Susan has been in the baking business for three years. She used to love baking more than anything else but she has got to the stage where her business is just work, work and more work.

'I hate baking pies,' she cries one day. 'I can't stand the sight of them. I can't stand the smell of them.' It's 7am. She woke at 2am to start baking by 3am and will close her doors at 5pm, after which she must do the book-keeping, the ordering...

There is another way to run a business and get a life. To turn your business around so that you are in love with it again, there are some simple steps to take. The keys to this are to know yourself and know what you want. Why? Because then you can take control of your business and make it do what you want, instead of always reacting to circumstances, which leaves you powerless, frustrated and angry.

What have you learned?

What don't you like about your business? What do you like about it? Make a list.

Then identify the lessons you've learned running your business and try to group them. What are the patterns telling you? For example, it could be that you have over-demanding customers. They expect you to be around 24/7 and to drop everything and jump when they say.

Now consider the real reason for this. It is not because these are all difficult people. It is not because you always 'pick 'em'. However, reason may lie at your door. People may be behaving like this because you let them. After all, you can always say 'No.' So it could be that you need some assertiveness training.

What drives you?

This is about you and only you. You need to know what you want and, equally important, do not want, from life. Material possessions and money, even status, are not what you are about.

Understanding what drives you helps you put your business in perspective. If what drives your business coincides with what drives you, you can see that you'd find work that much more rewarding.

• Start by writing a long list of things you do NOT want from life. Then list what you do want.
• Then circle the six most important items on your lists. These are your priorities.
• Write down the six most important things you want in order of importance, and identify what is stopping you from having them.
• Now think into the future. You're very old; you've had a great and fulfilling life. So write your own eulogy. This will help you focus on what you actually want to have taken out of life.
• Finally, look at all your notes and try to summarize what you want in one or two sentences.

It may surprise you. For myself, when I did this exercise, I discovered that I didn't want to be a 'writer' and an 'editor', which is what I had always wanted to be. No! What drove me was far more fundamental. What I actually wanted was to help people to help themselves. This is now the main focus of Better Business. I am still a writer and an editor, but the focus is different.

What do you want from your business?

Is your business there to make you rich? Allow you to live a certain lifestyle? Something to do between jobs? The beginnings of an empire? Something you want to build up and sell?

Deciding what you ultimately want from your business in the future will shape the thinking behind what you do next.

Create a vision

Next you need a vision for your business. This will help you drive it forward.

It's actually quite easy. Just write down what your business will look like at some point in the future. Start by imagining yourself arriving at your office in five years and describe what you see.

What cars do you see in the car park? What do you drive? What does the building look like? How are you greeted as you enter and who by? What kinds of people do you have... and customers? How do people behave towards you... each other... your suppliers... your clients? What is the ethos that binds you all together? What are your people selling? How? How are you rewarding them?

The basic elements of your vision include:

• What products and services you offer;
• The size of your business in terms of turnover, profit levels, number of employees and so on;
• Your geographic scope - where you are located, where your markets are;
• Your market position;
• What you compete on and what makes people seek you out rather than your competitors;
• The feel of the business - what it looks like physically, how it will act, what kind of equipment you use, how your employees feel towards each other, their customers and yourself;
• The way your customers and employees feel about the business;
• Your role in all this, and also what you don't want to do any more.

When you have written down your vision, plan what needs to be done, by whom, by when, to get you there. Then it's as simple as joining the dots!

Just do it

If you take time to think through these issues, you will be on the way to transforming your business. How do I know? Because it worked for me. My business was doing fine, making enough money, but I had stopped enjoying it. It took me six months to transform it. In doing so, I doubled my turnover with the same number of staff, and re-motivated myself. The transformation was so dramatic that I was named Welsh Small Business Woman of the Year 2000!

So what's stopping you?

This information is meant as a starting point only. Whilst all reasonable efforts have been made, the publisher makes no warranties that the information is accurate and up-to-date and will not be responsible for any errors or omissions in the information nor any consequences of any errors or omissions. Professional advice should be sought where appropriate.

© 2008 Published by Cobweb Information Ltd