How to not give up on your business even when nothing goes your way

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Don't give up

It probably feels like nothing is working these days?

It probably feels like you're trying really hard on something that produces little or no outcome?

It probably feels like you're alone in this entire process and no one really understands what you're working towards?

You're not alone and this too shall pass.

I distinctly remember the day I just called it quits on my business. I had worked 50+ hours a week and had done over 20+ sales calls during that time frame. They all said no to my coaching services. Every no felt like a complete crush to my soul.

It left me thinking, what the hell is all of this for? Am I really cut out to do this?

To be an entrepreneur?

So, like all stress relieving practices, I took a walk.

It was a warm day in Chicago and every part of me just felt completely drained. I felt the tears swell up in my eyes and put my head down as people walked past me. I walked up to a fence, avoiding all people in sight, and literally just cried my heart out. I tried really hard to hold back my wails, but I honestly didn't give a fuck.

I stood there looking up at the sky, asking God to please help me. I really thought that I wasn't made for entrepreneurship anymore. I heard nothing, but I knew it was time to rest.

The difference between those that make it in business and those that don't is that they don't sit on their ass waiting for a solution to be presented to them. Really, business is a matter of trial and error.

When we're in these moments where we're at the point of "giving up", we often try to blame the situation on other things rather than take personal responsibility.

We like to blame the buyer for not buying our products,

We like to blame the market for not favoring our services,

We like to blame God because he/she/they didn't make it easy for us.

There's no one to blame, and even though you may be the person to blame, blaming never actually solves any problems - it only further pours gasoline on them.

So how do we actually move past this?

Here are the 3 things I learned when it comes to pivoting your business when you're on the brink of giving up.

#1 Embrace the discomfort

Well, the first thing is to embrace the discomfort that you're in because it's truly a sign that you're learning. There are 2 things in life besides death and taxes that you can count on:

"Either you will get exactly what you wanted or you will have gotten a really great lesson"

Both outcomes are exceptional. One of them can more than likely be a pain in the ass though.

But in all sincerity you did not get a "how to guide" on how to run your business and you can choose to keep complaining or break through this next obstacle that's in your way.

I choose to do both. Allowing me to both be a child and adult in the same body.

For the child side of you that wants to have a tantrum:

• Cry your tears
• Scream your frustrations
• Punch a pillow for your anger

Do not downplay this exercise of allowing your emotions to be released from your body. Emotions are truly just a reaction of external circumstances that have shaken your internal core

Once we're able to clear out our emotions from the body and mind, we can then actually allow ourselves to look at the problem clearly without being jaded with anger or pain.

Now to the adult:

#2 Slow down to speed up

. . .

We like to have things fast in our society. We cry when we don't get what we want. Crying is one of the first things we learn as a baby to get our parents' attention that we want X thing, and we want it now. We've been spoon fed to get things on demand and for God's sake we all need to learn how to be a little bit more patient.

Yes, I know you've heard that "patience is key" a lot now at this point.

But hear me out, the key to finding a solution is actually taking the time to slow down.

I see so often in business that people want to hit these [insert money goals] per month,and I applaud your goals, but really ask yourself if you're ready for that?

Opportunity meets competence at perfect timing.

If you're a service based business and I gave you 500+ clients by tomorrow night, are you ready for the work?

If you're a product based business and I gave you 500+ buyers by tomorrow, are you ready to deliver?

More than likely you're not, and that's okay.

If you were ready, then you would have had all the tools and resources ready at your disposal.

But if you're like many of us that don't, then let's look back at your foundation and ask some questions:

• Are we mentally good? Do we actually perhaps need a break because your overworked self can't really show up in the best way possible for your business?

It would shock you to hear this, but after being on the brink of giving up, I just fucking went to bed and relaxed. At that point, I didn't care whether I reached my goals- because clearly my goals were not meeting my expectations.

So I chose to have no expectations on the outcome. I decreased my hours to 20 hrs instead of 50, and cut out all the things that weren't "money producing activities" and only focused on the things that actually drove revenue.

But I didn't care if I actually hit my goals. I just kept on doing what I knew was working.

Once I detached myself from the outcome, 2 weeks later, I enrolled $20,000 worth of revenue within a week.

Next question to ask yourself:

• Are our expectations meeting our performance?

I hate to break this to you, but more than likely the answer is no.

We want the next big thing, but we fail to put in dedicated and focused work to get there.

Note: I said dedicated and focused. For example, if your goal is to make $10,000 in a month, why the hell are you wasting your time creating a caption for your next Instagram post?

Wouldn't it make sense to spend that time reaching out to customers selling your services? Grab my FB promo list here

Don't mislabel spending time on non goal achieving activities as you being productive with your time. Refocus, identify your goals and only work on the things that help you work towards them.

#3 Get out of your own way

What got you where you are now won't get you to where you want to be.

You need to evolve. Most people do the same thing over and over again and expect different results - aka the definition of insanity.

It's not your fault, because you don't know what you don't know.

But thanks to this article you DO know that you need to do something differently. Take the time to ask yourself if what you're doing right now is truly in your zone of genius - especially if you're a solopreneur.

Side note: Solopreneurship is honestly BS because no one truly wants to do everything on their own. Remember that.

But back to the point, if you're working on things that are not in your zone of genius, it doesn't logically make sense to focus on the things that are not in your zone of genius.

And yet, so many people do this.

People buy the next social media course, when they could actually spend that money on hiring someone who knows what they're doing.

People spend hours looking for free software to bootstrap their business, when they could use that time to actually sell something to pay for those necessary business expenses.

You get my point.

There is a very real opportunity cost to not outsourcing the things that you are not good at. Stop trying to be perfect at everything, outsource the things that you're not good at, so it looks like you're good at everything. That's the key.

If you're cash strapped, then maybe consider swapping out service for service. You'd be surprised at how often this may work in the beginning.

. . .

There are a lot of different ways to make a pivot when you're at the point of giving up. I get it, it's fucking difficult sometimes, as it should be. Anything truly easy isn't truly life changing. But here's the thing, you can read all the articles and listen to tons more of advice than I could give, but none of it drives action unless you take action.

Take Action.

Embrace the discomfort of having very real and raw emotions. Cry your heart out and clear out your emotions so you can get one step closer to a solution.

Slow down to speed up. If you don't build a solid foundation to stand on, you will fall.

Get out of your own way. Focus only on the things you're good at and outsource the things you're not good at - then from the outside it looks like you're good at everything.

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