Q: Are you passionate about what you do… or just passionate about the money you rake in?

I’m going to let you in on a little secret… it’s a lot easier to make money when you’re passionate about what you do.

How many people in the world are locked into a job they can’t stand, only for the sheer fact that they get a steady paycheck and benefits to take care of their family? I’m willing to bet there are quite a few in that position.

You don’t have to be one of them.

Your business obviously sparked an interest in you somewhere … even if it was only because you deemed it a profitable venture. But how you arrive at those profits is up to you.

Think about the way a non-profit is set up.

The people who created it either have to start with a for-profit company, or work hard to garner the funds necessary to achieve their goals.

They usually work for less money, so you know they have to love what they’re doing. They might have a trait you don’t yet possess… the ability to let their success be defined by how much they get to follow their passion and realize their dreams.

Your success is not fully dependent on number crunching.

It’s not all about how much you can cut from your overhead expenses or how fat your bank account grows over time.

How fulfilled are you?

Do you dread going to work every day and look forward to the vacation time you’ve accrued?

Do you call in sick just because you can’t stand thinking about work for even another minute?

Regardless of what business you’re in, you have to take command of your future and make passion a part of your routine.

Not every task can be something you’ll meet with enthusiasm.

You may not like packaging and shipping or printing out invoices. It may be a pain to source service providers to whom you can outsource jobs. But you can come into work every day and be passionate about what you’re about to accomplish.

Start by designating menial tasks that weigh you down to others and focus your attention and time on things that will give you a greater sense of satisfaction.

It’s also important to create a positive work environment. People generally advise,

Leave the stress at work.

But the workplace doesn’t have to be stressful in the first place… and in fact, it’s counter-productive.

Some companies have realized this and sought ways to increase employee satisfaction. They do this with relaxed dress codes, increased vacation time, and monetary rewards.

Even if you are your only employee, you should address what would be the ideal working environment for you. Would it be alternate work hours – say, from 5 PM to 1 in the morning? For some people, the answer is yes.

Is there something you want to do that you just don’t have time to accomplish because you spend too much time working?

Maybe you’d like to give back to the community.

Find ways to do that through your business.

For instance, create a corporate-sponsored event for charity or give back to the community using your company profits. That way, every time you’re working on something you don’t feel passionate about, you’ll know that in the end, you’re fulfilling your goals by earning personal profits and giving to others at the same time.

When you find ways to love what you’re doing, your success will come naturally.

You’ll have a positive attitude, which helps you accomplish more in life. People who get bogged down being negative find it hard to move forward because they’re concentrating on the present moment… or even the past.

Don’t be afraid to show off your passions to other people.

Showcasing what you believe in – what you work hard for – what you know will somehow create a better life for you and your family (or even the world) is a great indicator of future success.

Let others experience your passion for work. Your energy and enthusiasm for what you do will attract others to your sense of success. These people may be wonderful additions to your company.

If you went in to interview with someone like you, would you feel excited about working in the company – or apprehensive about the chaos and stress that seems to go on?

Work on creating a positive environment where you and your employees can be the driving force behind your company’s success… because you all feel passionate about what you do.

Do you have a system in place for every aspect of your business?

A long time ago, I didn’t utilize systems in my business – I just operated on instinct.

When success sprouted, I eventually had to bring someone else on board and that’s when I realized how I had failed.

I had no way of communicating how things got done around the office. My new employees couldn’t get inside my brain and I couldn’t expect them to instinctively know what to do – yet I had nothing on paper that explained my processes.

Having systems in place is vital to the performance of your business. Even if it’s just you – you need to have a system mapped out on how things are accomplished. If you’re the only one in your company, then maybe you don’t need it written down – but at the very least, you should be able to verbalize it in a step-by-step procedure.

If you can’t explain it in concise terms of what happens at each interval, then you don’t really have a system – you have a way of doing thing.

The word ‘system’ implies that you can classify tasks, organize and rank them in order of importance, and assign them to the people you’ve designated to be in control of each aspect of the business.

Imagine what would happen if you were in a car accident one day… and hospitalized for a week or more. Who would run your company for you? Could you explain to someone how to operate the daily functions of your business?

Instead of a system, would there be chaos in the workplace?

Probably – if you’re not prepared.

It’s good to have your systems written out and filed so that whenever someone else is brought on board… or has to take over… they’ll instantly be able to refer to your model of doing business and follow it precisely.

Mapping out systems for your business can also give you insight into how things can be accomplished in a better way. Your goal is to simplify your process so that it’s as effective as it can be.

Don’t be afraid to utilize shortcuts if it won’t harm the end result.

