- Image by larryosan via Flickr
When it comes to small business motivation, there are two factors that affect our ability to find the juice to keep our momentum going.
They are… fear and pleasure.
The key to being truly motivated is to get out of the mentality of being moved by what you fear and instead be moved by what you would find pleasure achieving ( your goals and dreams). That might seem pretty difficult to do considering most marketing and advertising we are bombarded with on a daily basis (both in traditional media and online) push the “pain button” on us.
In direct sales and psychology, it’s widely believed that pain is the greater motivator, but I beg to differ.
Being a student of human motivation, I’ve learned it is possible to be motivated by what could and CAN be possible.
Instead of deciding to fear and live in the “what if such and such, happens” or “what if I fail, so I won’t attempt” I choose to operate on the “what if I can accomplish x, y, z” and then I picture how that would feel. I paint a vivid picture and start to feel the pleasure it would bring to have achieved a goal.
In essence, you, as a small business owner, must move past the discomfort and dig into the pleasure by visualizing how it would be if your goal were to be realized.
So, how do you get out of our fears?
- First identify what it is that you have put off that you have been “meaning to do” in your small business.
- Then within a quick 30-60 seconds write the reasons why you’ve not taken action. (You’ll see that most, if not all, is due to your fear of something).
- Next, write down, the pleasure(s) you would gain from completing the task at hand.
- While working towards your small business goal, focus on the end result while dismissing the fear that may rear it’s ugly head from time to time.
While finding motivation in the midst of challenge can be quite difficult it’s all perspective.  Often times we look at our obstacle as a nuisance and not a teacher. Obstacles are placed in our paths to grow they are really opportunities in disguise.
Finding some light out of darkness and challenge may seem difficult at fist blush. However, the more you train your mind to see seeds of opportunity in every challenge, the more you will find yourself more self-motivated.
Some say self-motivation is developed at an early age; however, I believe as I’ve studied the nature of human motivation that it is a learned skill. To think of some famous disaster to financial success stories Oprah Winphrey and Billionaire Entrepreneur Bill Barman come to mind. Both entrepreneurs came from discouraging and dis empowering environments, but they’ve excelled greatly (after years of hard work, determination, action, risk-taking and failures).
I’ve been a home business entrepreneur for almost 6 years and have found that the more I educate myself (by reading personal development books, viewing motivational DVDs, movies, attending seminars, and reading), the more I grew my self-motivation and confidence in my business ventures as well.
It takes quite a bit of personal character development to see things in this fashion. In fact, there are several qualities an entrepreneur must possess in order to keep up the motivation. You can read more about that on my blog 3 characteristics of entrepreneurs.
One quality of a small business entrepreneur is that a he or she must continually learn not only through business experiences, but also via:
- learning from other entrepreneurs’ mistakes
- reading, seminars and general business education
- And by taking risks.
Most of us are not self motivated because we don’t trust ourselves and we also self-doubt our capabilities (going back to fear mode). Learn to trust your gut, and take calculated risks.
Get connected with other growth-obsessed business owners. Network online as well as offline, and seek ways you can learn from other successful business owners and provide some of your expertise to others as well.  When you plug in to others’ expertise and share some of your own you also gain confidence and keep motivated in your small business and its success.
Hey, I can honestly say, that’s been the experience of the Secrets to Web Success Team.
What’s your take on improving your level of self-motivation? What has your journey been like? We’d love to hear and learn from you too!
We appreciate you!
About The Author
Dali Burgado, also known as "The Dali Blogger" teaches creative entrepreneurs how to carve a web presence that connects with their Inner Guru and their target audience. Her first online marketing love is SEO. She's an avid connector on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. When she's not coaching or teaching, she's tweaking sites for Search Engine Visibility, working on her PHP and Javascript coding skills, Singing Opera, or learning about gardening. Circle Dali on Google+
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