Nothing sucks the energy and enthusiasm out of an entrepreneurial business faster than the daily drudgery of doing paperwork, checking email, responding to requests and any other mind numbing administrivia. Before you know it, you start to dread working in your business and even question why you started it in the first place.
Reconnecting with your passion on a daily basis
#1: Do what you love about your business – Often as the business grows, the entrepreneur (out of necessity) steps out of the doing and into a more operations management role.
A simple way to reconnect with your passion is to dip your toes in the talent part of your business and do what you love everyday. For example, if your passion is the creative work, do an hour of creative work to start your morning.
#2: Keep a file labeled “Nice Notes” – Often our entrepreneurial purpose is to serve a particular need in the marketplace so start a paper file folder and an email file folder for customer feedback, success stories and any positive reviews on your company.
Make it a daily ritual to take a 5-minute break to reread your “Nice Notes” and reconnect with the people why of your business.
#3: Create a ‘Purpose Board’ – Think of it as a Vision Board, but focused on the present. Your Purpose Board should depict why you do what you do.
For example, a Purpose Board for a work-at-home mom entrepreneur may include photos of children, words and quotes that capture your family values, letters from family and friends, and stories that remind you of your favorite family moments.
#4: Reward your efforts – All work and no play makes mommy a dull (and grumpy) girl. Set daily goals and reward yourself for meeting them.
Rock out to your favorite Girl Power theme song with your 3-year-old, treat yourself to an afternoon latte for a virtual coffee date with a girlfriend or buy that new pair of “Oh-so-fabulous” shoes.
#5: Review your progress – Building a work-at-home business often feels like a steady uphill battle because each growth milestone leads to more ever-increasing milestones.
Step back and look at how far you’ve come because unless you purchased an existing business, you started from zero. You earned every last one of them so take a moment to pat yourself on the back for a job well done.
6 Comments
In addition to your points I would add create a bit of space (mental and physical) to just think of all the great things about what you do and advantages of having a home business. It is all to easy to get overfocussed on the negatives which allows them to become bigger and overshadow the numerous positives.
Thanks, I really needed this today. Having a bit of the entrepreneurial blues today! Have a great week! 🙂
It’s so true that the negatives can easily overshadow the positives.
Often we tend to take for granted how truly lucky we are to be able to work-from-home and raise our children the way we want. Thank you for the reminder, Ali!
You are welcome, Christine! The entrepreneurial blues happen (to all of us)! That’s when I pull out all the wonderful comments and emails I get from our readers and reconnect with why I doing what I’m doing.
Hang in there! You’ve got a community of support around you!
Love these ideas — especially the ‘purpose board’ one. It is easy to get so focused on the business that we forget WHY we are doing it. 🙂 I hope that all of my hard work now will pay off in the future for my kids and family — as well as all of the online business owners that I am helping along the way! — Tara
Great suggestions Carla! I love the purpose board too! Fill it with everything that inspires you and make sure to tap into at least one of these inspirations every single day! Another way to stay firmly planted in your entrepreneurial passions is to keep a journal – write 3 things you are grateful for each morning and three successes you had during the day every night. This way, you focus on what is working and what you love about every day! Great post, Mama C! 🙂