Characteristices of a Successful Entrepreneur - Part 2

Ok - so the second characteristic of a successful entrepreneur is: 

"2. Take what you do seriously.



You cannot expect to be effective and successful in business unless you truly believe in your business and in the goods and services that you sell. Far too many home business owners fail to take their own businesses seriously enough, getting easily sidetracked and not staying motivated and keeping their noses to the grindstone. They also fall prey to naysayers who don't take them seriously because they don't work from an office building, office park, storefront, or factory. Little do these skeptics, who rain on the home business owner's parade, know is that the number of people working from home, and making very good annual incomes, has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years." *


Let's take a look at this from the library perspective.  Have you ever felt that other businesses, municipal officials or even other librarians don't take you seriously because your library is small, not as up to date as you would like, or even because you don't have an (gasp) MLS?  Let me share a little bit of old fashion wisdom with you - having an MLS makes you a good librarian about as well as sleeping in a garage makes you a sports car.  (personally, I have always wanted to be a Mustang - fire engine red).

Now do not get me wrong.  I encourage and challenge and even demand training and proper education for my staff, but having that does not guarantee that you are good at what you do - just well trained.  Being good at what you do is caused by taking what you do seriously. 

So do not allow the library naysayers to whisper in your ear that your library is too small, or too rural, or too poor to be a "real" library. Put out a professional apperance, stay up on the best practices and innovative trends and prove them wrong.  If you want others to take your seriously - you have to take yourself seriously first.

*taken from 25 Common Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs on entrepreneur.com
http://www.entrepreneur.com/homebasedbiz/article200730.html 

PaLA

I just want to thank all the wonderful librarians and staff who came to the workshop on Sunday at PaLA in Lancaster.  I appreciated your input and questions and best of all, the answers you shared.  Your network of support throughout the state and even the country is the greatest source of ideas and suggestions you can get - so use it. 

It was a great time and I am so glad to have been able to be there.  Remember - Don't let the good things get you off the track of the BEST things. 

Characteristics of a Successful Entrepreneur - Part 1

While preparing for a presentation at the upcoming Pennsylvania Library Association Convention - I came across this great article at http://www.entrepreneur.com/ on the qualities of a successful entrepreneur.  There were 25 listed, so I think that may be a bigger bite than we want to chew on for one blog post - so I broke them up into several . . .  25 to be exact. 

I will add one or two a week, and let's see what kind of discussion comes out of it?
If you want to read the whole article - it is found here - http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/200730

"1. Do what you enjoy.

What you get out of your business in the form of personal satisfaction, financial gain, stability and enjoyment will be the sum of what you put into your business. So if you don't enjoy what you're doing, in all likelihood it's safe to assume that will be reflected in the success of your business--or subsequent lack of success. In fact, if you don't enjoy what you're doing, chances are you won't succeed."

From a librarian's viewpoint - we are all pretty much in the business because we enjoy it - at least parts of it.  The problem is we can forget to tell our face and our attitude that we are enjoying our job.  I know we all have had times when the downward pull of financial constraints, difficult customers and board interactions have made us forget that parts of this job are really FUN!.  (Repeat after me - I LOVE my job, I LOVE my job, I LOVE my job...)

Do something today that is a part of your job you love.  Whether it is cataloging a new book, reading out loud to a child, making a new suggested reading list or arranging books in an eye-catching display - do it today. The love of your job (or lack thereof) will show through in your quality of customer service, and even come through in your voice over the phone. 
Remember the words of the wise and wonderful Mary Poppins  " In every task that must be done there is an element of fun, you find the fun and snap! the job's a game." So take sometime today and play!

The Multitasking Myth

While adding this month's Consumer Report on Health issue, I went through some older copies and ran across this little blurb.  I think it is worth sharing here - because many of us are easily snagged by the Multitasking myth.   Truth is, you get more done my doing what you have in front of you, then finishing it, putting it away and going to the next task. 

"Researches at the University of Michigan and the Federal Aviation Administration have found that working on several tasks at the same time can take two to four times longer than if you try tackling them one after the other. (emphasis mine)
Brain-scan studies help explain why: When you try to do two or more things at once, your brain constantly switches back and forth between the tasks , a less efficient use of your neurons.  Sleep loss, stress, and mood disorders can worsen the problem.  So fight the urge to multitask and try to do just one thing at a time."

(From Consumer Reports on Health, Volume 20, Number 3 (March 2008)

Or, for those of you who love MASH as much as I do - "I do one thing at a time, I do it very well, and then I move on. . ." -Major Charles Emerson Winchester III, MD. (episode Fade out, Fade in)

MIA

I apologize for a few missing blog posts.  I have been preoccupied with some conference planning and presentation work. 

I am glad to share that I will be presenting the Enterpreneurial Librarian at the state library conference in Pennsylvania in October.  This is a well rounded conference for librarians across the state of PA.  Information on this conference will be released shortly.  The dates for this conference are Oct 24 - 28.

In addition, I am working with a wonderful team of librarians, directors and library support staff to plan the Association for Rural & Small Libraries and The Association of Bookmobile and Outreach Services Annual Conference.  This is a great conference for anyone who works with, in or who sits on the board of a small or rural library or a library with outreach programs or a bookmobile service.  This conference is also in October (Oct 14 - 16)  you can see more information about the ARSL/ABOS conference here.
http://www.arsl.info/annual-conference-awards-calendar/denver-conference-2010/

I hope to see you at one of these wonderful education opportunities!

Email Is Making You Stupid | Networking & Communications | InformationWeek SMB

Email Is Making You Stupid Networking & Communications InformationWeek SMB

This is a great article on how email, that use it all tool of the Americna workplace, is actually causing loss of production, contributing to shorter attention spans and adding to the stress levels of workers in all areas. I have to encourage you to read this one.

Sometimes boring is just, well, boring.

Sometimes those things that are easy, that don't require a lot of thought or problem solving work are boring but fun, somewhat mindless and a relief. Like solving a beginner crossword puzzle.  Sometimes, boring is just boring. 

After spending the better part of 3 days driving across the prairies of the upper US and Canada, I have seen boring.  It exists, in physical form, along a highway that runs through the same small town, over and over again, like a episode from the Twilight Zone.  But during this time, I began to wonder if my library, like this vast plain, was easy and becoming somewhat mindless and, well, boring. 

As the person who runs a small business, who is the sparkplug for what happens and how it happens, we sometimes look for the simple. Sometimes because we need to, and sometimes because it's easy.  We work on decluttlering, simplifying and making things easy. These are the new buzz words.  But remember that some things cannot be easy, they require work.  The best things in life may be free, but they are seldom easy.  Allow those things that can and should "run on autopilot" to do so, but don't let yourself get sucked into the belief that easy is always best.  Sometimes boring is, well, boring.