Monday, June 7, 2010

Business IS Personal

Who ever said "it's not personal, it's business" couldn't of been further off the mark. Business IS one of the most personal things you can do. Everything you do in business is personal, from relating to your customers, your staff & your suppliers to establishing your values, your goals & your brand.

Every choice you make communicates something to someone about who you are and what you believe in. Ultimately every success and every failure comes down to these choices. Your business is a reflection of you and where you are at. Yes of course there are outside influences affecting your business, this is indisputable but you are responsible for how you deal with these "influences".

I've learned very quickly that if my business isn't gong well then I need to look at my role in this. This is super empowering. No point sitting round blaming my staff, the economy, the alignment of the planets, or anything really. If there's a problem it's my job to fix it or find the opportunity in it. This keeps me moving forward.

Likewise when things are going well I'm learning the importance of appreciating my achievements. Noticing your wins keeps you motivated and reminds you in tough times that you have overcome difficulties before and will be able to do it again.

Business is full of ups and downs. It's the most challenging and rewarding thing I've done to date (I'm yet to have kids - I imagine that trumps everything!) So I thought I'd start this little blog as a way to share some of my trials and tribulations. It's also a little bit of cheap therapy to keep me sane along the way. Lately whenever something 'devastating' (yes i can be prone to melo-dramtics) has happened, I've consoled myself by saying "Oh well, that's one for the blog, at least I've got something to write about now!"

So this is me, Anthea Cahill (a.k.a The Chai Girl). I started my business RealChai Pty Ltd in 2008 and quit my "secure, well paying IT career" to get up at 5am and make Chai outside in the freezing cold at local markets... since then I've never been happier! RealChai is my baby so you can expect lots of photos and ooohing and ahhhing over different milestones as my baby grows and I grow with it. Told you it's personal. Stay tuned!!