It was Robert Kiyosaki, "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" that said as a business owner you have to "mind your own business". What happens when you don't have your mind on your BUSINESS? You lose business and maybe your business all-together.
I am the proud owner of the Mis-Education of the Negro Audiobook. I am the Narrator of this great classic and it's publisher. When released in 2008 I was literally overwhelmed by the response it received. So many people wanted the audiobook version that I had to build a website and get help in packaging and shipping the product immediately. In a rush I had a friend purchase the domain name for me, (I would pay him later) and a brand new packaging company handle the orders. This was my first step in allowing OTHERS to mind MY business and create an eventual nightmare.
At first things started off well. I had designed a nice website at themiseducationofthenegro.com and orders were going out daily. Then, a year later the shipping company stops shipping orders in a timely fashion and then all-together. They had gone out of business and neglected to tell me! Also, to my surprise, the domain name (name of the website) no longer worked. I called my friend to pay for a new year of service for the name, but it had slipped into a status that wouldn't allow me to purchase the name at a sensible rate. I was literally out-of-business in an instant. Thankfully I had a contract with Audible.com that allowed me to still receive revenue from the digital version of the book being sold through iTunes, Audible and Amazon. But, the hardcopy Audio-CD version sales were dead in the water. So frustrated at myself at allowing others to let my business fall I didn't even try to sale the book again until this year (2010).
This time around I purchased the domain name myself, TheMisEducationOfTheNegro.net, I and my family are currently handling the packaging and shipping until I can strike a deal with an established and well respected company and I now spend a great deal more time studying, thinking and strategizing on ways to grow the business successfully. I truly have my mind on my own business.
Treat your business as a business. Study the science of business and get sound advice. Look to those that have done what you are trying to do. Especially look at their failures. In examining their failures you will hopefully avoid the same pitfalls. If you are new to business a good place to start is HowToBeABlackEntrepreneur.com and study Fast Company, Inc, and Entrepreneur magazines. These will help guide you in keeping your mind on your own business.
Anthony Stewart is the publisher of THE ANTHONY REPORT - TheAnthonyReport.com, a cutting edge technology tutorial site with subscribers all over the world. He is the author of the book, "Shift: Stop, Think and Be without doubt" - StopThinkAndBe.com. He is the Publisher of the magazine "Spoken Word Addicts Unleashed". He is the Narrator and Publisher of, The Mis-Education of the Negro Audio book - TheMisEducationOfTheNegro.net. He is also creator and producer of TheMovieScreen.com.
Posted By: Anthony Stewart
Sunday, July 11th 2010 at 10:54AM
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