Motivate yourself through the ups and downs of business ownership
So, you’ve decided to become your own boss. Great choice!
But now you’re several months in and you’re finding that your motivation is waning. Perhaps you’ve heard a few more “no”s than you were mentally prepared to take. Or you’ve become so busy that your life is completely out of whack and your health is suffering.
Staying motivated in business ownership is a tough balance that every entrepreneur struggles with. Running a business is hard work, and can often feel very isolating. Using these best practices will help you structure your time, your mind, and your energy to stay motivated through the ups and downs of business ownership.
Start With Passion
They say “if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.” More accurately, if you love what you do you’ll work every day of your life. Because you’ll always be thinking about how you can improve in your field. How you can be a better version of yourself, grow your business, provide better products and/or services to your clients. If you love what you do, you put personal value in everything that you do.
Your personal values and mission drive your passion, and they will keep you going much longer and further than money and external recognition alone ever will.
And it’s that passion that will get you through the tough times that every entrepreneur experiences from time to time—both in their personal lives and in their businesses. It’s also that passion that will drive you to build a more valuable, resilient business so that tough times become fewer and have less depth.
Have A Plan
Creating a business plan is a little bit like going to the dentist for most business owners. We know we need to do it, but we just don’t want to and we put it off for as long as possible.
But a business plan can be a real motivating factor in your business ownership. Having a big, scary goal to work toward will give you that long-term drive to succeed. Then, set shorter term milestones that are smaller and attainable. Reaching these milestones gives you the confidence and energy boost you need to keep reaching toward that big, scary goal.
Finally, the execution plan in your business plan keeps you focused and accountable to your goals on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. Just remember to stay flexible in your execution plan. You’ll likely find that some things you thought were going to work great fall flat, or just need to be adjusted a bit. Have a growth-oriented mindset toward your execution plan, and be forgiving of yourself and the process as you learn, iterate, and grow.
Create A Routine
Business ownership isn’t all just glorious rocket launches and prime time interviews. There are big chunks of time when it’s a real slog. Creating a routine keeps you disciplined, alert, and focused on what you need to do to grow a successful business.
Your routine should start when you wake up in the morning and end when you go to bed at night. Build time in your routine for yourself—for meals, exercise, time with your loved ones, and time with yourself.
But also be very structured in your routine around your business. For example, set aside two hours every single day for different aspects of your marketing plan. Set aside a certain amount of time every week for administrative work, like billing, filing, and updating your CRM. And, of course, always make plenty of time for preparing for and servicing your clients.
Knowing what you are going to do every day when you get out of bed in the morning, and what you’ll do after that, and then after that, and so on will keep you motivated and focused on the important activities that you need to do every day. Every week. Every month.
Treat Your Self
Your “self” is your business’ most important asset—particularly when you’re in the start up and scale up stages of your business. Make sure you’re taking care of yourself so you can stay motivated and energized over the long days, weeks, and months that you are working hard to grow your business.
Taking care of yourself includes eating well, exercising regularly, and spending quality time with the people you love and care about. It’s also important to take both “micro” and “macro” breaks from your work. These breaks help you recharge your batteries to keep you motivated in your business.
Micro breaks are shorter breaks that may be one to four days where you’re mostly or entirely unplugged from your business. Use this time to work on yourself and relax. Taking many micro breaks is perhaps more important to your personal well being than taking that one big vacation every year.
Macro breaks are that one (or two or so) big vacations that you take every year. Maybe you take off to the beach or the lake for week or two and totally revitalize. The problem with macro breaks is that they tend to cause us a lot of stress leading up to the vacation, and then immediately upon our return. But they’re still so important to your ability to stay motivated and perform your best in your business and in your personal life. They’re also critical times in your life if you have a family, so your best to unplug from your business and your devices, compartmentalize your stress, and just enjoy your time away.
Motivation is a common issue for many business owners. Many people go into business with an idealized view of what it will be like to “be your own boss”. There are many elements to running your business that are going to be stressful and de-motivating. Keep structured with these best practices to keep yourself motivated to grow your business over the long run.
If you’re interested in learning about the benefits of running a Crestcom franchise business, contact us today!
