You might also wonder how you can manage all that and the basics of running a business too like managing financials, taxes, loans, income, and expenditures all while keeping a close eye on the competition. It won't be easy if you are going it alone.



The best thing to do is to find qualified people who can help you in the areas that are easily delegated while you maintain control of your business and make it your priority to grow it.

If there's one lesson that the business managers did learn after all the upheaval of the dot com years, it's that outsourcing technology is a way to keep costs down.

There are plenty of skilled workers in other countries who can program a website for far less than it would cost to hire someone in the United States to do it, due to the difference in wages.

Take a cue from companies that have moved many of their services overseas and start to locate able-bodied workers in other countries to help you build your business for less. If you don't know where to find them, take a look at freelance sites for software solution buyers and contract programmers like elance.com, guru.com, and rentacoder.com.

To establish a good network of people who can help you get your business launched, you will want to look for a variety of skilled professionals. These can be accountants who specialize in businesses, financial connections, programmers, virtual assistants, and content writers.

Anytime you have a need that you can charge out at an hourly rate that is less than what you bring in, then you are making money delegating and hiring others to do your work for you. If you can hire them to directly contribute to your bottom line too, you make not only the difference in your hourly rates, but whatever their product brings in too. This is something you should seriously start considering now for the long term.

LONG-RANGE PLANNING

You do want to do lists for every day that you will be working. They should not include routine items like answering your email or brushing your teeth. Anything that is not specifically related to pushing the progress of your company forward should not be listed on your to do list. Some people get so analytical that they list every little detail of their day on their to do lists. This defeats the purpose of the to do list, which is to organize your business activities.

If contacting a specific person is the one thing keeping you from getting a great deal on hosting or design, then this can be part of your list. But, if your kids need to be picked up at 3 pm from school, avoid including that on your business to do list. Keep separate lists for home chores, if you really must do that sort of thing.

Another important thing to keep in mind is that one should have monthly and yearly task lists. These can be activities that you would like to get done during the month or the year, but that are not essential to the every day working operation of the business. Some of these can be wish list items.

If you find you have completed all your activities for a particular day on your to do list, then pick up a monthly list and see if you can make progress there. There's always something to do when you are working for yourself. There's no limit to what you can accomplish, if you keep your mind focused on the tasks ahead. But without a plan it's kind of hard to know what to focus on.