The idea of getting motivated for success seems unnecessary at first thought. However, there is an interesting experience here that I would like to share. I have always wanted to win in everything that I do, but the stage of simply wanting something is not enough. At least it isn’t in my personal experience. Motivation is key. And finding out what it is that gets you motivated is step one.
What’s my motivation?
I am a big believer that everything begins in the mind. That wanting to win or wanting success is a prerequisite for actually making it happen. I got really serious about entrepreneurship nearly three years ago. I wanted to create success on my own for a few reasons. The most important for me has been to have control over my time. The second reason is so that I could immerse myself in really meaningful work. Work that makes a positive impact on other people and their businesses. The obvious third reason is to have no ceiling on my earning potential.
The first two years had some wins and a lot of losses too, and this can wreak havoc on the psyche. It can be very hard to stay motivated when the world kicks you in the teeth day in and day out. I speak from experience here, and perhaps you can relate to what I am saying. About six months ago, I got pissed off and decided to start getting more wins. To take this one step further, I adjusted my actions and behaviors, so I became much more intentional about identifying opportunities that I saw around me and capitalizing on them. I noticed that a lot of people respond and interact with motivational content, especially on social. It feels good to motivate other people, but for now, it doesn’t pay my bills.
I knew that I needed to figure something else out to keep myself going, and to keep my wife from losing her mind. That’s when I noticed that a vast number of entrepreneurs struggled with or completely ignore content creation. They failed to be consistent with social media posting. Plus none seemed to be keeping up with the latest in digital marketing automation. I also knew that they saw value in this things, but they were unwilling to put in the time and effort to get the benefits out of each. That got me really motivated, so I put the time in to learn way more than the average entrepreneurial in all of these areas by actually spending my own money and time to do the work. I then focused on getting small wins and then repeating the model that I used to do that over and over again.
Every time I bring on a new client I get a win, then and every month that I continue to work with them. This seems obvious, but a lot of entrepreneurs become “romantic” about an idea that they have and it breaks their heart when the market shows no interest in their product or service. This can suck all of the motivation right out of you. I have learned that it’s not about selling people what you think they need. I have dozens of failed services, groups and clubs to remind me of this. Rather it is about selling people what they want. Interestingly enough, a lot of what people want is getting more of their time back.
Are you the same way?
I sure as hell am. It seems like that there is never enough time in the day or the year. I am now intentional about building my business by offering solutions for what other entrepreneurs want. Since I changed my direction I am getting wins regularly. For this reason, it’s easy to stay motivated now. It will be in the future as I keep doing the same thing over and over. Make sense?
Take a good, hard look at your own business and examine your focus and your efforts. Are you setting yourself up for wins and success by serving your clients? Or is it still all about what you want?