Do you ever feel like you are all alone in your business?
It’s such a common feeling – because we are mainly solopreneurs, we spend a lot of our time on our own.
Busy times take us away from the social atmosphere of working online and we can get lonesome, quickly.
It happens to me all the time. If it happens to you, you are not alone!
I’m not really talking about wanting to socialize though, not really. I’m talking about making decisions in our business on your own. Spending your own money on expenses. Feeling down about revenue if you aren’t making as much as you want.
When we think we have to be an island, that’s when things can kind of take us over.
We often say that the VA industry is highly collaborative and supportive – and it is – but sometimes we don’t talk about the negative stuff. We keep it to ourselves, and that can get heavy.
Finding support where you can is really important, so you don’t have to bear any burdens on your own. You may not be able to see the forest for the trees, as the saying goes.
I have had many conversations with my accountability partner – we speak regularly by phone – and I’ll tell her something that is not going right in my business … to just unload, feel better maybe … and she actually can see things more clearly and more objectively than I can because I’m right in the middle of it.
She has helped me to let go of clients, change services, adjust rates, make procedures and boundaries … lots of things.
I am not an island, and you don’t have to be either!
Here are a few tips to help you reach out:
Get support – find an accountability partner. I can never stress this enough. VAs understand VAs and you can grow by partnering with someone who has the same visions and goals as you. Having someone to talk to when things are good AND bad is invaluable in your business.
Focus on what you want – Set goals and set yourself up to reach them. You can’t just float through your business and expect to build and grow. It takes focus, and what you focus on you can attain!
Do the work – Running a business is not easy. There are no two ways about it. It is hard. Sometimes harder than others. But it’s never what you thought it would be. But if you do the work to get your business organized and set up to be profitable, it is not as difficult. Because you have a plan – and you follow it to the success that you want, which makes it worth it!
Be positive – I see so much negativity in the VA forums online that it actually makes me sad. You have to keep a positive mindset in order to be a positive person. Things will go wrong – do your best to brush things off that aren’t important, don’t dwell on them, and find the path to move through them. Positivity is one of the most important qualities of a business owner.
Don’t be a slave to your business – If you are working day and night to get everything done in your business that ‘needs’ to get done, you need to get help. You will never love your business if it takes every ounce of your energy. Think about bringing on subcontractors or associates if you need help getting client work done. Or hire people to do your own marketing or other non-revenue activities you are doing. Raise your rates to support the expense and you can really grow.
There is so much potential to have a great, fun and successful business – as long as you don’t think you need to do it alone. Share your successes, share your failures, and move through both to even more success!
For some more conversation about what to do if you are feeling alone or down – join me on this week’s free Back to Basics training call: Steps to Change Your Negative Mindset (and then join me weekly for these awesome free training sessions!)