How to Love Your Business at ANY Stage
This time last year, I was sitting on the beach on Coronado Island on a work vacation. It was magical! I spent a whole month with my son in my favorite place in the world, working minimal hours because I had an amazing team to help my business run smoothly without me.
That’s one of the things I really love about my business, that it allows me that kind of flexibility.
I wish I could say I’m writing this from that same sunny beach, but I’m not. I’m home in freezing cold Ohio because my son is in Kindergarten now and this season of my life simply doesn’t allow for a trip right now.
My business is also going through a growth spurt, which means it needs a little more attention and TLC from me.
However, I can honestly say that I love my business.
Do you love your business?
We often talk about being overworked, not having enough clients, not having the right clients, not making enough money, and things we want to change about our businesses.
Maybe you wish your business didn’t need so much attention right now.
Or maybe you wish it would just grow faster.
I’ve been at every one of those places and will probably be again at some point in the future.
We might want a lot of things to be different, but I urge you to take a quick time out and think about what you love about your business.
Think of it like a relationship. It’s easy to complain about our kids, our partners, and our family members. We might wish they were different and forget about the things we love about them.
Here’s the deal: focusing on what we love can improve the overall relationship.
We start to appreciate that person and remember what we like about them, which means we’ll probably be nicer to them and enjoy being with them.
The same is true for our business.
When you can look at what's not working in your business from a place of love instead of stress, the solutions reveal themselves. Click To Tweet
How Loving Your Business Helps You Grow
It’s way easier to make aligned, lasting change from a place of love than a place of stress and dissatisfaction.
You’ve probably noticed this in other areas of your life. When you love your body and truly want to take care of it, it’s a lot easier to make healthy lifestyle choices. When you feel love for your partner, communication is a lot easier and more fulfilling.
Let’s talk business.
My business is in a pretty good place at the moment, but it wasn’t always this way. Though I have plenty of clients and income right now, there were times when I wasn’t sure how to move forward or gain more clients.
I could have beaten myself up all day long and wallowed in my frustration. (Truth time, I did do that from time to time.) That just wasn’t productive because I was using my precious energy only focusing on the problems, not on the solutions.
When I was able to really look at what wasn’t working in my business from a place of love instead of stress, I found a solution.
For example, about a year and a half ago, tasks were falling through the cracks and things were getting disorganized.
I could have gotten frustrated at myself, my team, and my business in general, but I decided to focus on how much I love what I do, how much I enjoy working with my clients and my team, and the life this business allows me to live.
I focused on finding a solution and started exploring project management systems. I finally found one that fit, Teamwork. Today that piece of operations feels sooo much more aligned, and it’s getting better all the time as my team and I have learned how to utilize it better.
You might have to face some hard truths about what’s not working in your business and what the solutions actually are.
But before you can find solutions, you have to get to a place where you feel good about it and where you’re able to enjoy the process.
The confidence comes in the doing. You can start with an idea of how things should run, then you can make adjustments when you notice what works and what doesn’t. But you have to start doing something.
Love it first. Then you can attract more of what you love.
How to Love Your Business
I get that this is a tall order. So let’s start from the foundation.
What do you love about your business?
It could be super small, like maybe you love your brand colors or your web layout.
Maybe you really love what you do.
Maybe you adore your clients.
Focus on those bits, and get as specific as possible until you start feeling the warm and fuzzies for your business.
Now ask yourself this:
What would it take to really love your business if the previous question was hard for you?
What’s stressing you out?
What’s out of alignment?
What are some possible solutions?
Identify some spots that may not be running the way you'd like them to, and write down one thing you can do to move yourself closer to loving those parts of your business.
If these questions start stressing you out, take a break, walk away, and re-read/add to your reasons why you love your business before jumping back into brainstorming solutions.
Also, remind yourself that Rome wasn’t built in a day and begin making shifts and/or finding solutions in one area at a time.
I love the freedom my business allows. I can work from anywhere with an internet connection. I love my clients and my team and the work I do. I love that I can support myself, my son, and our dog in a very comfortable life.
Last February in Coronado was awesome. This February I’m in Ohio, and it’s still awesome.
Are there things I’d like to change? Sure! There are things I wish would run a little smoother. Not everything feels perfectly lined up yet, or not exactly where I want them to be, and that’s okay. I see where those things are and I can make a plan to straighten them out.
After identifying what I love, I can treat it and some of the other areas with more grace. I can craft a plan to do something about it that doesn’t have that blegh and stress.
And after all, doesn’t it feel better to love your business than to be frustrated with it?
Ready to make some changes so you can love your business? Let’s talk.
