Being a business owner comes with a variety of challenges. The list of jobs to do is never ending even if you do outsource some of them. There are still many things which you just know you have to do yourself. Sometimes being a business owner can feel like being on a treadmill endlessly moving from task to task without actually moving on.
How much time is available to step outside of your business to think about where you want to get to and how to get there? We all know this is what we should do but its not that easy. Which takes priority - work that you get paid for or planning for the future? It is hard to get off the treadmill and really take time to look ahead and work on things that will make your business better for you, for your employees and for your customers.
Making time to do that is much more difficult if you have lost the motivation to develop your business. I am sure all business owners have times when they just feel stuck in a rut with no inclination or inspiration to change things. Whilst we all need to have some downtime chugging along happily - after all we can't be changing how we do things every day - we do need to be mindful of the saying "if you do what you have always done you will always get what you always got".
So business owners do have to change the way they do things from time to time in order for the business to grow and develop to become the business that they would really like to be with the income that they would really like to have. Staying in that rut is a lot easier than pulling yourself out of it and burying your head in the sand is a lot easier than facing up to challenges. But neither of those things make a good business.
We all need someone or something to inspire and motivate us. Whether that is an inspirational quote, something someone said or something you saw which suddenly gives you the enthusiasm to do something different. For me just talking things through with someone who is on the same wavelength as me re-ignites my enthusiasm and inspires me to get on with the things which are outside of my comfort zone but which I know I should be doing. Of course not everyone can give you that motivation and sometimes it comes from an unexpected source but we do all need to talk over our plans and progress with someone who gives us the inspiration we need.
Working towards Investors in People last year was a real motivation for me. It took a lot of work to put the foundations in place that we needed to have to achieve the Award and of course those foundations are not just temporary. They are the building blocks for the management and development of the people in the business. Our recent mid term review reminded me that these building blocks are under constant development as the business grows and changes. The assessor was my inspiration to look ahead and work towards the next level.
Every business has a future but only you as the business owner can get to the future and inspire your team to support you on that journey. Getting to where you want to be is daunting but small steps is the way to go.
