How to motivate yourself as a small business owner

3 strategies that help

Running a business can be a lonely thing. I remember quite early in my business I suddenly had this thought “I could quit now and nobody would care but me”.

Since then, I’ve rarely had these moments of feeling very alone and unmotivated. But I think we all go through such periods as small business owners.

Today I want to share three quick strategies to explore to help you motivate yourself in your business.

Take a step back

We often feel unmotivated either because we feel like nothing is happening, or because we’re so deep in the day-to-day that it’s started to feel like a slog. Either way, take a moment to take a step back.

What did you set out to do when you started your business? How did you want to feel? How do you feel now? Can you put your finger on what has changed?

Identify the stories in your head

As small business owners—especially those of us who want to run a business away from hustle-culture and the norm—we’re often confronted with ideas around how we should or shouldn’t run our business. It might be an actual person in your life, or an inner critic in your head, but we all know the phrase “It will never happen”.

If you’re currently unmotivated because of those voices, take a moment to confront them (I recommend writing down or mindmapping this).

Whose stories are in your head? And where do other people’s stories come from? It might be that aunt that tells you that running your own business will never work. Where does that come from? And how relevant is what she says for you? What about her comment hurts you?

Identifying whose stories I was carrying around and learning to reframe them has been big in business, and in my life. This post on trusting yourself as a business owner touches into dealing with these stories.

How do you measure success?

No matter why you started your business, making money is a key part of running a business. Especially when we feel unmotivated or when sales are down, it can be really easy to get stuck in a scarcity mindset, or focus so much on the numbers that you only get more unmotivated.

While, of course, we need to earn money to pay the rent, there are also additional ways in which we can measure our success.

For me, my income is not my only metric of success (and I’m privileged in that my business isn’t the only way I make an income). Other metrics for me are connection, joy, fulfilment and experimentation. Connecting to these helps me when business is slow or I feel unmotivated.

What helps you to motivate yourself? Do you have any strategies or support networks that help? Share in the comments and join the conversation!

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