There’s nothing wise about taking the long route to success. If there’s a tool you could invest in that would shave hours off of your task, then it’s worth it. If you’re doing all of your accounting by hand, and you could set up a software tool to quicken the procedure, then do it.

When you set up your systems – and you’ll need one for almost every aspect of running your business… do it with hindsight in mind.

Play Monday morning quarterback. What could you have done better, and how can that happen?

Categorize your systems to help you develop and update them as necessary. For instance, you might have a system for tracking sales performance, one for marketing, and another for sourcing new products or ideas.

If you have a ‘guinea pig’, start testing your systems out on that person to see if it’s easy for another individual to interpret and use. If any portion of your system needs further clarification, then go into more detail. You might know what you mean by “launch AdWords campaign,” but someone else may need you to answer the question, “how?” Systems give your business a framework. You can always add onto the system, or tear it down and replace it… but it gives your operation a structure and a foundation to work from.

You’ll always want to update your systems as time passes.

Maybe new technology has been developed that can replace an outdated approach to doing business. Perhaps you’ve discovered someone to outsource a task to so that you can concentrate your efforts on more profitable ventures.

Whatever the reason, always look for – and be open to – new ways of structuring your business so that it’s a living system – not one that’s too rigid and opposed to change. You want to maintain a vision for your company and use creative means to get you there.

Think of yourself as an architect of your company. It’s your job to create a blueprint for your business operations. You can always pencil in new additions to the company or erase structures that need to be phased out.

With a system in place, you’ll find you can manage your business more easily and find success in a shorter span of time.

As any successful business person knows, you can kill yourself trying to grow your company. You invest and immerse yourself wholly without direction until you’ve stretched yourself so thin that you’re no longer productive in any aspect of your work.

If only you had planned your day better…

By forecasting an orderly work schedule, you’ll preserve both your valuable time and your sanity. Unfortunately, most people start each day off in a fury of tasks and deadlines – without a plan on how to get things done efficiently.

It’s a known fact that stress is a killer. You can wear yourself out mentally and physically by tending to the daily tasks your company demands. Or, you can learn how to plan for tomorrow and realize an even greater success – one that you can enjoy as it happens.

When people don’t plan, they react to their environment… usually in a negative way. How many times have you gone into the office and felt irritated about something someone else has done… or not done?

Productivity requires a positive attitude. If you’re constantly reacting to deadlines, tasks you hadn’t planned on popping up, or other people’s interference with your day, then you’ll be too caught up in the stress of it all to make formidable decisions that will help propel your profits upward.

There has to be a fine balance between planning your day and being flexible enough to handle the unexpected. It would be even worse to have every minute of your day scheduled and then find that something has thrown it off kilter.

You don’t want to paralyze yourself with your planning, but instead use it as a guide – a path to help you get from point A to point B.

Planning doesn’t require a lot of time. You simply have to map it out the night before. It might be okay to set long-term goals, too – but you’ll be better able to schedule your day if you do it the previous night, when you’re more aware of your company’s immediate needs.

Make a comprehensive to-do list. That doesn’t mean every single thing will get done the next day, but you want to have it on paper so that you’ll be able to give it attention at some point.

Every item on your to-do list should have a plan of action. When you know how to get something done, you won’t have to sit there thinking about your next step, which would be a waste of time.

Make a quick estimate of how much time each task in a plan of action will take – to give yourself an idea of how long it will take you to complete that single item on your to-do list.

If any of the tasks require a resource you don’t have at your fingertips, then add the time it will take for you to acquire and set up that tool into your final estimate. You don’t want to underestimate the time it will take you to cross something off of your to-do list.

The reason for this is when you fail to meet your self-imposed deadlines, it can create even more stress than if you had simply worked without a plan in place. While you might want to be Superman for a day, it won’t always happen… things are bound to present themselves as obstacles to your success.

If there are more people connected to the company – from employees to contracted labor – define their roles within the company structure so that some of the tasks can be designated for them to handle.

As you create each tasks, determine what it would cost for you to complete it. For instance, if your time is worth $100/hour, and you’re wasting an hour filling out forms that someone else could do for $8/hour, then you’re losing $92 an hour in profit.

Your time need to be planned out so that you are maximizing your talents but also doing tasks that will have the highest return for your investment of each and every hour. Adding to the above example, your hour could have been used to develop an ad campaign that results in a high conversion rate of traffic to your website.

Don’t forget to add personal goals and time to your schedule. You want it to be flexible enough so that if there’s a family emergency, or if you simply need a break from it all, you won’t throw the entire business into a tailspin just because you’re not physically or mentally involved with the business 24-hours a day.