By Tina Hilton of Clerical Advantage 

I was reading an article on self assessment over at Businessweek Online , and as usual, my brain spun off in a different direction. The article related the fact that the author had included several areas that they saw in themselves that needed improvement.  I’m sure the supervisor that read that did a double take.  When giving a self-assessment of ourselves,  how often are we really that honest? 

When is the last time as a home office entrepreneur you sat down and truly assessed your strengths and weaknesses?  And is it important?  I say yes, it’s vitally important to do a self assessement on a regular basis.  I know, just one more thing to think about doing, right?  Let me tell you why I feel it’s as important as many of the other things you do for your business.

First, it gives you a clear picture of where your weaknesses lie, and as such you can either focus on strengthening them or find a way to work around them.  For example, I know that in the late afternoon it’s much harder for me to focus on client items, etc. than in the morning or evening. I’ve sat in front of the keyboard, bouncing back and forth between Twitter, Facebook, e-mail…all the while feeling badly because I should have been working.  I ended up adjusting my schedule so that I do my errands and head to the gym at that time of day. I start client items earlier in the morning to adjust. Instead of sitting in front of the computer getting nothing done, now those hours are put to good use and my work is still getting done just fine. Knowing where you struggle can be an important part of making your business run smoother.  Maybe for you, it’s corresponding with clients, writing that blog post or writing that newsletter.  The point is, if you can pinpoint it, you can come up with a solution, like a virtual asssistant maybe?

But self assessment isn’t all about the negatives, recognizing the positives is equally, if not more important.  As hard as it is, being in a service related business means selling yourself.  So many of us, and that includes me, end up selling our skills instead.  But clients don’t just want skills, they want someone who knows how to use those skills to their best advantage.  They want someone confident in their abilities to utilize those skills.  So if we’re wondering why clients aren’t flocking to our website, or the phone isn’t ringing off the hook with requests it’s probably because we haven’t assessed our strong points and sold them.  I’m guilty of this one, big time. 

My years of administrative experience and personal computer geekdom have left me with tons of skills, many of which I have listed on my website and in my marketing materials.  However, looking at things with a critical eye I can clearly see that I haven’t said anything about my love of writing, my writing abilities and creativity ( equals superior blog posts, newsletters, etc for clients), my positive, friendly attitude that allows me to make connections with others easily (equals fantastic communication & customer service for clients), or my knack for envisioning how to make things work better and smoother (equals more time to make more money for clients).  Why not?  Because tooting my horn is hard. I even have a hard time asking others to toot that danged horn for me.  By really concentrating on self-assessment, I’ve come to the conclusion that it doesn’t pay to be ’shy’. I know I can provide clients excellent services that they will be extremely pleased with, so why am I not telling them so? 

How about you?  Have you done an honest self assessment lately? Go ahead, then use it to make your business better.