As a business owner and entrepreneur, you are daily presented with the task of coming up with creative and new ideas to keep your business thriving and your team motivated. However, we all know how very challenging it can be to find inspiration stories and be motivated day in and day out in the business world. We can all fall victim to those seasons when we struggle with complacency and feel stuck in a professional rut that we just can’t seem to get out of! This is when we need to find inspiration stories and productivity most!
First of all, you shouldn’t feel guilty or overly discouraged by this; it’s a very common symptom for all business owners and professionals. Even the most innovative and creative entrepreneurs sometimes feel “stuck” when they are trying to come up with fresh, new ideas that will catapult their business to that next level of success.
How to find those inspiration stories to tell yourself
So the question remains: What do you do to climb your way out? Let’s take a look at a few helpful tips to boost your inspiration and productivity when you’ve hit the business blues.
Running a business is no longer just about selling products and services to the consumer market. In fact, today, it has become more of building a relationship that lasts longer and ensures the success of the business. It demands special deliberations to steer your venture in the right direction and achieve long-term goals.
Meanwhile, in order to be successful, it is also important to learn different strategies and practices that are proven to pay dividends in the long run. The business indeed gives you the sense of freedom to explore the world and test your own strategies for business-customer relationships. But in today’s uncertain world, you must also incorporate different crucial elements for business success.
Business success is not something that can happen with the swoosh of a wand. It takes a considerable amount of research and planning to execute something that can open doors of opportunities. With that said, let’s discuss 5 tips for inspiration stories from successful businessmen to shoot your business to the top.
- Become An Expert At Something
You may have heard this tip everywhere and mostly thought of it as the least important. But in reality, this advice has a very important role as one of the inspiration stories in your career success.
That is also why Marla Beck of Bluemercury always insists on acquiring skills for something that challenges you. Since business growth involves skills, it is necessary to go through learning phases even if they feel daunting. One of the reasons is that they cannot continue education because of the full-time work.
However, today, the dawn of online education has taken the world by storm with degree programs to pursue within the comfort of your home. For instance, individuals can consider an AACSB accredited online MBA programs no GMAT to acquire new skills to cater to both education and business simultaneously.
Business success demands taking on the challenges and putting the learned skills to practice. This is only possible by continuing education. By earning professional training, you will acquire skills for financial planning, analysis, business management, hiring workforce, and numerous essential skills.
- Be Willing To Take Risks
Business is all about taking risks. For example, taking the first step to launch your business in a highly competitive market is also a risk-taking process. The reality of the business world is that opportunities exist in the risk pills. And those who were willing to swallow them are the most successful today.
Let’s discuss the same story of Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook. When he launched the News Feed feature back 15 years ago, it faced a backlash from the public from the complete transformation of social media. Meanwhile, according to Zuckerberg, the team took the risk pill and continued with the ideas that led to the huge success of the social media platform.
To achieve business goals, you will need the courage to look into the eye of competition as one of your inspiration stories. It will give you a sense of experiencing what is right and wrong for your business establishment. On the other side, risk leads to innovation and more opportunities to gain an advantage over the competitors in the market.
- Do What You Are Passionate About
One of the top tips from the Steve Jobs of Apple was to do what you are passionate about as one of your key inspiration stories. Despite public thoughts for Steve Jobs being ruthless, many remember him with a passion for work. He had the best eye for attention to detail, and he took that seriously.
When you start to consider this factor for your business, you will be able to achieve long-term business goals. As a business owner, work will cover most of your life. So, it is better to do the work that you really love. Your passion will drive success, while unsatisfied work will only lead to bad decisions, unbalanced health, and more failures.
Once you develop your passion for your work, you will be able to find ways to take your business to a new level. Business requires your inspiration stories to give the same nourishment and care as your child. So, it is important to work for what you truly love or change sides. As said earlier, take the risk to test different strategies for your business and work on what you are passionate about.
- Surround Yourself With Professionals
Another most important tip from the social media giant owner Mark Zuckerberg is to connect yourself with professionals. Networking is a crucial step to grow your business and this should always be one of your inspiration stories.
When you engage with motivated people, you will also adapt to the confident atmosphere and learn from their experiences. After all, behind every big innovation and successful business, there are professionals that have made contributions to keep it alive and strong.
You do not have to do it all alone as it poses more risk and a lack of confidence to take on the challenge. When you network with professionals, you will be able to efficiently build a business that will stand for ages.
