Is Having Your Own Business Right For You?

READ THIS BEFORE CONTINUING

In order to proceed with the Business Fundamentals Workbook, you will need to open the Business Fundamentals Textbook

Overview

Chapter 1 introduced you to understanding if having your own business is right for you. It addressed the importance of knowing and trusting yourself. We provided self-assessments to perform, as well as a self-reflection questionnaire. We provided the means for you to determine your personality type. We defined the purpose of the textbook and course. We then defined the enormity of the task of starting your own business. We discussed the means to determine “What do you want?” We then explained the personal impact starting your own business can make on your life. We provide an awareness of the false intentions of others. We explained what you are responsible to know to make your business successful. Lastly, we introduced a basic understanding of psychology. The following exercises will help reinforce the concepts presented in the textbook.

Key Terms

Nice Guy Syndrome

A self-diagnosed condition characterized by naivety and a trusting nature. Not necessarily gullible, but of being of a belief that people are generally good and honorable, and not recognizing that they are self serving and without honor.

Self-Assessment

the process of looking at oneself in order to assess aspects that are important to one’s identity.

Self-Reflection

the exercising of introspection and the willingness to learn more about the fundamental nature, purpose and essence of oneself.

Expected Outcomes

Have performed a self-assessment questionnaire
Have performed a self-reflection questionnaire
Determine your personality type
Have a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of yourself
Be able to trust your judgment much more than you did before
Understanding the purpose of this course
Recognize and appreciate the enormity of starting your own business
Understand what you want
Determine whether you are a boss or a leader
Know what methods best allow you to reduce your stress
Recognize that you are alone in this and cannot trust anyone but yourself
Understand that you need to know everything involved in owning your business, and recognize that you need to know even the things you don’t know you need to know.
Recognize that people are nice until something goes wrong
Understand the basics of human psychology

Key Concepts

Assessing questions can help clarify your wants and desires regarding starting your own business
Reflecting on answers you provided to the assessment questions can help determine if starting your own business is right for you.
The intention of this textbook is to help you understand if starting your own business is right for you, inform you what ‘s involved in starting your own business, and provide a roadmap on how to start your own business.
Trust No One. No one has your best interests in mind, only their own, regardless of what sales pitch they sell you.
Always trust your gut.
Starting your own business is a gargantuan undertaking and should not be underestimated, nor taken lightly.
Ask yourself the most important question: What do you want?
Knowing all aspects of how a medical business works ensures you can control and manage all aspects of your business.
Be wary of people’s intentions, be vigilant, and trust your instincts.

Chapter Slogans

Trust No One
Trust Yourself
Knowing Yourself Allows You To Trust Yourself
Keep your ego in check.
Know Everything
Everyone’s Nice Until Something Goes Wrong
Don’t quit your job until everything is ready!

SELF-ASSESSMENTS

To ensure these tests produce the most accurate result. The biggest challenge with these tests is the ego competition between answering honestly versus answering what you feel the socially acceptable response should be. Also, be aware that you current mood can influence your responses as well. Be as honest with yourself as you can.

This link provides an extraordinarily detailed assessment of oneself. Click “take the test” in the center of the screen. https://www.16personalities.com/

This link provides access to some free personality assessments. I do not recommend purchasing anything. There are numerous free online personality assessments. There is no need to spend any money on them.
https://www.truity.com/view/tests/personality-type

This is a great site on understanding personality traits and different personality tests.
https://www.workstyle.io/best-personality-test

SELF-REFLECTIONS

What is your talk-to-listen ratio?
Are you an energy giver or taker?
Are you likely to “act” or “react” to a task?
Does this person feel authentic or obsequious?
Whatʼs your spouse like and what does that say about you?
How do you treat someone you think can help you versus someone who is asking you for help?
Are there periods of struggle in your history of achieving your goals?
What have you learned from your past experiences?
Have your past experiences made you bitter and jaded or aware and understanding?
Do you believe that you are self-aware? Why?

SELF-ESTEEM QUESTIONNAIRE:

Rate each statement on a scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree):
I do not evaluate myself as a person based on my performance, but unconditionally accept myself as a worthwhile human being.
I cannot accept the fact that I am not as smart as others.
I do not evaluate others based on the good or bad things they do, but unconditionally accept them as worthwhile human beings.
I do not think I should evaluate my worth as a human being based on my performance.
I do not evaluate others based on the way they look, but I unconditionally accept them as worthwhile human beings.
I know I am not as smart as others, but I accept myself, and feel good about myself just the way I am.
Even if life is unfair, I can accept it just the way it is.
I cannot accept the fact that I am less attractive than others.
Even if the others have negative personality traits, I can accept them the way they are.
I cannot accept my negative personality traits.
It is normal to evaluate others based on the way they look.
I do not think I should evaluate others as worthwhile or worthless human beings based on the good or bad things they do.
I do not think I should evaluate myself as a person based on the good or bad things that I do.
I know I have some negative personality traits, but I accept myself just the way I am.
I cannot accept people who have negative personality traits.
I do not rate life as good/fair or bad/unfair, but unconditionally accept it just the way it is.

