What is success?

What is success?

I’m sure a lot of people were like me when they first started off with their own business. We had a clear vision of what we were going to do and where we wanted to be. In our mind we connected a straight line from the starting point of our business to our success point.

Then when you get into the thick of things you suddenly realize that not everything will work out as planned. Our straight path to success becomes a curvy road filled with potholes, speed traps, and road construction. We are forced to take detours from our original plan to account for the things we didn’t see coming.

I have learned that you need to be able to recognize a pivot point in your business. A place where you need to make a choice to either change direction or keep going on your current path. These decisions will be difficult to make because they sometimes take you in a direction away from your view of success.

When I first started RI Business Solutions (see my first post), my view was to solely perform virtual administrative assistance services. 6 months later and I am doing sales of a mobile marketing platform and customer service. I’m in the process of establishing a call center in Pakistan to be better able to compete in the customer service industry. I have ended up going in a totally different direction then I had originally anticipated.

Does this mean I failed to succeed? I don’t think so. In a sense I have already succeeded because I was able to change my direction to meet the needs of my clients. If I stayed focused on my original plan of success, then I would have failed. But by changing the type of services I provided, I am able to keep my business moving forward. The direction of the movement makes no difference, long as the movement is forward. And forward movement is successful movement.

 

 

Busy Week

It has been a very busy week for me. Not only got my first project from Elance. But also got a chance to speak with 2 other potential clients. One of these clients I have a very positive feeling that it will turn into another contract for me.

It brings about a great sense of satisfaction when you put in hard work and get a positive response from it. As most people know, starting a new business is both an exciting and scary experience. Especially when your doing it with a limited budget and as a pivot point in your life. I’m making the switch from being in the healthcare industry as an EMT to the business service industry. All while trying to get back into college. But I am determined to give it my all and try to make it all a success.

Elance vs. Freelancer

It has been a few weeks now that I have been actively trying to establish my small business services company now. I started working using Freelancer.com about 3 weeks ago and have been working with Elance.com for about 10 days now. Already I see the differences in the 2 sites.

Even though I have not been awarded any contracts from either site, I have gotten better quality leads on Elance. I consider them better quality as the posters of different projects have taken the time to ask me questions about my qualifications and experience. Even though I may not get the project, I am getting valuable experience on interacting with different business owners and getting insight on what they are looking for in service providers.

Freelancer on the other hand, it seems the business owners are less inclined to even inquire with people who submit proposals on their projects. I have even asked some questions to clarify some aspects of their projects and did not get a response.

Also, Elance has an easier to use interface. Managing the projects I have placed a bid on is so much easier to track than on Freelancer. I also like the fact that Elance does not give out the financial details of a persons bid.

So in my opinion, Elance is a much higher quality site to utilize for the purpose of trying to gain projects to work on. I think I am going to focus more on Elance than Freelancer from now on.

Updating

Spent a few hours updating my RI Business Solutions website. I cannot wait till I can afford to upgrade to paid hosting. FaceBook blocks VACAU websites for being “spammy” so I cannot link my FB page to my website. Not good for SEO.

Located another freelance website called Elance.com. Maybe I’ll have better luck securing some work on this site. There is so much competition out there. Trying to think of new ways to set myself apart from everyone else.

Next step for me is to start doing some local networking with other small business owners. Going to see what local events will be coming up soon. Need to design some pamphlets and get some business cards printed up soon.

I’ve read a lot of books on marketing and there is still so much to learn. Just when you think you have everything figured out, something new comes along for you to learn.

Getting everything together…

Took another step getting everything on the same page. Twitter is all set up (@RIBusSol) and the website is up and running (ribusinesssolutions.vacau.com). My Freelancer.com profile is 86% complete. Also got my LinkedIn profile all complete. So all that leaves to do now is get the business Facebook profile done and connected to everything else.

Now if only I could win a bid on Freelancer.com. I’d at least start to build my creditably up. It is so hard competing with people from other countries. They word for next to nothing! How do you compete with that and still make a living is beyond me. But I’m not giving up yet.