Guest Post: Entrepreneurs - Surviving Burnout and Achieving Success Year after Year

by

Diana Ennen

Having your own business for the most part totally rocks! You’re the boss. You get to decide what goes on in the day-to-day operations, and most importantly you have a big influence in how fat that bank account looks. Life is good! But as many entrepreneurs will admit, it’s not always as easy as it sounds. And especially for those that have been in business for years, it can be challenging to keep excited about their biz. Not too worry, we are here to help.

Here are tips on Building and Maintaining a Successful Business:

·         You need to remain passionate about what you are doing. That’s the only way to keep going and face those odds, exhaustion and temptation to throw in the towel. You aren’t going to love what you do every day, but on the whole you have to believe in it and want to continue doing it.

·         Day to Day Business – You have to work your business right. And when you’ve been in business a while, let’s admit it, we can get just a tad bit lazy or bored. You don’t have the same jump and down ambition that you had in the early days, and that’s AOK. But you do need to once in a while give yourself a jumpstart. When you notice that you are getting tired and cranky of doing the same thing day in and day out and things take you three times longer because your heart just isn’t into it, that can be a sign a change is needed.

The good news is as an entrepreneur you can easily change. You don’t have to give up your business or your awesome clients. Figure out ways to get the passion and fun back. It can be as simple as adding new specialties or it can mean a complete reboot is necessary. Just be willing to evaluate it, know you need to do something, and then commit to doing it. Just do whatever it takes to get the energy and excitement back. And one more thing, don’t feel guilty at all because of this. It happens to the best of us. The smart entrepreneurs are those that recognize it and make the necessary changes.

·         Marketing can be Fun Too – We know marketing your own business almost always gets put on the back burner, especially when you aren’t as into your business as you once were. Now this can be a critical mistake. What you need to do is get back your marketing mojo. You do this by first doing something you really enjoy. The goal is to get you back into the marketing mode. When you do something fun, that can help and not feel like such a chore. Now add to it. Slowly add in more marketing that you know has been successful in the past. Before long, you’d be back at it and not even realizing you are doing it. Then the marketing magic happens.

·         Boundaries – Keep Them - We all know about boundaries. And we all know that they are hard to keep. Let clients know as a business owner and a valuable resource to them, you work best within those boundaries you have set. Reassure them that this enables you to always give 100%. Now, there might be times that a client really needs you and if it works out for you, then you can be a little flexible. Just let them know this needs to be an exception, not be the norm. If you do have to work an evening or weekend, take Friday afternoon off. Just remember to do what works best for you and your business.

·         Take Time for you -  I know everyone tells you to do this and next week when you have more time and this project is over you will. Stop it already! Take out your planner right now. Turn to next week and schedule in some “me” time. Now next week it might be a little difficult because you might already be booked, but do this for the upcoming month. Consider doing it at the same time each week so it becomes more of a habit. Now stick to it as much as you can. Consider getting an accountability partner who you love to talk with who can motivate you and inspire you to keep doing this. Just getting to talk with someone else, and truly be honest helps!

See how easy it is to keep your business going. The last thing to remember is sometimes you just need to take a break. It’s AOK to take a few days off and really think about what you want in your business. Go to the beach or get a change of scenery to get out of the office. It works. And of course, if you need help, consider hiring it. You don’t have to do your business alone and most businesses thrive because they realize this.

Diana Ennen, President of Virtual Word Publishing, www.virtualwordpublishing.com offers PR and Marketing services and PR and Virtual Assistant Coaching. She’s the co-author of Virtual Assistant - The Series: Become a Highly Successful, Sought After VA and So You Want to be a Work-at-Home Mom.