You may read the previous posts here.
A is for Ambition
B is for Business Plan
C is for Customer Connection
D is for Distractions
*******
F is for Fatigue
If
it was easy, everyone would be doing it. Being an entrepreneur is not
easy. Building up your own business from scratch takes time, effort,
money and the ability to stay strong during the slow periods and
transitions. For a woman entrepreneur starting from scratch it can be
quite challenging to keep her focus on growing the business, especially
when she has to constantly split her attention between the business and
her other responsibilities to home and family.
One reason why so many start ups of women entrepreneurs fail within the first year, is the fatigue that hits them trying to do the balancing act. This can be crippling when the family members do not support her efforts. Experiencing a few road blocks when you run a business is normal. It is to be expected, so don't think that you have failed. Now is when you need to pull up your socks and decide what you need to do differently going forward.
One reason why so many start ups of women entrepreneurs fail within the first year, is the fatigue that hits them trying to do the balancing act. This can be crippling when the family members do not support her efforts. Experiencing a few road blocks when you run a business is normal. It is to be expected, so don't think that you have failed. Now is when you need to pull up your socks and decide what you need to do differently going forward.
Trying to do everything together is not a good idea. The focus would change each day based on your priorities. Some day it may be more important to sit with your child and get them to learn the Pythagoras theorem, than to call up potential customers and discuss your new discount offer. No two days are ever the same in the life of an entrepreneur. You will always have many balls in the air and you need to become proficient in juggling them.
At the same time you need to learn to take care of yourself and your personal needs. Everything hinges on you. Your home, your family, your business, it all runs on your personal energy. If you are running yourself ragged, nothing is going to go well. You need to not just prioritize but also delegate the non essential tasks to someone you trust to do a good job. Killing yourself trying to do it all, is simply not recommended.
The Exercise
What You Will Need: Time to rest and introspect
Have you reached a point where nothing you do seems to give you happiness. That all things seem to be dragging you down? The first thing to do is to give yourself a well deserved break. This can be in the form of a day of self pampering. If you can hand over the duties of your daily responsibilities to your spouse or another trusted adult, just physically remove yourself from the home and do things that bring you a sense of joy.
The day's break will rejuvenate you. Plus once the day of rest is over you will be eager to get back to the main work that has been bothering you. Consider the recent failures to meet your goals. You need to analyze what is going wrong. You know that you are trying to do your best, however are you actually being able to consistently give your business your best?
Are you connecting with your clients and building a relationship with them? The idea here is not to sell them things, but to help them. As soon as you begin to make a difference in their lives, they will be happy to buy from you.
Think about both external and internal factors that are holding you back from your success. Internal factors will include your own attitude, your level of motivation and the energy you bring to the work. External factors will include time wasters in the form of chores and people, responsibilities that you can't circumnavigate, business trends and the economy in general.
If it's beyond your control, don't dwell on changing it. Think of how you can work with it. If it's in your control, what are you waiting for? Just drift it over to what you want instead of what you are making do with. Here are some things to think about and take action on.
Have you reached a point where nothing you do seems to give you happiness. That all things seem to be dragging you down? The first thing to do is to give yourself a well deserved break. This can be in the form of a day of self pampering. If you can hand over the duties of your daily responsibilities to your spouse or another trusted adult, just physically remove yourself from the home and do things that bring you a sense of joy.
The day's break will rejuvenate you. Plus once the day of rest is over you will be eager to get back to the main work that has been bothering you. Consider the recent failures to meet your goals. You need to analyze what is going wrong. You know that you are trying to do your best, however are you actually being able to consistently give your business your best?
Are you connecting with your clients and building a relationship with them? The idea here is not to sell them things, but to help them. As soon as you begin to make a difference in their lives, they will be happy to buy from you.
Think about both external and internal factors that are holding you back from your success. Internal factors will include your own attitude, your level of motivation and the energy you bring to the work. External factors will include time wasters in the form of chores and people, responsibilities that you can't circumnavigate, business trends and the economy in general.
If it's beyond your control, don't dwell on changing it. Think of how you can work with it. If it's in your control, what are you waiting for? Just drift it over to what you want instead of what you are making do with. Here are some things to think about and take action on.
- Setting the Right Intention for YOU!
- Connecting with your clients in a helpful manner, to them.
- Having proper promotion techniques and following them up.
- Help with your administrative duties related to the business.
- Regular analysis of the business in a month, quarter, half year and annually.
- Work out what things need to change and how you will bring about the change based on this analysis.
Good. Please continue the series. A to Z participant Narayana Rao Zero-Based Productivity Management
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