I must shed some light on a dirty secret that hardly anyone talks about for fear of seeming weak; that is, the secret plight of the Lonely Entrepreneur. ALL business owners (small and large) and all self-employed professionals can relate to this.

Frankly, we don’t have too many people, if ANY at all, who we can share our challenges, bounce ideas off of, or simply celebrate a great quarter with. If you are running tight on cash flow, you certainly can’t share that with your employees - they’ll get scared. If you want to experiment with some crazy marketing idea, chances are your spouse or family members will think you are nuts! If you have a huge increase in quarterly revenues, you certainly can’t openly celebrate with your employees in a big way as they will secretly be thinking it’s time to ask for a raise. If you are trying to decide on what path to take your business, you have many sleepless nights wrestling with a million details, because it all rests on your shoulder.

Over the years, I have had the good fortune of connecting with many entrepreneurs and professionals from all types of businesses, along with investors, on a more intimate level and when we really start talking, without any barriers or facades up, the truth comes out about just how lonely and insecure we all are. REALLY. Everyone expects us to have things under control, be confident, be responsible for everything, and over-deliver every time. Any screw ups or shortfalls - all eyes are on you - because you are the boss. The buck stops with you.

So many entrepreneurs and professionals are feverishly working IN their businesses and are barely keeping their sanity with all the details they need to be concerned with: employees, prospects, customers, your family time, cash flow, accounts receivable, accounts payable, marketing, sales, advertising, delivery of your product or service, public relations, legal issues, IRS issues, bookkeeping issues, infrastructure, communications, et al. I know, I know, you hired people to deal with all this stuff, but guess what…when things go wrong it all falls in your lap because you are the head honcho!

I have found that even those running a nice, profitable, operation are quietly imprisoned by their businesses because they just can’t take themselves out of the daily operations, perhaps for a 2 week vacation, somewhere far away, without worrying about what’s going on back at the office. Bottom line is that as you and your business evolves you must surround yourself with other entrepreneurs and professionals who you can honestly and safely discuss how you can setup your operations to run without you and how you can deal with various business, marketing or financial challenges as they come up, without shame or embarrassment. I guarantee you that no one’s business is running perfectly. There is always something you can improve upon, whether in your marketing or your operations.

Recently I was speaking with one business owner I had just met at an event and we got to talking about his business, how he markets and how he makes money. He was taken aback by my bold questions about how he markets, how he runs his operations, and how he makes money. I like to just cut to the chase and get to the juicy stuff because I hate small talk. Life is just too short for small talk. I want to really know what’s going on behind the scenes and start brainstorming on how to make things better, solve a problem, or just tweak one or two things to make a huge difference. I like to give folks a fresh pair of eyes on their business.

After much questioning from me, with a couple of challenges & stumps, here and there, he said that this was the first time in years that he REALLY talked about his business from the standpoint of his Vision and Mission when he first started. He forgot his WHY. He admitted that he has been so busy focusing on the operations and bringing in revenue that he never really stepped back and assess THE BUSINESS as a whole, his relationship with it, and how he markets and positions it.

He then went on to say how he felt alive again in talking about his business from a marketing perspective. He hasn’t felt that way in ages. He was talking as if he just had an orgasm after 10 years of abstaining from sex! It was almost as if he was one of the walking dead just going through the daily routine and now he has been awakened and is stretching from a long slumber.

My take on this is that we all need to always be SOLD on our businesses and spread the gospel of our business every chance we get. A good friend of mine, James Malinchak’s, motto is ALWAYS BE MARKETING! Get excited about the possibilities by getting around other business owners to talk about marketing your business, not to pitch, but to get ideas on how you can improve your operations. You will get ideas on how you can add some tactic that none of your competitors would ever dream of, how to get more customers, how to deal with new and existing customers, and perhaps how to reposition your products or services in a unique way to get more revenue generated.

The key is to get out of your office or home office, your comfort zone, and get into an environment where you can interact face to face with other lonely entrepreneurs. Every month at our Chapter meetings I get to observe the high energy in the room when we gather business owners and professionals from all different backgrounds. The common thread is that everyone is thrilled to physically be in the midst of other folks where it’s not just about your 30 second pitch or distributing cards and flyers, but the discussion is really more about Kennedy-style marketing, strategies for various aspects of your operations, and developing or maintaining that Renegade Millionaire Mindset.

One of the coolest part of our meetings that everyone loves is the Hot Seat where a business owner from any type of business goes to the front of the room and shares one marketing or business challenge he is wrestling with. This is the best part because he has the entire audience of other business owners throwing ideas and opinions out in a short period of time that he would have never come up with having stayed back in the office. It becomes a lively discussion where not only the person on the Hot Seat is madly writing down the ideas, but others in the audience are thinking and making notes on how they can use some of the ideas thrown out.

Bottom line is, why be lonely anymore??? Get out and hang out with people OUTSIDE of your industry. You will be surprised at how much you’ll learn and the ideas that will be sparked about what you can do in your business. Nothing beats being around other people face to face! Teleseminars, conference calls, emails, online forums and all that technology just can’t beat sitting in a room with other like-minded folks and FEELING the energy as you get excited again about why you chose to go the route of business owner vs. employee. Wake up, get excited again, and get to a live meeting!

I look forward to seeing all you Lonely Entrepreneurs at our next GKIC Manhattan & Northern NJ Chapter Meeting! See www.GKICNewYork.com for our monthly meeting schedule. If you are not in the New York/New Jersey area, visit www.DanKennedy.com and check out our National Map that shows links to all of the Glazer-Kennedy Insider’s Circle Chapters around the country.