Your Business Feels Like a Job? 5 Steps to Reclaim Your Passion.

For most small business owners, the impetus to trek out into the world of business ownership is a combination of passion and hating their current job. To be honest, hatred of their job is often the starting point to discovering their passion and a business model that fits it. Owners like me, who have been running their own business for over 10 years know that no matter how much passion you have for your business, occasionally that passion is overshadowed and it can end up feeling very much like that job you left behind.  So what exactly can you do when your own business feels like a job?

Don’t Panic.

Too often newer business owners fear that owning their own business wasn’t the solution to their job problem.  They panic and rather than seek solutions they either decide there is no solution and continue to run their business while disliking it or they throw in the towel and decide business ownership isn’t for them.  That’s why going into a panic when you start dreading Mondays again is a bad idea. Instead, realize this is a normal development in business ownership and it is simply time to reassess things.

Identify the Problem.

It’s time to sit down and figure out just what it is that’s making you feel the way you do.  Is it a certain aspect of the business that you dread, for example, invoicing or marketing?  Is it who you are doing business with?  I guarantee not everything about your business is causing your stress. Chances are it’s one or two aspects. Once you identify them you are one step closer to fixing things.

Brainstorm solutions.

Depending on what you identified as the issue(s), now it’s time to come up with possible solutions.  Do you find you no longer love a certain service you provide?  Could you outsource it to a sub-contractor or get rid of it altogether?  Is it a certain task within your business, like invoicing or marketing?  Would it be possible to hire someone to do it for you or sign on with a service that makes it easier?  Do you have a client who insists on daily phone updates or constantly micro-manages?  Could you kindly explain to them that this makes completing projects for them and other clients more difficult? Feeling overworked and underpaid? Perhaps it’s time to reassess your rates.

Do what you must to fix the problem. 

Now’s the time to remember that you run the show. If getting rid of a service or client seems to be the best answer to regaining a passion for your business, do it.  If hiring or sub-contracting help seems to be the ideal solution, find a way. If raising your rates will solve the issue, raise them.  Do what you must to make you feel in control of your business again.

Don’t feel guilty.

Don’t second guess your decisions.  Remind yourself that you run a business and that sometimes that means doing things like cutting services, setting new business policies, eliminating clients and raising rates.  View it all as part of being a savvy entrepreneur.

There’s no need to worry if your business is feeling like a job. Like anything, a business grows and changes.  You as a business owner also grow and change. It only makes sense that there will be times when you need to reassess how your business is operating and make needed changes.  Chances are, that’s all it will take to reclaim that passion you had when you first started out.