Why Enthusiasm is Important in Business

Continuing on from our blog last week about Business Owner Burnout, this week we are talking about levels of enthusiasm for your business.

Maybe you aren’t a business owner who is heading for burnout.

You could be a new business owner, who is pumped to get in and get moving.

Perhaps you are a business owner who has been around for a few years and things are nice and smooth. You are happy with how things are turning out. You are hanging out in the sweet spot we all seek, and your enthusiasm to ‘kick it up a notch’ isn’t there.

Alternatively, you could be a business owner who isn’t burnt out, but everything feels very ‘ho hum’, very same/same and bland, and you need to find the enthusiasm to shake things up and go to the next level.

 

There are different stages of the journey for everyone and your enthusiasm for your business can be effected by each stage.

 

 

I am going to tell you a story now of a business owner who was happy at 80% and had no enthusiasm to go any harder.

 

Let me tell you what I mean:

I was working as an Area Manager for a franchise company, looking after 14 businesses in my region.

We had sold our bakery, as with 3 young kids under 3 and a 7 day a week business, it was getting too much to handle.

We were a trying a different combination for work to see if it fit our family better – Me working FT as an AM, and Leigh running an event based photo booth franchise.

One day I met with one of my franchise owners to go over their latest profit & loss statement.

Things were ticking along ok. He was making money. His in store assessments were pretty good. The staff were pretty good. His products were pretty good. Customer feedback was pretty good.

Lots of things in his business were pretty good, yet there was room for improvement.

So I met with him this day and showed him if he cut costs here, and tweaked that there, then he could grow his business this much more and would make this much more on the bottom line.

 

It wasn’t his goal.

 

And he looked at me and said, “Ted, I can do all those things. It would bring me that much more profit. But I’ll share my philosophy with you.

I am happy with a consistent 80%. If my team get it right 80% of the time, I’m happy. If my customers are happy 80% of the time, I’m happy. Sure, that can mean I lose a few customers if they don’t like how we try to fix things, but my customer numbers are growing, so for the moment, that’s ok.

To get that extra profit, I have to put in more effort and right now, I don’t want to.

I am happy with the way things are running. The money I’m making. The time I have to spend in here.

I’m just going to stick with my 80% and be happy with that. Thanks for the insights anyway.”

 

Is this what you are aiming for?

 

And this is why I wasn’t very good at being an employee. While my employer would have wanted me to push him to make the changes, I didn’t. Because I totally got what he meant.

As a business owner myself, I loved that he was sitting in the sweet spot we all aim for.

He was making money, his business was growing and he didn’t need to spend a lot of time in there.

He had no enthusiasm to do more, because based on what HE wanted from a business, he didn’t need to.

And that is the point of all this.

We all have that sweet spot we are aiming for in our business – how much money we want to be making, how much time we have to work and for life, the happy customers, the great reviews.

And when we begin, we can have great enthusiasm to go out and build a business that is going to hit that goal.

As we get ‘years deep’ into owning a business, things may not have worked out the way you thought they would (both good and bad) and maybe you might be far away from your sweet spot.

It can be hard to stay enthusiastic and positive at this point.

 

How do you keep the enthusiasm alive to keep moving forward?

 

Here are 3 ideas that can help:

 

1. Time out – this can be business focused or relaxation focused.

Business focused – new ideas can spark enthusiasm.

Meeting local, like minded people, who can trade ideas with one another can really get the juices flowing again.

Or taking time out for a vacation with a conference. We have been part of franchises where holding a national conference has been a mandatory part of being a franchisee.

Meeting up with fellow business owners, trading ideas over a few drinks in a different location can really blow out some cobweb and give you some much needed oomph!

If you are a stand alone business, can you look for some business training in another location where you can blend together business and pleasure? Can you join a chamber of commerce and attend their business and social events?

Relaxation focused – Don’t do any business stuff at all.

Switch off completely and forget you own a business for a while. Your brain needs a rest.

Having that reset can do wonders when you head back.

Just make sure that everything in your business is taken care of before you go, so you can switch off your phone, guilt free and not come back to a shit show when you return! (Fastest way to lose the vacation zen known to man! 🙂 )

 

2) New project or direction – this can also get you mentally engaged again.

 

Sometimes life can be just the same old thing. Something new and fresh can be a way to jazz things up, for both you, your team and your customers.

Can you get an idea in place, implement it and give your business a new twist?

We often bring in new products. It’s fun trialling and eating them! We get all staff involved and they love eating yummy stuff!

Consequently, you are adding something interesting to the staples your customers want, to get a zing of something new happening. That also keeps your staff and customers enthused about your business.

 

3) Look to simplify – business decluttering if you will.

 

Occasionally, we can have our business go off in different directions, as we try to keep up with demand or customer wishes, staff issues or supply shortages.

And when things calm down a bit, we can look around and think ‘How did I get over here? I’m meant to be over there!’

Or, you maybe like my franchisee and be happy with where you are.

 

 

Enthusiasm is tied to happiness.

 

When you’re happy, you have energy. Energy to put into trying new things or pushing up sales. Or energy to keep the status quo of your sweet spot. Nothing seems hard.

If you’re unhappy, then it can be difficult to find the enthusiasm to change things, especially if you are already running on empty.

So the mental games begin to try and reframe to get your energy and your enthusiasm back.

Try some of the suggestions above.

Or join our “Live Your Best Parent Boss Life” Mastermind, where we will stand along side you for 90 days, getting your enthusiasm back, making things happen in your business and your life.

Click here to schedule a time to talk and see if joining us is the right way for you to get the enthusiasm you need for this stage of your business.