It’s a bit ironic that in the modern age of business, you are surrounded by more tools and more technology every day to help advance the health of your business, and yet very often the reason your business isn’t growing, is that you may not be properly using the tools and technology you already have. This doesn’t mean your old school marketing tools, or the whole catalog of new digital marketing tools, and it doesn’t even refer to your business skills or knowledge. In short, what’s really needed before you can substantially increase your business, is that you have to undergo some personal growth.
Passion and momentum
Note that this isn’t about becoming a better manager, and it’s not about gaining any new business knowledge, nor is it about maximizing your usage of any marketing strategies at all. Sometimes what’s really needed to get your business going is pure, unbridled passion, powered by an unquenchable desire to get where you want to go. The importance of an overriding objective in business can hardly be overstated – it should be something so compelling that it becomes the main reason you’re in business in the first place, and it literally drives all subordinate activities.
Let’s say your ultimate business goal is to achieve revenues of $1 million annually. You have to believe in that goal totally, and there has to be a burning desire to make it happen. That’s where the passion comes from. It will make you want to immerse yourself in the business, and to direct all your energies toward taking the necessary steps to achieve that goal. This doesn’t mean you have to work 18-hour days until you drop from exhaustion, it means prudently applying your passion to those tasks which will serve to advance you toward your goal. That’s what creates momentum in the right direction.
Grow yourself, grow your business
Think about how you feel at work in the week or so after you’ve come back from a very enjoyable vacation or outing with the family. You’re energized to make things happen, because your passion is still fresh from those experiences away from work. That is exactly the attitude and the approach you need to bring to your business every day in order to propel it forward.
The reason you have that great feeling is that you were doing something outside work that was very important to you, something you’re passionate about. The residual feeling from that experience carried over to the workplace, and boosted your performance there.
So – can you capture that same lightning in a bottle, and unleash it at work? Definitely. All you need is a reason – the same kind of motivation you had when enjoying time with your family, and doing something you love. If you can kindle that same kind of fire at work, you can infuse a wellspring of energy and enthusiasm into striving toward a goal with real meaning to you – and while you’re at it, growing your business as well.
Emory Ware