As an entrepreneur, you know full well how the daily grind and responsibility of operating your business can create pressure that requires you to carry the full weight of it squarely on your shoulders.
Oftentimes when this occurs, all of us can use a little inspiration that can pick us up as well as refocus us at times like these.
With this focus clearly in mind, below are five self-motivating tips you can ponder, when you need them, and as long as you need them.
Fear of Failure
In an article that he wrote for Bloomberg, Mark Cuban stated that he uses the fear of failure for self-motivation.
He says,
No matter what business you’re in, you’re always at risk, particularly in technology, where it changes so rapidly you’ve got to put in the effort to keep up.
There’s always the opportunity for some 18-year-old to come out of nowhere and crush you, that motivates the hell out of me.
Every one of my companies, whether something I started or something I invested in, is a scoreboard. How am I doing? A lot of investors or advisers play it as a numbers game.
If they invest in 20 companies, as long as one success covers 19 losses, they did OK. I look at every loss as a huge failure. I had an investment go bad recently. I lost $1.5 million on it. It pisses me off to no end.
You can also use it as motivation. What did I do wrong? Who did I trust that I shouldn’t trust? What can I learn from this situation so I can avoid it next time?
Mark Cuban, Shark Tank panel member
If you have a business failure in your past, or are facing a similar situation now, ask yourself these (below) very self-reflecting Mark Cuban questions.
Enjoy Your Journey
If you’re like every other entrepreneur, you have a dream that’s worth pursuing.
Whatever your goals, dreams and desires are, know that every step you take either brings you closer to fulfilling it, or takes you farther away from it.
A proven way to achieve your goals is to break your end goal down into individual and very manageable small steps.
Each step you take and fulfill along the way, is one more achievement that is taking you closer to accomplishing your entire dream.
By turning your dreams into a series of small steps, you will begin to enjoy the journey, and you will be keenly motivated to see it through to the end.
Transform the Current State of Affairs
Doing the same thing day in and day out can become boring and monotonous. As an entrepreneur this can also happen to you.
If you’re a business owner who enjoys new challenges, try developing a different, and or a better way to improve your business processes, policies and company culture.
Review your operation and if you see a way to improve the way you do things, change it up. Try calling up some of your clients and as a courtesy and ask them if there’s anything you can do for them.
You will find reaching out to your customers in this way will pay you back many times over. The bottom line is… don’t hesitate to break a traditional approach to doing things.
Find Out What Other Successful Entrepreneurs Have Done
If you’re an entrepreneur, you know it can be quite exciting to discover what other thriving entrepreneurs have done on their way to being successful.
Some of the benefits from doing this include:
- Learn from their mistakes
- Understand business strategy and planning for a budding business
- Learn innovative ways of promoting products and services
- Understand what helped to be truthful to their business
Talk about Your Business
A big motivator for you as an entrepreneur is the pride you should have as the owner of your own business.
Make it a point to tell others about your business. You can also promote your business by chatting with people on Facebook and other social media platforms.
You can also connect with other entrepreneurs like yourself through forums or communities.
