Whatever you do, do not create excuses for not taking on new projects and sales that can generate you money. I remember the first time that I sold a website. It was to our local chamber of commerce and I had absolutely no idea of how to make one. All I knew at the time was that there was a program called Adobe Dreamweaver that could help you make a site. Of course, I was a bit concerned at first and if I could not get the job done, I would have hired someone else to do it for me. If I would have turned that job down, it very well would have affected any referral work that the chamber of commerce would have brought my business. Business is too hard to come by to turn down work. It can have a nasty residual effect on your company’s bottom line.

So when it comes to getting a project that may be a bit too consuming for your company, refuse to say no to the money. If you are a florist and you just can’t handle the size of the order, then, higher temporary help or get other local florist companies involved that can offer you a decent price and at the same time, allow you to still make a profit.

If you perform well just once in situations like this, you can get more projects from the same customer as well as highly desirable referrals. Do not make it harder on yourself and do not make excuses by choosing not to bid. If there is money to be made, do not pass up on the opportunity because it will never come by again.

Oh, the joys of working at home. What is better than the 60 second commute to your home office, but have you taken time to consider the drawbacks. While a home office may be very convenient, they can be highly inefficient. There is no better place to get distracted then at home.

At home you have children, laundry that needs to be done, the television, pets, and a home phone that likes to ring.  All of these distractions are time sucks. They simply suck away valuable time. If they are taking away time, then it’s safe to assume that they are taking away profits from your business, and I don’t think that losing money was what you had in mind when choosing to work at home. Unless you have rock solid discipline, it’s easy for your work day to turn into a day filled with endless errands which means little to no business work gets done.

If you choose to work from home, you must keep yourself in a routine in order to get the best results. Set your alarm for a set time each day, go workout, get dressed, get the kids ready and off to school (if you have them), and then get to work.

If you cannot maintain the day-to-day disciplines of running a business, then you must seek an outside office for the sake of staying in business. The thought of having to spend additional money alone may help you stay disciplined. If you can’t make it work at home, then you will be forced to cut into your profits and spend money on leasing an outside office which also comes with added utilities (internet, electric, phone, water) that will be needed at the business location. And if you can’s make a home office work and you can’t afford an outside office, the it’s back to the J-O-B and nobody wants that.

When it comes to good work habits, they can be discerned pretty early in life. Take the local teenage paperboy for example. The local paper has to be delivered 365 days a year whether it’s rain, snow, hail, sleet or shine, and did I mention that those papers are not exactly light. They experience the mundaneness of delivering to the same customers on the same exact route everyday, and they better not be late or they won’t get tipped on payday.

Most kids don’t have the discipline and constitution that it takes to perform such a job. The job needs to be done everyday whether they like it or not. If they do fail to show up, they need to have a backup in line to get the job done. The job always has to get done, and it is their responsibility to see to it that it does. Social peer pressure just doesn’t have a place in such a schedule.

Another challenge is that they also have to try to reach out to new prospects if they want to increase what they make each month. A successful paper boy gets that job done constantly and without excuses. These are the types of people that you want on your team regardless of position. Employees who take ownership of their position and job responsibilities.

If they failed when they were younger, to grasp desirable work ethics, this failure can continue to make tracks throughout their adult career. When you hire for your company, make sure you look for the “paper boy” in everyone before making them part of your winning team.