How to Make Smarter Decisions as a Business Owner
Published on October 3, 2022
Running your own business is a lot of work. But being an entrepreneur comes with a lot of perks. You can make your own schedule, be your own boss and call all the shots. If you make smart choices, entrepreneurship can be an exciting career choice that is not only financially rewarding, but also extremely gratifying.
As a business owner, you’ll be responsible for making important decisions, some of which you’ve never had to make before. From choosing a business name and designing your logo, to hiring staff and developing a sales strategy, each decision you make will have a direct impact on your success.
One of the most important skills you can teach yourself as a business owner is to make smarter decisions. While there’s no way to ensure you make the right decision every time, there are certain steps you can follow to help guide you through the decision making process, to help you make smarter choices that you won’t regret.
1. Define your goals
2. Compare your options
3. Learn from your mistakes
4. Seek guidance from others
5. Trust your gut
1. Define your goals
The first step to making smarter decisions is to define your goals. Write down both your short term and long term business goals. Where do you want to be 1 year, 2 years or even 5 years from now. Next, make a list of the clear opportunities to grow your company and the actions you need to take to achieve those goals.
When you’re forced to make a difficult decision, ask yourself “which choice will help me achieve my goals”. If it doesn’t align with your long term vision as a company or is a potential distraction, it’s not the right choice.
2. Compare your options
Next, compare your options and weigh the pros and cons of each choice. There are always multiple choices to every decision you make. Think of your business as a map with forks in the road. Every time you come to a fork, you will need to decide which way to go. Having a long term vision for your company and defining your goals will help you remember your destination, but not every choice (or fork in the road) will be crystal clear. Sometimes there might even be a couple really good options.
When faced with a difficult decision, make a list of the pros and cons. Literally write down the risks and rewards associated with each option. This might require you doing some research so you can make a well thought out and educated decision. Sometimes one option might seem like the right choice on the surface, but once you flesh it out, it becomes clear that it’s not a smart decision.
3. Learn from your mistakes
Whether big or small, everyone makes mistakes. Nobody’s perfect. In order to make smarter decisions in business, you will need to learn from your past mistakes. Instead of putting yourself down for your previous mistakes, you should take the time to learn from them so you can make smarter choices in the future. You never know when you might be faced with a similar challenge or decision.
Documenting important business decisions and events (good and bad) can help you keep track of the choices you make and how they have impacted your growth. For example, maybe you’ve made the mistake of investing in an expensive marketing initiative that produced little results. The next time you need to make an important decision, ask yourself if you’ve had to make a similar choice in the past, and what have you learned?
4. Seek guidance from others
Just because you might be in business for yourself, does not mean you need to do business by yourself. That’s one of the advantages of having a business partner. You can bounce ideas off of each other and make important decisions together. After all, two minds are better than one!
Even solo entrepreneurs can seek guidance from others. Having a business coach, mentor, advisor or even just speaking to friends and family can be extremely helpful when making difficult decisions. Think about people in your life who you can trust, are honest, educated and maybe even have business experience themselves. When you are faced with a tough choice, lean on these people for feedback and advice so that you can make smarter decisions.
5. Trust your gut
Sometimes no matter how good a choice seems, there is something about it that just doesn’t feel right. Alternatively, there might be another option that is far riskier, but something tells you that it’s the right decision. This is trusting your gut and following your intuition.
Following your gut or the voice inside your head can help you make smarter decisions. If something doesn’t feel right, don’t do it. If you feel confident in your choice, don’t let anyone else make you second guess your decision. Studies have shown that pairing gut feelings with analytical thinking helps you make better, faster, and smarter decisions and gives you more confidence in your choices than relying on facts alone.
As a business owner, you will be forced to make countless decisions every single day. Some will be very easy choices that you won’t need to think twice about. However, you’re bound to come across decisions that are not easy to make. Use the steps in this article to help guide you so you can make the right choice. And remember, not taking any action is just as bad as making the wrong decision.
