A lot of business owners love their business in the same depth they love another person. The amount of passion, drive, thought and time put into many businesses can equal or sometimes surpass those of a romantic relationship.
And love affairs in business tend to follow the same paths as some relationships. It is all very exciting when you start a business. Days are filled with passion, commitment and an unwavering drive to ensure the business succeeds. Anyone who thinks otherwise is disregarded as you dive head over heels into the relationship.
However, maintaining the same level of excitement and passion becomes challenging after a few years. It’s not because you don’t love your business, but by this stage, it’s rare for something new to happen. You start to become… complacent.
Before you know it, 10 years have gone by and everything becomes routine. There’s very little to learn about your business or industry and you’re running on autopilot.
At this point, why you started your business is often a distant memory. You start wondering why you laboured for so long, or even worse, you start thinking maybe it’s time to cash your chips and walk away.
See how similar a business can be to a relationship? Like any relationship, sometimes it needs a bit of work to rekindle the love and excitement from the start. Here are a few ways business owners can jump-start their love for their business again.
1. Get outside help
In a relationship, you might seek couple’s therapy, but sometimes an outside perspective can help remind you why you loved your business or industry at the start and help rekindle some of that passion.
If you started your business out of a desire to do something better, be a cost-effective alternative or provide the best customer service or just to make a heap of money to retire early on, it may help fire up that passion again by focusing on why you started, taking stock of where you are, and planning where you need to be to achieve what you set out to do.
2. Spend more time on the things you enjoy
There are many couples out there who have been together for a long time, they still love each other. But with the stresses of life – mortgages, domestic chores, children, sport, and full-time employment – there’s little time for each other.
Many couples see the signs that they are drifting apart, and try to free up time, by hiring cleaners, meal planning and even changing jobs to improve their work-life balance. By doing this, they make more time each week for themselves.
Freeing up time to focus on the important things in your business starts with removing all the tasks you shouldn’t be doing in the first place from getting other people to do them with automated processes.
3. It’s the little things that count
All too often it’s the little things that manifest into serious issues, from forgetting to replace the toilet roll, forgetting important dates or even just saying ‘Thank You’.
Does thanking a staff member for completing something that’s part of their job need to be done? Especially with so many other critical things going on? A lot of business owners would say no.
But by doing the little things that take no time, you’d be surprised at the impact it can have. So take 30 minutes today to say thanks to some staff members. Put some important dates in your calendar, from birthdays to the anniversary of your business and celebrate it with your staff.
The more love you show your business, the more love your staff will have for it.
Helping you love your business
Acacia provides assistance to help Australian businesses to continue to thrive. We can help you grow your business by managing your cash flow, growing your business, and leveraging global and local opportunities. We have more than 30 years of experience helping businesses overcome issues, rebound and become more profitable. We help optimise, automate and improve the traceability of your business. Acacia has the knowledge and experience across a range of businesses to provide the most cost-effective solutions for your business. If you are interested in finding out how Acacia can help rekindle the spark within your business, please contact us to find out more.
