Most small business people offering services I have been talking to recently are very good at what they do. When they have an opportunity to deliver a service then all is well; enthusiasm is there and deliver is easy.
Most tell me their real problem is not doing what they do but finding the clients to apply the service to is the hard bit and very frustrating. One craftsman the other day said " I used to think of myself as a cabinet maker but now I seem to be a salesman more than a wood worker - it is not what I wanted to do".
Quite often a good copy writer, restaurant proprietor, fence builder or bathroom installer is very good at doing what they do -only if they get the work and getting the works is what makes life difficult for them. This problem makes them go out of the comfort zone into areas that previously they were not skilled in like: planning, project managing, marketing, sales and e-commerce.
How does one tackle this problem? Well unfortunately there is no easy answer but one approach is to network and collaborate with others you know - stick with what you do well and let them do the bits you don't have the expertise of. I know seems like this might cost a bit more than doing things yourself- but does it really?
Spending days in front of the laptop struggling with things you don't really understand isn't good for the soul and your time is money. Well, even if you have got loads of spare time on your hands and many small business people do at the moment, leisure seems a much more valuable use of it!
Networking, even quite passively, has benefits, recommendations are much more valuable than a cold lead.
Working in collaboration with like-minded people is psychologically lifting because being a one man band is a lonely business.
Just consider using the skills of others you help them and they help you; it may just well pay off in the longer term.
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