How to Deal With Discouragement in Your Business

Hey there!

I hope you had a great weekend! I had a blast because I got to do one of my favorite things next to coaching you which happens to be public speaking! It’s actually really funny to me now that a big part of what I do for a living involves speaking.

I was a super shy kid and my Public Speaking 101 class was a “C’ that I prayed for in college. That just goes to show you that you can’t look at your current circumstances as an indication of what your future will be like!

I’ve certainly had some ups and down on the road to entrepreneurship though. I’ve been running RachelLProctor.com since 2012 and I’ve worked in my families business since I was 14. Over the past few years, I felt the sting of discouragement a bunch. There were several life events like the loss of my dad, that contributed to that but I think in general as business owners it’s fairly common to feel discouraged during the process of building your business.

Maybe you love what you do, but you still feel discouraged sometimes.

You wonder if you made the right choice…

You wonder if you’re using your time on the right stuff…

Or if anyone will ever buy your product…

Are you even good enough?

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what triggers those discouraging moments. And 3 thoughts kept popping up in my mind:

1. Slow sales or no real traction towards my business goals
2. Looking at other entrepreneurs and feeling intimidated by their gift or overall business success
3. Lack of energy to come up with fresh and new ideas for the business

I thought it would be useful to share some insights with you on how to get out of a slump in business:

First,

Instead of focusing on what’s going wrong, go back to your why.

Why did you start your business in the first place? It’s important that you really think about this and form a compelling reason because it could very well be this one thing that keeps you in the game when things get really tough. When you start to think of all the important reasons why you need to hang in there, it will give you a boost to keep going.

Use the slow seasons to do other things around your business, try out new marketing strategies, or use that extra time to refocus or do some continuing education.

Next,

Think collaboration, not comparison.

Comparison was the number one reason I start to feel discouraged as a creative business owner if I can just be honest for a moment. Social media contributes a lot to this. It’s so easy to look around and see 100 people doing it better than you or 1000 people succeeding especially when you’re at a low point.

But instead of looking at what they’re doing as a reason to feel down, look at it as a way to get some “virtual mentorship”. My eyes have been opened to how much I can learn from successful business owners if I am willing to observe, rather than just sit there and feel overwhelmed and intimidated.

It doesn’t cost me anything to reach out to another business owner and ask questions (they may not answer, but I can still ask right?!). And doesn’t cost me anything to celebrate the success of someone else. What you put out there will come back to you.

Here’s the last thing,

Sometimes you’ve just got to flat out talk to yourself.

Start thinking above what you see. This takes faith.

If you’ve hit a hurdle ask yourself – what’s the easiest thing you can do today to get yourself back going in places you’ve given up on? Something as simple as scheduling a meeting or making a phone call about an event you want to do can even get you back going.

Don’t end today on an average note.

You’re closer to the answer than you think. You’re close to a breakthrough in your business but you will never see it if you quit and shrink back now! It’s all about being vulnerable enough to trust God with another step.

x - Rachel