As sure as the sun rises and sets, your business will experience ups and downs. It may come in the form of a flood of phone calls one week and crickets the next, or it may simply be rolling with the seasons of your work. Staying motivated and planning for plateaus is important for maintaining good numbers and a positive attitude so that you do not slow down in your business plan and lose momentum. Here are some tips for you to add to your storehouse of motivational techniques to keep moving forward.
- Stay Connected to Your Customers
The customers that you have compiled in your work are valuable people who you can keep in touch with in a variety of ways. Maybe you have already addressed what is customer data platform with your marketing team and can access your clientele for their preferred communication through emails, direct mail and texts on a daily or weekly basis. Monthly newsletters are also a great tool for staying connected with your customers. Posting specials you have coming up and highlighting recent accomplishments on your website gives them a reason to keep visiting and interacting with your company.
- Get Back to Your Roots
Whenever you start to slow down, remember why you started in this business. Getting back to the root motivation and the original reason for why you are in this work can remotivate you. Tap into the energy you felt after your first success and use that to rekindle your excitement for what you do. Also, revisit your original business plan, goals and marketing strategies to compare them with what is happening in those areas today.
- Always Use Positive Words
Words are powerful. They can change a bad situation into a catastrophe or a teaching moment depending on how they are used. Keep your momentum going by making a conscious effort to only speak positively about business, even when there is a crisis. Controlling your words will help you control your mindset and having a positive attitude in any situation, good or bad, will make you a more effective leader and help you produce better work on your own.
- Change One Thing A Day
Habits are easy to form and a routine can help accomplish set goals every day. As true as this is, habits can also lead to getting in a rut and seeing work as monotonous. One way to overcome ruts is to change one thing about your routine each day for a week to build momentum in your day-to-day schedule. Plan something fun, simple and convenient if possible. Take your work to a new location for the morning, wear your favorite hat for the day or try a new drink. Start your conversations with a different greeting, switch the time of your breaks or call someone you haven’t talked to lately. These tips can help break the monotony and might even spark some inspiration.
- Be Generous in Your Community
Your community needs you more than you know and contributing your talents and time by becoming involved in local fundraisers and events gets your name out there, keeps you moving forward in finding new customers and contacts and allows you to make a positive difference in your town. Take whatever opportunity you find to be as generous with your talent as your business can handle because it will always result in good connections with those you are helping. It is easy to live in a vacuum with your eyes on the bottom line, but making an effort to use your work to benefit your city expands your vision.
Money is a powerful motivator and is how you measure success to a large degree, but other factors can boost your momentum, including connecting with the people you work for and with. Remember why you began this journey and have fun in one different way each day.
