In today’s business climate an average of 3 business out of 5 close their doors in the first three years of operations. This reminder is not to alarm you but to let you know that if you have considered giving up on your business, you are not the first to do so.
Here are five rock-solid reasons not to give up on the business that you love and some tips and tools on being happier and more profitable in business as well.
Reason #1: You don’t do business as the others do
You may have indulged in a little comparison or two against your business competitors and thought that you didn’t measure up. I remember reading somewhere that you should never compare your real life to someone else’s highlight reel. What do you really know about your business and how your clients experience doing business with you? If you poll your clients often enough, you will start to see a pattern of what people experience with you? Do you give them the plain truth that they are craving? Do you nurture them when they really need it? Do you have the coolest latest things for them to choose from? Do they love it that you have the most up to date techniques or tools in your industry? What will they miss if you don’t choose to keep your business doors open? What if you chose to honor the difference that you are in your business and reward yourself accordingly?
Reason #2: Your business wants to contribute to you
How often do you actually receive from your business? Not just money but energy? Often, we get stuck in the do do do of having a business and don’t actually ask to receive from our business. What if you took a whole day and only did the things that you actually enjoy in your business? Our point of view creates how we see our business and our day. Almost like having a day at the park with your business, what if you took an inventory of all the things that you love and receive from being in this business of yours? Would you be willing to give yourself a whole day of loving every aspect of your business and not doing the things that you don’t love? What would that change for you?
Reason #3: Your clients adore your business
Sometimes it may feel like they are a bit needy but there really is nothing like it when a client finally chooses something that they were not able to choose before or gets that “just right” thing from your business. It’s a high that lasts a few days, isn’t it? I remember reading somewhere, find a business that you would be willing to do for free. I am certainly not suggesting that you don’t create a profitable business, but the payoffs from your clients can be so rich that money is just another super awesome byproduct of your business. Feeling like amazing clients that delight you are a little too far and few between? Poll your favorite clients and find out what they got from working with you, why they chose to work with you and what they loved. That will be a great template on how to create more of that mutual love. I personally love the clients that I call Collie Dogs. I give them an idea or a concept that they can try in their life or business and they go ahead and try it right away. What qualities do you love about the clients who love your business?
Reason #4: You’ve got moxie
I read somewhere that if you don’t have moxie, you have no place owning a business. There are many ups and downs of owning a business and you having a strong center will assist you in all of them. Having a day where you aren’t sure why you are in business or unsure where you left your moxie? What if you gave yourself permission to take a whole day off? I dialogue with my business regularly and one of the questions I ask my business is, “Where would you like to go today to be more profitable?” Sometimes my business wants me to take a day off and rest. I heed the feedback and either seriously rest up or take some time outdoors in nature to recharge my business batteries. It may not be realistic to expect to work every day on your business. Sometimes you really do have to have a reset day. I find some of my best ideas come to me when I am having a massage or a day at the spa. I used to find it annoying that the ideas would come to me while I was supposed to be relaxing, but now I schedule in the relax time and know that the ideas will come.
Reason #5: The Perks
Of the dozens of reasons you got into your business, the perks have to be one of them. What benefits do you get from having this business? One of my perks is to travel. I always wanted to travel more and voila, now I travel for business often. I am now smart enough to schedule time before or after my workshops, so I can see the sights and really enjoy my time in the places I travel to. My husband is even able to travel with me when he chooses to. What perks of your business are you not taking advantage of? I remember working at a job that had excellent medical and health benefits and I was so crazy busy that I didn’t take advantage of them. What if you wrote down a list of the top 10 perks of being in the business that you are in and resolved to take advantage of every single one of them? Remember they are only perks if you are making use of them.
Give the business you love a winning chance by incorporating some of these tools and allowing yourself and your business to flourish.
ABOUT JENNIFFER CRAMER
Jennifer Cramer Lewis loves showing people simple changes they can make to drastically improve their financial welfare. With over 20 years in business and finance, including careers in Banking, Real Estate Sales and Management, and Mortgage Broking, she has always found it easy and natural to implement processes to heighten productivity. These skills combined with her love of people meant that financial coaching was a natural progression from working within other people’s businesses. She is a facilitator for Right Riches for You, a specialty program of Access Consciousness. She has written three bestselling books and is mum to two fantastic teens who are learning early to master the language of prosperity. Follow her on YouTube.