Becoming an entrepreneur is easy.
Wait, let me back up.
Having the idea that you’ll start your own business is easy. Coming up with good ideas is fairly easy. Most people have good ideas for businesses in their head.
Some dream about what it would be like to take that idea and run. Some go a bit further and get that idea off the ground with a brand new business.
Both of those stages are pretty easy. They’re fun and exciting, but like with everything in life the adrenaline will wear off at some point. Then you need to find out if you have the real motivation to continue to move forward.
If you’ve reached the point where you’re lacking a little motivation (or if you want to prevent that from happening as much as possible) then here are some tips.
1. Use Kid Rock’s 24-Hour Rule
I swear this came from an interview I read or watched with Kid Rock. He has a personal rule that if something goes bad with his life or his business he takes 24-hours. He acknowledges whatever has happened, but he doesn’t react right away. His experience has taught him that acting in the moment leads to poor outcomes.
Instead, he takes a day and let’s himself get back to a normal emotional state. Then he assesses what needs to be done. He’s found that it leads to much better results.
The lesson for business owners is that anything that happens – good or bad – is usually not as extreme as it might seem in the moment. Something might be negative, but if you give it a day it likely won’t seem as negative and you’ll be better prepared to plan your reaction to keep moving forward.
This also helps motivation. If you give yourself time to reflect and come down emotionally you won’t feel as down or unmotivated when negative things happen.
2. Find Someone That Listens (And Doesn’t Provide Advice)
This can actually be pretty difficult to find in life. Many people will listen to the first thing you say and even before you’re done they’re dishing out advice.
Nothing will drive you crazier than that. You’ve probably experienced it. I know I have.
I know I’m also guilty of it. I’m trying to get better, but I know I still slip, but that’s for another post.
Find someone that will just listen to you without judgment. We all need to express what’s happening to us in life sometimes. We just need to get something out. Just telling someone something often allows our brain to process the information and we can come up with ideas and solutions on our own.
Find someone that listens. They repeat what you say to acknowledge that they get it. They tell you they understand. They ask questions.
Find that person and hang onto them and reciprocate.
This helps motivation by allowing you time to process negative things in your business that can take away from your motivation.
3. Help A Client
If you’re in a state where you’re struggling to move forward in your business then stop what you’re doing and do something to help a client.
The simple act of helping someone else is motivating. It makes you feel good. It helps the other person, but it really helps you.
And this is good for your business!
When you’re helping your clients you’re helping your company.
Do this without prompting. Take a look at what your business is doing. Look at what you already do for them and do something extra for no charge. It doesn’t have to be over-the-top. Keep it simple.
4. Help An Employee Or Partner
Take the same idea of helping and help an employee or a partner. Go and talk with an employee. Just talk with them about their life and their ambitions. Sit there without judgment and just listen. See if there is someway that you can help them with something they’re struggling with in the short-term, but also if there is something you can help them with for their long-term goals.
This can be a win-win for each of you. It will get you back on track of doing something that makes you feel good and that’s motivational for yourself and it helps the other person.
5. Maintain A Long-Term Goal
We can get frustrated in the moment if we look at something and it’s not going how we planned. We can look at the day, the week, the month or even the year and think that we’re not meeting our goals.
When that happens think back to your long-term goal. This is your 5, 10, 20 or more goal. Create one of these goals if you don’t have one. When you’re having a bad month or whatever just look back on what you’re trying to achieve in the long-term and it will help snap you back into the right frame of mind and you can get back on tracking working toward that goal.
We all need small goals that help us work everyday toward something, but those small goals can negatively impact our emotions if we focus on them too much.
6. Make Time For A Hobby You Love
It’s easy to get burned out on your business. Even if you love your business you can get burned out if it’s all you’re doing. I’ve read a number of autobiographies of entrepreneurs and most of them had hobbies.
Saml Walton played tennis everyday. He was very involved with his family. Many others had hobbies and it helped to keep them sane. It helped to get them away from the business so that they could refresh and come back motivated to work when it was time to work.
Find a hobby or pastime that you enjoy and make time for it. Join a league. Join a weekly group. Do something regularly that you can look forward to outside of work.
7. Eliminate Unnecessary Daily Tasks
Nothing will demotivate you more than filling up your day with unnecessary tasks that keep you busy, but don’t keep you moving forward. If you’re struggling with motivation then take a step back and take an entire morning or day and assess everything you do every day of the week.
See if each task is really in line with your life and business priorities.
Then remove the unnecessary ones.
It will feel good to remove things from your life. You’ll feel free. And once you notice what’s really important you should get a rush of motivation.
Conclusion
Motivation is a tricky thing. It’s almost always there when you first start a business or have an idea. But once the initial rush wears off it can be tough to keep moving forward. And even if you’ve been doing something for awhile you can lose your motivation during a rough patch. Hopefully the tips above can help you work on things and move forward. Sometimes even a little fix can lead to big changes in your life and in your business.