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Mentor to Student to You
- By Phillip Skinner
- Published 06/8/2009
- Letters to a Friend
- Unrated
Take a Break
That's true to a point. However, there are
things you can do to rekindle your passion. If you're doing something that
you truly love deep down inside, a gentle reminder can bring that back to the
surface and steer you back onto the right track.
Take a Break
During the startup phase of your
business, you probably worked very hard. You had to come up with the money needed to get going, set up your
office/retail space/website, get all of your paperwork in order, and much more.
Then you had to market your business effectively to start bringing customers
in. Perhaps you put in insane amounts of overtime to get things going. It may
have paid off, but it probably also left you feeling exhausted.
This phenomenon is known as burnout.
It can happen at any time, not just following startup, and it's a real passion
zapper. So what do you do about it? Take
a breather!
Immersing yourself in your business is not a
bad thing. It can help you become profitable faster. We've all heard this
saying: "All work and no play
makes Johnny a dull, dull boy." It also makes him
cranky, which can have an adverse effect on the business. Taking a week off and
having some non-work related fun could help him regain focus and remember why
he chose the profession he's in.
Outsource
When getting started in business,
sometimes we have to wear many hats. Limited funds might prohibit hiring employees to take care of the
administrative tasks, marketing and other things that are necessary to get
things going. When you're going into business to do something you love, you
don't mind doing those things for a while. After a while, it starts to get old.
When you're juggling all sorts of tasks,
it's easy to lose sight of the reasons you wanted to do what you're doing for a
living. You get bogged down with paperwork and other tasks that are essential
yet not the focus of your business. That's one reason why it's so important to outsource these things.
If you can outsource from the beginning,
that's great. In many cases, business owners start out doing these things for
themselves. If you're still doing everything on your own out of necessity, try
setting a sales goal. When you reach that goal, reward yourself by hiring out
some of the work you don't care for to a contractor. You'll have the
opportunity to hand it off to someone who is a professional, and you'll free up
your time to concentrate on more enjoyable (and profitable) activities.
Talk to Someone Who Understands