In the beginning, you can’t contain your excitement! Your heart races whenever you think about it, you become animated when talking about it and you’re obsessed with learning about all its finer details. Sound familiar?
I believe starting a business is a little like starting a new relationship. It’s exhilarating at first, then you settle into a comfort zone where everything seems to be working just fine. But what happens when those little things you instantly forgave in the early days, start to bring you down and start to make you fall out of love with your business?
If your business is more take than give, you will eventually run of what’s needed to keep the love between you. You might find that activities you find boring and difficult test your patience and frustration sets in.
Thankfully, if there is still a smouldering affection for your business, you can quickly rekindle the flames of love… Ask yourself some questions:
Are your business goals aligned with your personal goals so that your business can provide the things you love?
I often refer back to the big question – why did you start this business? What was the driving force behind your decision to make a change? Sometimes the answer is very much on the surface – to do it better, or differently from what I’ve experienced, to reduce stress, or to have more money. But I think the real answer to ‘why?’ runs much deeper.
Keeping a connection between your why and aligning that end goal with the activities you undertake within your business is the key to building a business that provides a life you love.
Before you can reach your end goal, there are inevitably smaller steps to take that create the opportunities to get you there. So, the next question is:
Where are you in your business, right now?
Be honest about your skills, knowledge and understanding of your business. Here you might discover that you’ve overestimated your capabilities, and more training or outsourcing will give you more confidence, and ultimately happiness.
Take a retrospective view of your journey so far, are you where you thought you’d be when you started? Do you have the income, the right type of customer, are you doing the sort of work that makes you happy? Is your equipment and software sufficient? Which leads us to the next question:
Where are the gaps in your business?
Many business owners attempt to leap over the gaps in their business and find that they struggle to keep a steady footing. But being honest about those gaps and researching methods to help you overcome them with smaller steps is the way to ensure your business activities stay manageable. Because, if you find yourself floundering you may need to ask yourself this question:
Do you suffer with imposter syndrome?
Much like with relationships, if you notice gaps in your business you may become paranoid that you’re simply not good enough to satisfy the needs of your customers and/or employees. The way I challenge imposter syndrome is by being methodical and logical. Taking the emotion out of the moment.
You have customers that pay you for your skills and time. That’s one way to know for sure that you are doing a good job! There are many ways you can tackle this issue, which I talk more about in the blog, ‘Beat Imposter Syndrome in Your Business’.
I’ll ask you to consider one last question:
How do you connect with your vision?
Going back to your big end goal, and all the small steps between here and there, how do you ensure you stay connected to your why? How do you keep that end goal front of mind to remind you that your lack of capability, those gaps in your business and those moments of self-doubt are actually all just part of the journey?
I recommend creating vision boards – not just one, but maybe an annual board to check off the smaller achievements throughout the year. But always keep a reminder of your big important reason why…
If you’re falling out of love with your business, try to connect with the reason why you got into the relationship in the first place, remind yourself of all the good times, look forward to more in the future and since your business is not a sentient being, this one really can be changed to suit you better!
Can I help you fall back in love with your business? Let’s have a conversation…