When first starting out most small business owners have more time than money so the Marketing Plan is often 90%+ focused on time with 10% or less focused on money. For example, a new business owner may spend a lot of time going to different networking events at things like the Chamber of Commerce or BNI. If they are more tech savvy chances are the owner will be spending time on social media.

So does the thought that you might be the problem ever pop into your head? One of the things we pride ourselves on is being self aware. One key to success for any business owner is to know if you’re the problem or not. Now this often isn’t just a blanket statement where you are the problem in every situation, but that might be the case as well.

One of the biggest challenges as a small business owner is knowing what to focus on next. With so many folks trying to set priorities for you and your business, how do you as the owner decide what is really important? Should you listen more to folks inside your business (e.g. employees) or those outside (e.g. customers)? What about someone like your spouse or children? Not to mention all those thoughts you have in your own mind. It’s no wonder so many business owners are battling exhaustion!

This year has been one of rediscovering things for many folks, and we here at Dirty Secrets of Small Business are no different. During the show today we shared several stories of things that we are rediscovering. The list includes everything from golf to high school football on the personal front to things like cold calling and networking on a business front.

Do you have a preferred form of communication? In today’s day and age there are so many options to choose from including phone, text, email, and social media. Are you old enough to remember “long-distance” calls. What about rotary dial phones? Is there a best way to communicate?

Do you ever get people responding to you with smiles and nods? We get this response a lot. Especially from small business owners. They will often smile and nod when different business topics are brought up. We learned years ago that the smile and nod is often code for “I have no idea what you’re talking about and I hope you don’t ask me to explain myself.”

Today we were joined on the show by entrepreneur Ross Youngs. For those long time listeners of our show, you know we are big fans of Inc. Magazine as well as their annual list of the fastest growing private companies. Well, our guest today is a member of the Inc. 500 Hall of Fame!

Do you ever feel ready? Even going back to your earliest childhood memories. Did you feel ready for that first day of school. How about that final exam? What about that new job or promotion? Well you were certainly ready for marriage and kids right? Of course not! So why would it be any different when it comes to taking over the management and ownership of your company?