LEADERSHIP ASSESSMENTS

WHAT TYPE OF LEADER ARE YOU:

Leadership Self Assessments:

I like to give myself challenges when I take on a new project
I am fairly at ease in difficult situations
Where others see problems, I see possibilities
I always worry about what others will think before doing something important
I am fairly curious and I am continually in search of discovery
I am a lot less effective in stressful situations
I want to build something that will be recognized publicly
When faced with difficulties, I look for alternative solutions
For me, what counts is action

https://www.zoho.com/survey/leadership-questionnaire.html

For each of the 50 questions listed below, rate yourself on the scale shown below, with 5 being Almost Always True and 1 being Almost Never True by circling the number that you feel most closely represents your feelings about the task.

Almost Always True — 5
Frequently True — 4
Occasionally True — 3
Seldom True — 2
Almost Never True — 1

Be honest about your answers as this survey is only for your own self-assessment.

LEADERSHIP SELF ASSESSMENT

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Scoring

Total each of the five columns and then add the five columns together for your final score. The maximum score is 250 while the minimum score is 50. As mentioned earlier, there are no right or wrong answers. This means there are no right or wrong scores. This survey is designed to show you the areas you need to improve in. Your lowest scoring answers are the areas you need to improve. See your manager or training department for resources to help you to become more proficient in your weak areas.

Use the table below for a general guideline of where you stand.

175 and above – You are well on your way to becoming a leader.

125 to 174 – You are getting close.
124 and below – Don’t Give up! Many before you have continued with theirstudies to become some of the finest leaders around.

Use this assessment to help you to determine what skills and abilities you can continue to improve (strengths) and what skills and abilities you need to develop (opportunities for growth).

LEADERSHIP EXPLANATIONS

This website provides a number a brief definitions on characteristics and behaviors that go into leadership:

http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/leader.html#basic

Leadership Self Assessments:

https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_50.htm

WHAT DO YOU WANT

SELF-REFLECTION QUESTIONS ON STARTING YOUR OWN BUSINESS

What do I want?
Why do I want to start my own business? (fed up, burnt out, money, ambition, or something else)
Based on the answer(s) of why I want to start my own business, is starting my own business the way to achieve that desire?
Is my desire to start my own private business selfish or altruistic?
What kind of employee have I been?
What issues or complaints did I have as an employee?
Considering questions 4 and 5, what will I expect out of my employees?
Am I expecting more from my employees than I gave myself as an employee?
Am I having a double standard regarding how my employees should work for me?
Am I prepared for years and years of constant struggle?
Is my spouse and family prepared for how much of my time this will take up?
Am I prepared to study and learn for hours a day to ensure I understand all the different aspects of this process and what is required for each department in the business?
Is starting my own business a means to feed my ego about how great a provider I am?
Is this the right decision for me and my family, or am I forcing this to happen?
Am I willing to do the necessary research, in addition to the necessary learning, to be sure I making the best decision for my business?
Is this work for me, or is this living my dream? Why?

THE RIGHT REASONS TO START A BUSINESS:

You see an Opportunity to improve care
You see an opportunity to fill a need in the community
You have evidence your business model will be effective
You Believe Your Solution Can Achieve Something Unique
You Are Optimistic About Your Business Idea
You Refuse To Accept Failure
You Enjoy Learning by Doing and Taking on New Responsibilities
This isnʼt work for you, it is your passion
You Have Experience in the Industry
You Have the Resources Necessary
Youʼre willing to put in the work
You have the right experience to do this on your own

THE WRONG REASONS TO START A BUSINESS:

You want to make millions of dollars
You want to create something you can then delegate to others while you live the high life
You hate your job
You hate your boss
You think itʼll be better or easier than working for someone else
You donʼt want to have to answer to anyone
You want yourself or your business to become famous
Someone is convincing you that you should do this
You want to work less
You have people who have promised they will help you

SELF-ASSESSMENTS

UNDERSTANDING THE ENORMITY OF THE TASK

For each of the following listed below, there are combinations of the following:

Applications
Evaluations
Registrations
Inspections
Trainings
Certifications
Costs for some or all of the above
Cost for equipment and/or supplies
Trainings for equipment and supplies
Researching the best and most appropriate equipment, supply, vendor
Understanding what the item/event is, why it is needed, and how it fits into the business

All of the above are needed for each of the following:

Main Office
Ability to business medicine in a facility
Laboratory
Pharmacy
Radiology
Credentialing
Compliance
Leasing
Purchasing

It’s difficult to express the extent of interconnectivity of all these items. Think of a neural network, and how many connections there are in that. This gives you a sense of the extent of interconnections.

