Lessons From the Horse
By Dave Balch, "The Stay-at-Home CEO(tm)"
The following article pertains to anyone with a small business
or home business. Please feel free to use it for
your e-zine, website, or any other electronic or print publication, with the
following exception:
you may not use this article in any form of spam.
I only ask that you:
1. do not add or delete anything from the article
2. include the resource box at the end
3. notify me that you are using it
Synopsis
--------
The scarier something seems in your business, the sooner you have to deal with
it. Face it; it's probably not as
bad as you think.
Word count according to Microsoft Word: 682 including title, byline, and contact
info.
Other articles on small/home business are available for your use at http://www.TheStayAtHomeCEO.com/bucksfreestuff.htm
Enjoy!
Dave
(If you would like it in a different format, please let me know
and I'll do my best to accommodate!)
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Lessons From the Horse
By Dave Balch, "The Stay-at-Home CEO(tm)"
When I first learned about horses, all I knew about them was the flies, the
smell, and the sore rear-end after spending time in the saddle. My wife has
always been interested in them (as the line in the movie goes, "What's the
deal with chicks and horses??") so I thought I'd at least give it a try.
I'm glad I did.
I first got acquainted with them at a ranch not far from our home. On one of my
first rides we were with Joyce, the owner of the ranch, and we could hear an
off-road motorcycle in the distance. My horse started to get nervous and was
prancing around, which made ME pretty nervous because I had no idea what I was
doing and the last thing I wanted to do was get off the horse
"unintentionally", if you know what I mean.
As the motorcycle got closer and the horse got more nervous, I thought it would
be best to turn the horse away from the sound so he wouldn't be frightened when
it came into view.
WRONG.
Joyce yelled out, "Turn the horse TOWARD the noise. Face the danger; when
he sees what it is he'll be okay." I did, and he was.
"Face the danger." Think about that; there are some words for all of
us to live by. When there is something we are afraid of it is critical that we
face it head on; trying to ignore it will only make things worse. No matter how
frightening it may seem at the time, the more you know about a problem the
easier it is to deal with.
Let's say you're worried about your cash flow. (If you're in business for
yourself, you probably ARE worried about cash flow!) The more you think about it
and all of its ramifications, the scarier it seems. "All of these bills to
pay… I've got to get these invoices out… when will they pay me… I have to
wait for their checks to clear… maybe I can get one of my vendors to give me a
little more time… " and on, and on.
It's way too easy to say to yourself, "I'll deal with this tomorrow"
but then you have a gut-wrenching day worrying about it. Don't do that to
yourself.
Face the danger. Make a cash flow spreadsheet.
1. Divide the spreadsheet into two sections; money going out (your bills), and
money coming in (your income).
2. Make columns from left to right for each month.
3. List everything you can think of under the appropriate headings and put the
dollar amounts in the column(s) for the month(s) in which those dollars will be
coming in or going out.
4. Total each section.
5. Subtract the outgoing dollars from the incoming dollars in each column.
BINGO! You now have a cash flow, and you can see which months you will be short,
and by how much. It's a funny thing; no matter how bad the news is it isn't as
scary whenvyou can look at it in black and white. And, the more detailed you
make the cash flow the less scary it gets. You can download a free sample cash
flow worksheet (Microsoft Excel format) at http://www.TheStayAtHomeCEO.com/cashflow.htm
)
Face the danger. It works for the horse; it will work for you too.
Regarding those other things: the flies can be controlled, the smell is actually
quite pleasant when you begin to enjoy the horses, and the sore rear-end isn't
so sore after you've done it a few times. Hmmm... there are a few more lessons
right there...
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"Make More Money and Have More Fun" with your small business! Dave
will show you how with his FREE newsletter, or his FREE 'Min-E-Seminar':
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services, or for copies of past articles and newsletters. Comments and/or
questions are always welcome at 1-800-366-2347 or Dave@DaveBalch.com.
(c) Copyright 2002, Dave Balch. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.