As entrepreneurs and business owners it would be impossible to say that we haven’t had a bad day in business and were guilty of having thoughts of, ‘…it might be time to get a real job,’ instead of investing long days and longer nights on the business that we love.
These long days and nights may be the very reason that we are feeling like quitting. In “The Psychological Price of Entrepreneurship” by Jessica Bruder, Ms. Bruder writes about how difficult it really is to be an entrepreneur and how many entrepreneurs are feeling crucial pressure. She also shares that “before they made it big, they struggled through moments of near-debilitating anxiety and despair–times when it seemed everything might crumble.”
If you are feeling the burn mentally, you are not alone. In 2018, study published reported a whopping 72% of entrepreneurs self-reported mental health concerns.
So, what do you do with that? Turn and run from entrepreneurship? Stay the course and ask questions about how to streamline the parts of your business that are keeping you up at night?
I would like to share my five reasons to never quit the business that you love. It is my hope that these five tools will help you stay the course:
Reason #1
You are valuable as a business owner and entrepreneur. You have done the work to be excellent at what you do and are an evolving masterpiece. Some days may be harder than others to believe yourself a masterpiece at what you do. On those challenging days, I have a folder on my computer that I open called, “Jennifer’s Fans and Fav’s” that has all the comments and reviews and shout-outs that I have received over the years. I have a look at them and remember the transformations that have taken place. Doing so, reminds me that the work that I do is valuable and also reminds me that I am an evolving masterpiece. Some days it looks a bit messier than other days. It is important to take stock of the changes that you have made in people’s lives not only from a business and social proof perspective, it is valuable to be able to view them in the times that you are not 100% sure that you are on the right track.
Tool #1 Take a break and read your Fan Mail.
Reason #2
What if that “get a real job” chatter in your head is not even you? Have you picked up the phone and called someone before they called you? Have you finished someone’s sentences? “It’s a perceptual ability I call mindsight,” says Daniel Siegel, UCLA Psychiatrist and Author of “The Mindful Brain” about our ability to scour our environment and pick up clues and cues, often right out of someone else’s head. It is a natural survival mechanism that we can begin to use to our advantage if we can switch the thoughts around to create more useful thought patterns.
So, what can you do with those thoughts? You can ask yourself, “Is this really my thought?” If you get a no, then you can ask yourself, “What do I choose to replace this thought with now?” “What valuable information am I getting from this thought?” “Who am I aware of that may be thinking this right now?” “Is this something for me or someone else?”
Tool #2: Question the thoughts in your head.
Reason #3
People are inspired by you. They may not always say it, in fact, they may say the opposite to you and around you. It reminds me of a meme I saw recently that said something like, “When you hate me and still watch everything I do, you are a fan!” What if you are inspiring by not quitting? What if you are inspiring by how far you’ve come already? Some days when I think “this is too hard or “I can’t get this done” I take a few minutes and journal all of the things that I have done that I previously thought were too hard or that I thought I could not complete. What if you took a few minutes and were truly grateful for all the challenges that you have overcome already in your life? Truly grateful for your tenacity? What would that change for you? In the words of Nelson Mandela, “It always seems impossible until it’s done”.
Tool #3: Journal what you’re already grateful for
Reason #4
You are a risk-taker! Remember, you didn’t get into business ownership to be safe. Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard to found Microsoft. Remember what got you into this business you love in the first place. What is it that you continue to love about this business and continue to take risks and leaps out of your comfort zone for? I remember when I left my corporate job, I wondered if I would ever make that kind of money again. I also had a vision of what was truly possible for me and took giant risks to create my coaching and training business. In the last 12 months I have travelled to Hawaii, Houston, Bali, Mexico, Hong Kong, Australia and am now planning on travelling to Russia. Pretty audacious for someone who didn’t take a fly away vacation until she was 28 years old. Rae Kroc, the founder of McDonalds famously said, “If you are not a risk taker, get the hell out of business.”
Tool #4: Remind yourself how truly brave you are.
Reason #5
You adore your business and it feeds more than just your wallet. As a business owner and entrepreneur, I just love talking about business! I love having discussions on how to have a better marketing funnel or how to have more employee or client engagement. I can stay up late working on my latest idea until the middle of the night and still get up again the next morning to keep on working. Isn’t it so exciting that the work till you drop for someone else is behind you now? Can you use that to your advantage and be your own best talent? Your business feeds your hunger for excellence, your heart for providing great products and services and also puts the bacon in the pan. How amazing is that?
Tool #5: Ask yourself “Who can I serve today that will grow my business right away?”
