Remember those first, exciting days of running your own business?

You’d found your niche, you’d done the legwork, found the clients, and established your brand. You were on your way, and you were totally in love with your business.

I’d be willing to bet that things ran smoothly for a while, too. You enjoyed interacting with customers, you were able to keep on top of scheduling social media posts, and everything seemed to be balanced.

But then somewhere along the way, things went wonky.

Now, you can’t keep up on social media posts, your clientele has gone stagnant, and you feel like you’re in a rut and not offering anything new. The bloom is off the rose, and you’ve fallen out of love with your business.

Don’t worry, all is not lost.

Caution

Not everybody follows this same pattern, and you may actually be at any particular point of the process I mentioned above. If you’re still in love with your business for the first time, good for you! Use the points that I make here as a cautionary tale and take steps to stay in love with your business.

But if any of this looks familiar to you, it’s time for you to analyze why you fell out of love with your business – then we can look at how to rekindle the flame.

1. You’re not flexible.

When you first started you had everything on schedule and planned out. But businesses grow, and they don’t always follow the plan you laid out. Instead of going with the flow, you’re trying to keep everything the way you envisioned it.

This is causing stress, it’s making you upset, and you’re getting frustrated.

Bend a little

Think back to when you had the very first ideas for your business and the excitement you felt at the new possibilities. When did you stop looking for those possibilities? Remember, they can happen at any time along the way.

Allow yourself (and your business) to grow and branch out naturally. It may be difficult to “let it go” at first, but by letting things evolve organically, you’ll probably see several more potential avenues.

2. You’re too caught up.

As your business has taken off, you feel like you must take off with it. Maybe that means that you have taken on too much to handle, or you have overscheduled yourself. Or you possibly have seen your competitors and feel the need to keep up with them, forcing social media posts and ideas that may not fit in with your overall brand.

In other words, you’re derailed by the minutiae.

Ease off

If you find yourself getting distracted by the little things, you’re obviously not giving the proper amount of time to the overall picture. Take a step back and look at everything you are now trying to do. Is there somewhere that you can cut the fat and ease up? Are there unnecessary worries that are pulling your attention?

Delegate

If you have tedious tasks that you really dislike, consider taking on a part-time assistant or hiring someone periodically to do those tasks. Or maybe you have friends who would be willing to help out every once in a while. And since I’ve mentioned friends….

3. You’re going it alone.

There’s a pretty good chance that when you were first getting started, you had some help somewhere. Maybe your family helped spread the word via social media or friends hosted a party. It’s rare that someone builds a business completely independently without any help at all. (It does occur, but it’s rare).

So, what happened to your help? Did you outgrow them? Were you too strict in your plan and didn’t allow for input or constructive criticism? Sometimes we need to learn from our mistakes, and that can mean listening to other people.

Surround yourself

Reach out to those friends and ask for their assistance (as I mentioned above). Or join a professional group that has the same mindset you do where you can bounce ideas off each other. Surround yourself with positive people who will help you refocus and rebuild your love for your business.

Trust

Now, just because I said, “positive people,” that doesn’t mean to find people who will always agree with you. You’re going to have a long, hard road if you surround yourself with “yes” people. But they should be those who you can trust. If they give you a suggestion, you know that they get you; if they offer criticism, you know it’s because they care and want to help you succeed.

Wrapping up

Obviously, this isn’t a full comprehensive list, but it gives you a good starting point for places to look at where you may have lost your way and how to address those to fall back in love with your business. Surround yourself with support, get rid of any details that don’t help you progress, and always look for new and natural opportunities to grow.

I will leave you with one last thing to think about: are you in love with your business, your product, or your clients?

Next week, I’ll explain why that is a very important distinction.

You can read “Do You Love Your Business, Your Product, or Your Clients?” here.

Learn more about what I do and PiYo, and how you can join me either as an instructor or a student, CLICK HERE! To learn more about my newest creation SoulFUSION, CLICK HERE. If you would like to participate in one of my weekend Virtual Classes, or On-Demand classes, CLICK HERE.