As you grow into a more succesful and experienced entrepreneur, you will begin to realize the importance of making your business work well for you. In the beginning of a new business, you may work longer hours than you’d like, and you may sacrifice more than you prefer– all in the name of the business. After time, though, once you’ve reached some personal & professional milestones, you need to shift your business processes to make your business work well for you. Let me give you a personal example. Last week, I was approached by a national organization to speak at their annual convention. The request, was, though, that I needed to attend an all day meeting prior to being fully considered for the convention spot. A few years ago, I would have changed everything around to accomodate this request. What I realized, now, though, is that missing a full day of work for the possibility of being considered didn’t really feel good to me. It didn’t feel good to think about moving all my commitments around, traveling out of town for the day, and being under the microscope for eight hours. [Now, this is just me- this might sound fun to someone else. I, though, like best to work with people who already know they want to work with me.] Anyway, so I realized that it was time to change my business processes so they worked better for me. I called the organizer back and respectfully declined the opportunity, citing that it didn’t seem to be the best use of my time and resources. Surprisingly enough, the organizer was actually impressed, so I’m apparently still being considered for the opportunity. Here’s the thing, though- whether I get the convention job or not, I made my business reflect better my current standards and desires. If you haven’t yet grown your business in this way, it might be time to start.