What do we mean by fall back in love with your business?
You’re probably familiar with these feelings at some point in your business:
You feel stuck?
We all get tired of being trapped in the rat race sometimes..
Maybe you’ve already achieved what you set out to do and you’re not sure what to aspire to next. Or, maybe you’re still a long way off achieving your business goals and you’re frustrated at how slow things are going?
You and your business are lacking the early innovation, energy or creativity you once thrived on
Are you tossing all your ideas in the trash? You probably didn't start off this way.
You’re not having any new ideas, or seeing any potential future pathways for your products or services.
You’re busy
Too busy sometimes – but you’re working too much ‘in’ your business and not ‘on’ your business. You feel like a hamster on a wheel and you can’t see the exit route.
Your organisation is full of ‘not enough’ people who can easily bring you down
They are the complete opposite of yes-men. If yes-men are enablers, no-men are disablers - and just as bad! They constantly tell you there isn’t enough money/time/resources and you start believing them.
Sounds pretty dire, doesn’t it?
If this were a relationship, you’d probably have put it out of its misery a long time ago and moved on to a more interesting and exciting partner!
But, this is your business, and it’s time to start falling in love all over again. And this starts by becoming intrigued by your business and getting back to basics…that’s why you started your business after all.
Michael E Gerber, author of The E-Myth Revisited, cites four main criteria to help a floundering passion for your business:
Dream
Go back to the start and remind yourself why you started your business in the first place.
What pain did you heal for your customers? Which gap in the market did you fill? Remind yourself of that feeling when you showed a customer how your product/service could help them and anchor that feeling. Whether your business has moved on from that initial offering or not, remember it, and embrace it once again.
Vision
Clearly something isn’t working how you want – that’s why you’ve fallen out of love. Identify what is and what isn’t working – be brutally honest. Who is helping to achieve the dream, or not? Who is aligned with your values and who’s just tagging along for the ride? Which systems and processes are helping or hindering your success? Which areas can you streamline?
Purpose
Despite where you want your business to go, think about your most important/lucrative customer and your impact on them. This is the purpose of your business, but through ‘busy work’ you may have forgotten them along the way. Get back to the ‘why’ of your business for this customer and forget everyone and everything else for now.
Mission
The ‘how’. How will your dream, vision and purpose be facilitated? Do you need new systems/processes/people to make it happen? What can be automated and systemised to allow you the freedom (and time) to ensure your vision stays on track?
5 practical ways to fall back in love with your business
Don't give up on your business - it's not too late to rekindle the flame.
1. Refocus
Being too busy in your business doesn’t allow you to focus on what makes you happy, and ultimately what your business does best. So, refocus your attention to what really matters and get back on track with your business’ core mission.
2. Automate and outsource what you can
More specifically, identify the areas that need to be done, but that you are not passionate about and find practical ways to avoid doing them. Spending time on things you hate will never make you enjoy them!
3. Surround yourself with enough of the right people
These are people who recognise what your business has achieved, but who also want more – they bring excitement, zest and innovation wherever they can and reignite your passion for your business through their energy.
4. Exercise gratitude
Look at what your business has achieved. Use your enterprise data to see just how far you have come – you might just surprise yourself!
5. Get excited about the future
There will always be things to dampen your excitement (economic climate, digital disruption, world events etc.) but rediscover your passion for what you want to achieve in your business and ignore the naysayers. Use best in class analytics to identify ways your business can grow and evolve – give yourself something to get truly passionate about!
At the end of the day, any type of relationship takes time, commitment, and passion to work.
Don't get stuck so deep in the day to day running of your business that you lose sight of the bigger picture and start resenting your business!
We hope this post helps you to fall in love all over again with the business painstakingly built. If you’re ready to fall back in love with your business but need some help and support to do so, contact your business coach or mentor, who can show you just how lovable your business already is and how fantastic the relationship can become.
Image Credit: Photo by Bart LaRue on Unsplash
A version of this post has been published in my blog