- Be Yourself
As a business owner, your action would greatly influence your own business. Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin Group, has shed light on his experience for young entrepreneurs. According to him, he wants to teach everything he has learned to his grandchildren.
But the prime focus for these experiences is to be yourself. Being yourself is the best strategy to becoming successful. This strategy enables one to make decisions that meet their expectations and deliver values to their efforts.
After starting the business, many entrepreneurs go into the deep dark world of hopelessness with the risk of failure. But Richard has shared the best way to overcome this fear by writing down everything you love. Identify whether these things match with your business idea. That is how you will develop the passion and a visionary plan to grow your business. Believe in yourself and put yourself into your business.
- Step out of your comfort zone
It’s time to push yourself to think outside the box! One highly effective way of doing this is by spending time with professionals from different industries. You can achieve this by signing up for various events or seminars covering topics you’re interested in but that don’t necessarily pertain to your specific business. This will open up a whole new world of insight and original ideas that you would not have been privy to otherwise.
While you’re at it, take some time to learn how professionals in these other fields are solving problems and challenges corporately, as well as approaching concerns and suggestions from their customers. By doing so, you’ll get some fresh thoughts on how to move your own business forward.
Plus, you may meet some potential clients you wouldn’t ordinarily have encountered. This is also a great opportunity to look into new trends happening in these other fields and to consider how they might relate to your industry—giving you innovative ways to kick-start your future marketing efforts.
- Take a look back before looking forward
Sometimes in the chaos of your day-to-day activities, you can become so focused on moving forward and just “keeping up” that you forget to sit down and take some time to reevaluate your original goals. The goals you set for yourself are meant to act like a map to help guide you on your journey, both professionally and personally.
Sometimes, however, you can fall into the trap of focusing entirely on your business goals and forgetting to step back, take a breath, and make sure your personal purpose is in alignment with your business. Taking a little time to assess why you do what you do will help you to identify the changes you need to make in order to break out of the rut you’ve found yourself in.
For example, if you discover that you have strayed from your original plan, you can compare your personal goals to the direction your business has taken to determine where you have gone off-track. If you find that you have drifted off course from your initial vision, it may be a good time to establish some new goals.
- Take time to discover what inspires you
Often times, being stuck in a rut goes hand in hand with feeling tremendously uninspired. And, quite honestly, it’s difficult to jump-start any sort of innovation in the midst of feeling discouraged. So, in order to ignite some inspiration, try looking for something to focus on that sparks your creativity and drive.
For example, look for some activities outside of work that help to relieve stress both physically and mentally. Whether it’s attending a new workout class or learning a new skill like painting or playing an instrument, unleashing your creative side can help inspire you. You can then take that renewed energy and outlook back into your workday.
Learning something new or taking on a challenge is a great way to break free from a rut. When you focus on something you have always wanted to do, especially if it’s outside your comfort zone, it will help reignite your motivation and serve as a reminder that you can truly accomplish anything when you put your mind to it!
- Ask for feedback
Asking for feedback from those around you, whether it’s employees, co-workers, or even customers, is another effective way to spark fresh ideas and approaches to new challenges. Schedule some brainstorming sessions with your team members and colleagues, or ask customers to share inventive ways they’re using your products or services.
In this day and age, brands are trying harder than ever to appear authentic. One of the best ways to do that is to find out how customers are really using your products. For instance, fashion boutiques might ask customers to post photos of themselves wearing their favourite pieces. This helps fans and potential customers see what current users like and what you’re selling. Customer responses may even help spark some inspiration for future products.
- Take a time-out
It may seem trivial, but simply changing your surroundings can trigger new ideas. Instead of locking yourself in the office and not leaving until you figure things out, take a time-out and go for a walk outside, meet someone for coffee, or grab some recreational reading to just allow your brain time to reboot! Sometimes, all you need to do to kindle inspiration is to look at things from a different angle—and a different place.
- Continue your education
Whether it’s listening to a quality podcast about up-and-coming trends in your industry or attending a webinar to learn some new best practices in the world of marketing, continuing to expand your education encourages you to look at things with a fresh perspective.
There are so many great resources available at the tip of your keyboard, so take advantage of them. You might be surprised how helpful a simple sixty-minute podcast can be at spurring you on to your “aha” moment!
It’s important not to get too comfortable for too long in any phase of your business. Before you know it, you may settle into a safe routine where you no longer strive to improve and grow, and this can lead to you missing some very valuable opportunities. Take the time you need to stay intentional in both your personal and professional growth. When you do, those mucky ruts of complacency will become fewer and farther between as you navigate each bend on your journey.
