You have been running your small business for almost a year now. Since it hasn’t been that long, you still have plenty of stuff to do and people to help out. You have it by heart that success is reachable, and your dream remains. However, you lack perseverance. You find yourself lacking the motivation to carry on and planning on closing for good, or at least for a little while.
Whatever the reason for your drive to drop, whether the sales slow down or potential clients stop reaching out, remember that some things are just beyond your control and pretty much fixable. Your motivation is still the root of your business success, so don’t give up just yet.
For that, here are some ways to regain your motivation.
Revisit your goals
What was your goal when you first established your business? Didn’t you have so much hope and excitement within you? Generally, the business you’re trying to make happen builds around a clear mission and vision.
If you’re able to break every detail of your goals, either long-term or short-term ones, it should be enough to keep your business running. Small steps are still progress, and they keep propelling you to success. Remember that not everything will be a tremendous success in just a year.
What about your plan to put up another branch or engage in e-commerce? Are you planning on getting a mortgage for your dream home as a self-employed borrower? Once you remember each of your goals by heart, that should be enough.
Try a fresh approach
As your business progresses in the first few months, you have this routine that you do daily, weekly, and monthly. As time passes by, frankly, it gets boring. That’s when motivation can be disturbed.
So try adjusting your routine, even little by little, if you’re not comfortable with drastic change. As you change the way you do things, try changing how you think as well. This way, things will stop getting boring, and it’ll keep your motivation.
When you had just started your small business, one of your primary goals is, of course, to make stable money. However, constant motivation is achieved when you think of your business as more than just a way to earn money. Build your business from a perspective wherein it impacts the lives of the people who your business serves.
Stop Comparing Your Business to Others’
No two businesses are exactly the same. Once a toxic comparison hits your head, you will lack motivation and perseverance.
Instead, compare your own business now to how it was back when you were just getting started. Your first accomplishment, your first milestone. Remember them. If you could achieve them back then, you can definitely achieve now that you’ve grown and gotten even stronger.
If your motivation and perseverance continue, your success will most likely follow. Just have a neutral perception. Accept failures and learn from them. Remember, you can learn more from failure than you will ever do in success.
Take a break
Everybody needs and deserves a break every once in a while. As much as you love what you’re doing in your business or in your career, things can still be exhausting. If not, it may consume you, then destroy you in the long run. Therefore, it might affect your performance as well.
Sometimes, a break is all you need in order to start fresh and come up with new concepts and ideas. The more you self-care, the higher the chances of reaching your goals.
Build connections regularly
While human beings crave connection with fellow human beings, similar goes with your business. As much as you want to build a business on your own, you will eventually need the engagement of other people as well.
You can’t have consistent success if you’re just alone in your business. You can start by hiring new employees or a business partner for more strategic methods and goals.
Borrow money and get help
If you need help to upgrade or carry on your business, don’t be afraid to loan some extra cash from your trusted friends and family. It’s not like you’re asking for charity. Another option is to apply for a small business loan. Just be sure you have it all on record so you can keep track and include it in your plans once you’re making money again.
Furthermore, your friends and family are just there to lend you money. You can also ask for their time and feedback when practicing your sales pitch or beta testing your product.
Like everything else in life, building a business is not easy. It is a given fact that nothing is easy. Nonetheless, everything is doable when done with the right action, attitude, and perspective.
