My name is Sandra Greenough and my business name is Greenough & Associates Incorporated. This is the end of my tenth month as an entrepreneur in this business.

The nature of the business is basically human resource development, helping organizations and employees navigate the future with respect to organizational development and personal development and understanding technology and how it can support that future.


[Decision To Enter This Occupation:]

I decided to open this business because as an educator I saw numerous opportunities to really help people understand the technology and the changing nature of work and the changing skill requirements. The need for training and development and human resource development is increasing significantly in every sector of the economy.

[Personal Characteristics & Attitudes:]

Some of the successful characteristics are:

the ability to deal with change on a constant basis
not being afraid of uncertainty
not being afraid to ask questions
fundamentally having that questioning philosophy
needing to learn
needing to look at how to do things differently, because as an entrepreneur you are responsible for everything within your business operation
the ability to be committed to high quality - if something needs to be improved, the ability to look at how you can improve it and always asking, "How can I improve the processes or the services that I'm providing?"
very, very good communication skills as an entrepreneur. You need to tell people what your business is about, what your values are, the services that you can deliver, your commitment to cost effectiveness.

[Teamwork Skills:]

Team skills are very, very important when operating a business because a lot of the project work I do now I team up with other professionals within the community, numerous self-employed individuals, and as well, I'm teaming up with my clients on a constant basis. So, I have clients who are smaller, self-employed businesses, as well as right through to the spectrum of multi-national companies. So, I'm teaming up with their people inside the organization.

[Attitude & Positive Behavior:]

A positive attitude is the critical one of the critical foundation pieces for being a very successful entrepreneur because you will come across different stumbling blocks just as we do in life. Whether we are an employer or entrepreneur, as an entrepreneur you need to turn those stumbling blocks into stepping-stones. And you can only do that through a positive attitude. If you encounter a set back or something negative and then become defeated by that, well absolutely, you will not progress. You have to see "How can I learn from that opportunity? What has this taught me?"

[Change & Adaptability:]

The ability to adapt to change is, again, one of the most foundational traits. It’s one of the most important foundational traits to be successful as an entrepreneur because things are changing constantly. So, if:

you think that what you have done in the past will guarantee your future success,
you're not willing to change,
you’re not willing to look at doing things differently,
it may maintain your present level of business retention, but you may also lose business because you are not changing and shifting to what your customers are looking for.

Change is in the economy. So, it's managing change, being responsive to it and not fearing it. I guess that's the key thing; don't fear it. One of the gifts we're given, I believe, are different opportunities.

[Problem Solving Activities Involved:]

The problems that I have to solve on a day-to-day basis, I'm doing a lot of negotiating on contracts. There are some "smaller" problems right, you deal with, like you are the information resources department right. Your printer kind of blows up and needs repair. I mean, you have to deal with that right away. You need a replacement. You have deliverables that need to go out, so you have to make those types of decisions that affect the business operation. But looking at the decision round, where your business is going, the strategic direction, so you're managing things on a macro level or a big picture level or the micro level which is the day-to-day detail.

[Skills Needed:]

People skills
Experience
Training
People skills - if you cannot communicate, and I'm not just talking about one way communication, you need to seek first to really understand the other person's perspective. And then, to be understood that the deeper level of communication (when you can really make that fundamental commitment to communication) your client knows that you are listening to them and that you're not just focused on what you can sell them or the service you can provide. It manages conflict; it helps you manage conflict. You want to avoid conflict and that's through effective communication skills.

A typical work day for me:

I start off with a breakfast meeting, let's say 7:30 am okay, because people really like to maximize. I have to maximize my time and so do my clients. So, we start the day with a vibrant breakfast meeting at 7:15 am and then off say to another meeting.
Typically I'm outside of my office for most of the day in client's boardrooms or actually facilitating. I do actual seminar facilitation, public speaking, presentations as well so I'm usually not in my office most of the day
Then I work on project work for most of the evenings and on weekends.
So, my workweek in the first ten months has been pretty intense. I'm working quite a number of hours per day.

[Most Challenging Aspect:]

The most challenging aspect is developing the systems. It's the administrative piece around running your own business. Now I've had the opportunity to work with budgets - you know, handle a lot of these details throughout my professional career - but when you're looking at going into entrepreneurship, yes, you have your area of expertise but absolutely you need to manage every other aspect of the business.

[Most Satisfying Aspect:]

The most satisfying part of running my own business is being able to respond to the needs that are alive and well in our community, whether it's within the organization, working with a non-profit organization, working with individuals. I'm able to respond, because as an educator I see the needs that are very evident and I see solutions. So, that's what I love about it. I can bring the solutions to address the needs.

[Advice For Someone Entering This Field Of Work:]

Well, the advice that I would give somebody who's considering opening their own business is to:

Do a very thorough business plan (absolutely).
Do the market research.
Make sure that the economy will sustain the business venture that you have in mind.
Also, another critical piece is assessing your career fit as an entrepreneur, okay. Perhaps entrepreneurship is an option that you think is really your only option. But if you're not ready to be an entrepreneur, if you don't like dealing with a lot of uncertainty…there's so many different things about being an entrepreneur.
Do a reality check to see if this is really what you want to do, and are you really ready? Because it is one of the most exciting professional experiences I've had, but if you are not prepared personally and professionally it could be a very devastating experience as well.