Let’s take credentialing onto insurance as an example. Each application averages ~10 hours. You have 50 insurances you are trying to get accepted by. You are already up to 500 hours. Now you need to follow up on the applications, make any corrections, follow up on phone calls, and then go through the process of contracting with that insurance. And this is ONE overall task.

STRESS MANAGEMENT

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4 points or less

You are least likely to suffer from stress-related illness.

5 – 13 points

You are more likely to experience stress related ill health either mental, physical or both. You would benefit from stress management /counseling or advice to help in the identified areas.

14 points or more

You are the most prone to stress showing a great many traits or characteristics that are creating un-healthy behaviours. This means that you are also more likely to experience stress & stress- related illness e.g. diabetes, irritable bowel, migraine, back and neck pain, high blood pressure, heart disease/strokes, mental ill health (depression, anxiety & stress). It is important to seek professional help or stress management counselling. Consult your medical practitioner.

Different stress relieving activities:

Eat healthy
Exercise regularly
Meditate daily
Yoga
Bubble bath
Spa day
Massage Therapy
Chiropractics
Acupuncture
Reiki
Steam or Sauna
Hiking
Biking
Jogging
Gardening
Painting
Writing
Set limits on work activity
Get enough rest
Avoid reliance on drugs or alcohol or nicotine
Counseling
Vitamin and herbal supplements
Breathing exercises
Wear comfortable clothes
Spend time with family, friends, pets
Volunteer at human services facility

Daily Journal – answering the following:

What caused your stress (make a guess if you’re unsure)
How you felt, both physically and emotionally
How you acted in response
What you did to make yourself feel better
Listen to music
Dance
Go for a walk
Pair up with an exercise partner and encourage each other as you
work out
Clean your house
Talk to someone

METHODS TO PREVENT STRESS

Learn how to say “no.” Know your limits and stick to them. Whether in yourpersonal or professional life, taking on more than you can handle is a surefire recipe for stress. Distinguish between the “shoulds” and the “musts” and, when possible, say “no” to taking on too much.
Avoid people who stress you out. If someone consistently causes stress in your life, limit the amount of time you spend with that person, or end the relationship.
Take control of your environment. If the evening news makes you anxious, turn off the TV. If traffic makes you tense, take a longer but less-traveled route. If going to the market is an unpleasant chore do your grocery shopping online.
Pare down your to-do list. Analyze your schedule, responsibilities, and daily tasks. If you’ve got too much on your plate, drop tasks that aren’t truly necessary to the bottom of the list or eliminate them entirely.
Express your feelings instead of bottling them up. If something or someone is bothering you, be more assertive and communicate your concerns in an open and respectful way. If you’ve got an exam to study for and your chatty roommate just got home, say up front that you only have five minutes to talk. If you don’t voice your feelings, resentment will build and the stress will increase.
Be willing to compromise. When you ask someone to change their behavior, be willing to do the same. If you both are willing to bend at least a little, you’ll have a good chance of finding a happy middle ground.
Create a balanced schedule. All work and no play is a recipe for burnout. Try to find a balance between work and family life, social activities and solitary pursuits, daily responsibilities and downtime.
Reframe problems. Try to view stressful situations from a more positive perspective. Rather than fuming about a traffic jam, look at it as an opportunity to pause and regroup, listen to your favorite radio station, or enjoy some alone time.
Look at the big picture. Take perspective of the stressful situation. Ask yourself how important it will be in the long run. Will it matter in a month? A year? Is it really worth getting upset over? If the answer is no, focus your time and energy elsewhere
Adjust your standards. Perfectionism is a major source of avoidable stress. Stop setting yourself up for failure by demanding perfection. Set reasonable standards for yourself and others, and learn to be okay with “good enough.”
Business gratitude. When stress is getting you down, take a moment to reflect on all the things you appreciate in your life, including your own positive qualities and gifts. This simple strategy can help you keep things in perspective.
Don’t try to control the uncontrollable. Many things in life are beyond our control, particularly the behavior of other people. Rather than stressing out over them, focus on the things you can control such as the way you choose to react to problems.
Look for the upside. When facing major challenges, try to look at them as opportunities for personal growth. If your own poor choices contributed to a stressful situation, reflect on them and learn from your mistakes.
Learn to forgive. Accept the fact that we live in an imperfect world and that people make mistakes. Let go of anger and resentments. Free yourself from negative energy by forgiving and moving on.
Share your feelings. Expressing what you’re going through can be very cathartic, even if there’s nothing you can do to alter the stressful situation. Talk to a trusted friend or make an appointment with a therapist.
Set aside leisure time. Include rest and relaxation in your daily schedule. Donʼt allow other obligations to encroach. This is your time to take a break from all responsibilities and recharge your batteries.
Do something you enjoy every day. Make time for leisure activities that bring you joy, whether it be stargazing, playing the piano, or working on your bike.
Keep your sense of humor. This includes the ability to laugh at yourself.The act of laughing helps your body fight stress in a number of ways.
Take up a relaxation business. Relaxation techniques such as yoga, meditation, and deep breathing activate the bodyʼs relaxation response, a state of restfulness that is the opposite of the fight or flight or mobilization stress response. As you learn and business these techniques, your stress levels will decrease and your mind and body will become calm and centered.
Donʼt over-commit yourself. Avoid scheduling things back-to-back or trying to fit too much into one day. All too often, we underestimate how long things will take.
Prioritize tasks. Make a list of tasks you have to do, and tackle them in order of importance. Do the high-priority items first. If you have something particularly unpleasant or stressful to do, get it over with early. The rest of your day will be more pleasant as a result.
Break projects into small steps. If a large project seems overwhelming, make a step-by-step plan.Focus on one manageable step at a time, rather than taking on everything at once.
Delegate responsibility. You donʼt have to do it all yourself, whether at home, school, or on the job. If other people can take care of the task, why not let them? Let go of the desire to control or oversee every little step. Youʼll be letting go of unnecessary stress in the process.
Donʼt over-commit yourself. Avoid scheduling things back-to-back or trying to fit too much into one day. All too often, we underestimate how long things will take.