Running your own business is a lot of work. But being an entrepreneur comes with a lot of perks. You can make your own schedule, be your own boss and call all the shots. If you make smart choices, entrepreneurship can be an exciting career choice that is not only financially rewarding, but also extremely gratifying.
As a business owner, you’ll be responsible for making important decisions, some of which you’ve never had to make before. From choosing a business name and designing your logo, to hiring staff and developing a sales strategy, each decision you make will have a direct impact on your success.
One of the most important skills you can teach yourself as a business owner is to make smarter decisions. While there’s no way to ensure you make the right decision every time, there are certain steps you can follow to help guide you through the decision making process, to help you make smarter choices that you won’t regret.
1. Define your goals
2. Compare your options
3. Learn from your mistakes
4. Seek guidance from others
5. Trust your gut
1. Define your goals
The first step to making smarter decisions is to define your goals. Write down both your short term and long term business goals. Where do you want to be 1 year, 2 years or even 5 years from now. Next, make a list of the clear opportunities to grow your company and the actions you need to take to achieve those goals.
When you’re forced to make a difficult decision, ask yourself “which choice will help me achieve my goals”. If it doesn’t align with your long term vision as a company or is a potential distraction, it’s not the right choice.
2. Compare your options
Next, compare your options and weigh the pros and cons of each choice. There are always multiple choices to every decision you make. Think of your business as a map with forks in the road. Every time you come to a fork, you will need to decide which way to go. Having a long term vision for your company and defining your goals will help you remember your destination, but not every choice (or fork in the road) will be crystal clear. Sometimes there might even be a couple really good options.
When faced with a difficult decision, make a list of the pros and cons. Literally write down the risks and rewards associated with each option. This might require you doing some research so you can make a well thought out and educated decision. Sometimes one option might seem like the right choice on the surface, but once you flesh it out, it becomes clear that it’s not a smart decision.
3. Learn from your mistakes
Whether big or small, everyone makes mistakes. Nobody’s perfect. In order to make smarter decisions in business, you will need to learn from your past mistakes. Instead of putting yourself down for your previous mistakes, you should take the time to learn from them so you can make smarter choices in the future. You never know when you might be faced with a similar challenge or decision.
Documenting important business decisions and events (good and bad) can help you keep track of the choices you make and how they have impacted your growth. For example, maybe you’ve made the mistake of investing in an expensive marketing initiative that produced little results. The next time you need to make an important decision, ask yourself if you’ve had to make a similar choice in the past, and what have you learned?
4. Seek guidance from others
Just because you might be in business for yourself, does not mean you need to do business by yourself. That’s one of the advantages of having a business partner. You can bounce ideas off of each other and make important decisions together. After all, two minds are better than one!
Even solo entrepreneurs can seek guidance from others. Having a business coach, mentor, advisor or even just speaking to friends and family can be extremely helpful when making difficult decisions. Think about people in your life who you can trust, are honest, educated and maybe even have business experience themselves. When you are faced with a tough choice, lean on these people for feedback and advice so that you can make smarter decisions.
5. Trust your gut
Sometimes no matter how good a choice seems, there is something about it that just doesn’t feel right. Alternatively, there might be another option that is far riskier, but something tells you that it’s the right decision. This is trusting your gut and following your intuition.
Following your gut or the voice inside your head can help you make smarter decisions. If something doesn’t feel right, don’t do it. If you feel confident in your choice, don’t let anyone else make you second guess your decision. Studies have shown that pairing gut feelings with analytical thinking helps you make better, faster, and smarter decisions and gives you more confidence in your choices than relying on facts alone.
As a business owner, you will be forced to make countless decisions every single day. Some will be very easy choices that you won’t need to think twice about. However, you’re bound to come across decisions that are not easy to make. Use the steps in this article to help guide you so you can make the right choice. And remember, not taking any action is just as bad as making the wrong decision.
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