From personal experience and working with coaching clients, I’ve learned that being successful in business means being happy in business. Yes, happy! Your business should put a smile on your face and pep in your step. Each morning should bring the excitement of doing what you love and being able to share that excitement with clients or customers.

Happy business owners are successful business owners! The emotional aspect of business ownership is just as important as the physical. Success in business begins on the inside – in your heart and mind.

A report in the December 2005 issue of the American Psychological Association’s Psychological Bulletin, found that “Happy people are more likely than their less happy peers to have fulfilling marriages and relationships, high incomes, superior work performance, community involvement, robust health and even a long life.”

What does it take to be a happy, profitable and successful business owner? Here are a few suggestions:

1. Own the right business.

This is a huge factor in determining business happiness and financial profitability. How do you know if you are in the right business?

• You go to work with a smile on your face.
• You enjoy both the ups and the downs of business life.
• You feel as if you are making a positive difference in the lives of others.
• You believe what you are selling/sharing is of high quality and value.
• Your day-to-day activities are challenging and rewarding.
• Your business is profitable.
• You have an overall feeling of pride and self-satisfaction.

The passion and satisfaction you express through your business can make the difference between struggling to find new customers and easily attracting them. Enthusiasm is contagious!

2. Have a workable plan for success.

What would your business look like if you could wave a magic wand and instantly make it successful? How profitable would you be? How many hours would you work each week? Where would you find new clients/customers? How well known, stable and profitable would your business be in five years?

Make sure that the plan fits your personal and professional values, beliefs and lifestyle. Be perfectly clear about what you want to accomplish, why you want to accomplish it and how you are going make your goals a reality. A business plan is a blueprint and road map to business success.

3. Develop yourself personally as well as professionally.

A happy business owner is not stagnant; she is constantly learning, growing and expanding her personal and professional vision for the future. When you grow yourself, your business grows also.

Come out of your comfort zone and expand your business expertise. Regularly allow yourself the time to learn new skills, work with knowledgeable mentors and seek out suggestions from other successful people in your field. It could take just one new professional skill or personal “aha” to propel you to the next level of success.

4. Share the benefits of success.

For many women, the ultimate payoff is having the ability to share the benefits and rewards of their business with family, friends and community. Often, the self-satisfaction and joy that come from sharing those rewards serve as powerful motivators leading to even greater success.

Winston Churchill summed up it up best by saying, “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”

5. Enjoy your success.

All work and no play would make any entrepreneur tired, cranky and unhappy. Not fully acknowledging, appreciating and enjoying your successes can lead to personal and professional burnout.

How you celebrate your success is a personal matter. Enjoyment can take many forms: a day off at the spa, reading a good book without worrying about business, a long planned vacation with family, having lunch with friends, sleeping in on the weekend, or even lounging in a warm bubble bath. Success means feeding your mind, body and spirit with appreciation for a job well done. Sit back, smile and enjoy the emotional and physical rewards of your success.

Professional and financial success without personal and spiritual fulfillment can be hollow and uninspiring. Doing business should put a smile on your face and a feeling of self-satisfaction in your heart. A happy business owner is a successful business owner!

About the Author

Sharon Michaels is a business coach and the author of How to Give Yourself the Power to Succeed(EmPOWERing Publications, 1996). She produces and hosts the weekly radio show, Women Enjoying Success, interviewing and sharing the strategies of self-made successful women. Learn more at: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Sharon-Michaels . Read Sharon’s blog,  http://www.SharonMichaels.com/powertosucceed , check out her weekly Ezine, Unlimited Success for Women and visit her website at http://www.sharonmichaels.com

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