TRUSTING YOURSELF

Paying attention to the following red flags can help you train yourself to trust your gut:

The other person takes advantage of your misfortune
They are manipulating you to their desires
They are usurping and controlling things you didnʼt ask them to do
You repeatedly (and once is enough) find them in a lie or a distortion of
the facts
You just donʼt feel at ease around them
They are misleading
They seem cold and remorseless if something goes wrong
Do not follow through on requests
Lack a sense of personal responsibility or accountability
Other people feel uneasy around them
Other people are warning you about them
Their demeanor seems contrived and glib
They make comments or jokes that lean toward bigotry, racism, or other
prejudices
They are belittling to what you are trying to do or need from them
Theyʼre inconsistent leading to confusion
They provide conflicting information
They donʼt seem to have professional boundaries

WAYS TO GAIN CONFIDENCE IN YOURSELF AS A BUSINESS OWNER

Learn to say “NO”
Be objective
Separate your personal feelings from the needs of your business.
Have good posture, stand upright, donʼt slouch
Be prepared, be knowledgeable
Accept the things you cannot change
Donʼt be afraid to ask questions, make sure you understand what is
going on
Donʼt be afraid to ask for advice
Make decisions and stick to them. Donʼt flip flop.
Dress for success
Donʼt be intimidated
When in doubt, fake it!
Find a business mentor
Be in shape, a fat owner isnʼt viewed the same as a fit owner
Believe in what youʼre doing

DEFINE THE ACRONYM

None for this chapter

THINGS TO CONSIDER

What do you want?
Is starting your own business right for you?
Who are you really, deep down, and unfiltered?
Are you someone who can lead others to success or do you want to be a
boss?

FLASHBACK

None for this chapter.

POUND THE PAVEMENT

Talk to those you love who you know will be honest with you. Ask them about you. What are your positive attributes? What things about you inspires them, or that they admire? What things about you drive them crazy? What things make them feel they need to establish boundaries with you? Have you offended them in the past but they never said anything? What barriers do they see in their relationship with you that prevents them from growing closer toward a deeper relationship?

Curriculum

Is Having Your Own Business Right For You?

READ THIS BEFORE CONTINUING

In order to proceed with the Business Fundamentals Workbook, you will need to open the Business Fundamentals Textbook

Overview

Key Terms

Nice Guy Syndrome

Self-Assessment

Self-Reflection

Expected Outcomes

Key Concepts

Chapter Slogans

SELF-ASSESSMENTS

SELF-REFLECTIONS

SELF-ESTEEM QUESTIONNAIRE:

MORE SELF-REFLECTION QUESTIONS:

LEADERSHIP ASSESSMENTS

Leadership Self Assessments:

LEADERSHIP SELF ASSESSMENT

Scoring

LEADERSHIP EXPLANATIONS

Leadership Self Assessments:

WHAT DO YOU WANT

SELF-ASSESSMENTS

STRESS MANAGEMENT

TRUSTING YOURSELF

DEFINE THE ACRONYM

THINGS TO CONSIDER

FLASHBACK

POUND THE PAVEMENT

Another Way Business

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