Starting a business is a lot of hard work. You put a lot of blood, sweat and tears – not to mention money – into your business, and at first it can feel like you’re doing it for nothing. You thought you worked hard at your nine-to-five job and now you’re essentially working 80 hours a week for free. How in the world do you keep going until you become profitable?
* Do Money-Making Activities First – One of the things that will keep you motivated and the momentum going when you first start your business is making money. Try to make it a habit of doing money-generating work first each day so that you know you’ve met your monetary goals before you do anything else – including planning for the future.
* Keep Plugging Away – As long as the data shows that you’re building and improving, keep on going. If you give up before you are able to reap the rewards, you’ll feel like a failure and be very disappointed. Plus, there is no reason to quit yet. Keep going and you’ll succeed.
* Don’t Outsource Everything – There are some things in your business that you need to do yourself, so don’t outsource everything. That way you’ll see for yourself that much of the work you do pays off. If you outsource interaction with your audience, for example, you’ll miss out on the encouragement there.
* Use Data Not Emotions – Teach yourself to collect and read the data that shows how your reach is improving and your email list is growing. These are the things that will help you keep your momentum going, because you can see that what you are doing is working.
* It’s About Them Not You – The other thing to remember is that if you don’t keep going, your audience will end up not trusting you, and it’s all about them. You want the audience to perceive you as the expert – the go-to person in your niche, and you can’t do that if you give up.
* Don’t Be Afraid of Getting Dirty – When it comes to your business, no one will care about it as much as you do. There is no employee, no contractor and probably not even another family member who cares about your business like you do. That’s why you need to be willing to push up your shirtsleeves and dive in.
* Be Cautious in Your Spending – When you first start a new business it’s imperative that you set up your budget, and then try not to go over it – especially not on unplanned purchases. You’ll have a lot of marketers encouraging you to buy this and that; if you weren’t looking for it, don’t buy until you’re able to devote some of your budget toward extras.
* Spend Time on Yourself – This might seem counterproductive but the truth is, if you spend 100 percent of your time working, sleeping and eating you’ll get burned out. You cannot give everything to your business. You must set aside time for your family and friends too.
Starting a new business is an exciting time. You know that you can eventually earn more money than you’d ever earn working for someone else. Plus, you can design your work however you want to, from working only online to setting up a store front in a busy mall. It’s your business, but you’ll have to go through the start-up pains to get to the success level where you’ll really get to enjoy your new business.