Hazleton Area Business Citizen Feb. 2014 | Page 21

Promoting a free market in the Greater Hazleton Area

On Business
Stephanie J. Beavers

My Personal Entrepreneurial Success
In the world of business, most people measure success
by the amount of money they earn. I know I do. Money is
important. Money is good. For me, however, my personal
entrepreneurial success as a writer/editor/proofreader
goes beyond money. Trust me, as an entrepreneur no one
knows better than I the amount of truth in the oft-quoted
proverb “Time is money.” I attach mental dollar signs
to every work-related task I perform, whether it’s typing
emails, meeting with clients, giving a presentation, or
reviewing a website. Like most of you reading this, I know
the value of my time and try to maximize every working
minute of every working day (which is every day). I have a
tendency to keep my hands attached to every project that
comes across my desk. After all, it came in addressed to
me, and it will be going back out with my name on it, so it
needs to be just right, right?

There was a time when I defined success according to
the number of jobs I completed, i.e., by how productive
I was. I have come to realize, however, that if I intend
to succeed in this free-market enterprise I’ve created
for myself, I need to let go of some of the work. That’s
right. Every project requires an investment on my part,
mostly of time. The person who commissions a project
generally does so with a promise to me of some benefit—
usually money (sometimes fame and glory)—in return for
satisfactory completion of the project. They invest money
and I invest time. I have learned, however, that I need to
loosen my grip and relinquish some of the tasks that drain
my time and decrease my worth as an entrepreneur, and
focus instead on high-value, high-ROI projects—those
that mean success by my standards.
So, what is high-value? What gives me the greatest
return on my investment? (Hint: It’s not just money.) Client

HABC

February 1, 2014

satisfaction for starters (#1 in my book). Repeat business
for another. Referrals, recognition, remuneration—all
good returns, all successes. Early on in my business, every
client I signed on brought me some good in exchange for
my services; I needed to do just about any job I could, for
experience, exposure, and to build a portfolio. I learned
a lot—about people, about how to conduct business,
and about the best ways to do what it is I do. The side
benefit of that do-any-job-you-can-get strategy is that it
taught me a lot about what I don’t want to do. It taught me
that, indeed, time is money, and if I don’t enjoy doing a
particular job, especially one that doesn’t pay well (in every
sense of the word), I don’t need to keep doing that job.
I’ve found I’ve been able to adopt a kind of been-theredone-that attitude. To me, that is also success.
Another success? Knowing I can skim the
requirements of a project and quickly determine if I: 1)
possess the skills to properly/satisfactorily complete the
project, 2) will reap my desired benefit from doing the
project, and 3) really want to invest my time in the project,
and then make a decision to do or not do a project based
upon those determinations.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying I’m only
looking to work on high-profile, high-paying projects.
That’s not the message at all. I enjoy helping the little guy,
the one who understands the expertise for what they need
lies with someone else. I willingly help the one who values
my time as much as I value their business. It’s the little guy
who, with the two-hour job, gives me the best return on my
investment of time. They come in with a need, I provide a
service, and they go away happy. The end result is mutual
respect and appreciation. And that, perhaps, is the best
success of all.

19