Staying Motivated When You're REALLY a Sole Proprietor
With as many one-person businesses as there are in the United States, you would think that there would be more written on this subject.
How many one-person businesses are there in the country? The number changes on virtually an hourly basis, so no one really knows for sure. In our little state of Minnesota, however, there are over 500,000 businesses registered. Yet only about 21 percent of those businesses have an employee.
This means most businesses are in the "one person does everything" category. The challenge: How do you keep your energy level and enthusiasm high when you are responisble for everything, and there is no one around to keep you motivated?
I have first-hand knowledge of this problem. I first encountered it when I was selling for a regional meat processor called Hillshire Farm Company. My office was my home. I was pretty much all alone, but I was still responsible for six major grocery chains and a number of medium-level chains.
I spent a lot of time at home on the phone (this was before the Internet). Every Monday I had to call every account, get their orders, and then place them with the plant. My friends used to call me the "underwear" salesman because I did so much business in my underwear!
During my early years selling for Hillshire my wife worked full-time, and we didn't have any kids, so I had the run of the house. This was great because I could watch TV, eat when I wanted (I had a refrigerator just for samples), and even got hooked on a soap opera.
Don't get me wrong, I did my job and did it really well, but there were times I really had to kick myself in the butt to keep going.
So how did I motivate myself? Let me give you just a couple of tricks I developed to keep myself going when it would have been easy to slack off.
1. Get in the habit of scheduling your day, and get in the habit of keeping your schedule. The word "habit" is the key. Repetition makes it easier to keep a schedule and a lot harder to slack off.
2. Hit the streets and talk to customers or prospects. Get out of the house, and actually talk face to face to other people. And I don't mean sit at a coffee shop. I mean go sell something!
3. Go help someone else. Pick a prospect, customer, or someone in need, and figure out a way to help them -- with no thought of return for you. If this doesn't get you out of the duldrums, then nothing will!
The next time you start getting down, and you don't know what to do, remember these three tips for not slacking off will make all the difference in the world!
