When you’re an up-and-coming entrepreneur, with everything going your way, it’s easy to get hung up on things that aren’t really that important to your business. One person decided he was spending too much time worrying about his business, so he went out and spent $8,000 on electronic music equipment to take his mind off his problems. Unfortunately, not only did it fail to alleviate his worry, it put him that much deeper into debt. When you’re in a small business, you need to focus on what’s important.

In order for a small business owner to focus on what’s important, he or she first needs to figure out what is important to his or her own business situation. Although you might at first think this would be a very subjective endeavor, in fact, there are some important things that are universal to every entrepreneur – and here are a few of them:

Although you’re a busy entrepreneur, don’t put things off that need doing today. Procrastination can hurt you – financially. As an example, the owners of a plant nursery had the busiest fall they’d ever had in sales. Usually giving their accountant monthly statements, they waited this year for five months. The good news from their accountant was that they’d realized a huge profit. The bad news was that they owed nearly $10,000 in taxes. If the nursery owners had turned in their paperwork in time to the accountant, they would have known to defray the tax bill by purchasing an expensive piece of equipment, such as a delivery van, that was sorely needed. But a valuable lesson was learned at their small business: Never put off what needs to be done today.

Small business owners must learn to pay attention. A lot of retailers and other business people blamed the downturn of the economy solely on the events of September 11, 2001. And it’s true, that disaster had far-reaching effects. But the economy had started to go sour before 9/11 happened. People just failed to respond. Learn to listen to your gut instincts, and when you see economic indicators – whether for the good or for the bad – take advantage of them. Don’t miss opportunities as an entrepreneur because you aren’t paying attention to current trends.

When the dot.com bubble burst, more than one entrepreneur learned that going back to the basics was a very good idea. You must have a legitimate product or service to sell – not just a concept. Just because something (read: a Web site) becomes fashionable, it doesn’t mean it’s a good idea with lasting appeal. There must something real to sell behind the Web site. That’s not to say that having an Internet presence is a bad idea, it just means a small business needs to decide whether or not having one is a fundamental – basic – necessity to produce more sales.

Prepare your small business for when "Happy Days are Here Again." When the stock market crashed in 1929 – a considerably worse experience than the downturn in the economy today – many business people reacted by jumping out the window. But some refused to panic, stuck to their guns, and came out the other end multimillionaires. So get your ducks in a row now with perhaps more advertising or stocking up on supplies, if you can possibly swing it without jeopardizing your bottom line. A smart entrepreneur realizes nothing lasts forever – even bad economic times.