And how to obtain that special thing.

Eric S Burdon

Nov 15, 2018·6 min read

As more and more people make the decision to start a business the more important it becomes for people to realize it’s not a simple thing. For sure there are many great things about running a business and making progress on your goals is a feeling I can’t even describe.

However, if you’re not doing that, you’re more than likely struggling to get by and spend a lot of time growing yourself or your business.

And sometimes it takes weeks, months, or even years to see any kind of significant growth.

It’s in this situation where entrepreneurs realize that as much as growing a business takes physical work, it also requires a lot of mental fortitude.

Those who are weak minded will crash and burn when the good times stop happening or you start slowing down.

People will panic when they hit roadblocks.

Some will be utterly oblivious and dump all of their money and life into an idea that doesn’t make sense.

It’s examples like these where I look back at what went wrong. For sure there are a number of things that can crash a business, but one common theme I’ve found is a lack of one thing.

Self respect.

Why Self Respect?

As I’ve said before, your business is an extension of yourself no matter what form it takes. How you treat it afterwards says a lot about who you are currently and your approach to business.

If you lack self respect, deep down you truly won’t care what’ll happen to your business. In fact, when things do get tough you’ll find that you’re more likely to doubt yourself, hesitate, get frustrated or get depressed.

You set lower expectations for yourself and therefore your current business.

And the reason I know this is because I was in that situation before. For two years.

During that time, I had a huge money issue. But in order for me to fix it, I jumped at literally every opportunity that came my way. Regardless of if it was something I was passionate for or not.

In the end, I made no progress because I didn’t focus at all on anything.

On top of that, there were certainly many points where I doubted myself. I felt stuck and deep down I felt depressed.

But all of that changed last year when I started to focus on my writing, honing my craft, positioning myself as a freelance writer and doing a few other things to build my self respect for my business.

Here’s what I did.

First, I Prioritized My Streams

Business has a flow to it and you want to be following it. If you go against it, there will be some pretty clear signs. Either from your own mindset or from other sources.

For me, I found that I was utterly unmotivated in certain circumstances.

Hence why almost every opportunity I had, I did literally nothing at all.

I saw this as a sign for what I should be prioritizing. Especially when looking at the work that I had to do.

For others, though it might not be so simple.

One way to look at this is to not look at individual tasks, but the work as a whole. This is because no matter what you do, there is bound to be something that you’re not good at or dislike doing.

But that often falls to precise tasks.

For example, I’m not the greatest at marketing. But that’s not a reason for me to not create content, edit it, format it, and post it.

Instead, you want to be looking at the bigger picture. At the stream as a whole. From there, ask yourself:

Is this something that I wouldn’t mind doing for the next few years or more?

Looking back at my decisions I dropped a lot of the online marketing and network marketing stuff. The reason was that I wasn’t into doing the work that had to be done to succeed. Furthermore, I couldn’t see myself selling skin care products or marketing packages for years, even if those things could help people immensely.

I wanted to sell in a much different way than what they were pitching.

That is through video and writing. Hence my keen interest in writing and making videos (ignoring the fact that my posts have been so infrequent lately).

From there I started to practice and focus on those skills. It took me a while but by doing this, I started to develop more self respect for myself but also my business. This compounded when I did the next thing.

Second, I Made Money

Every person has a money mindset but also has a definition of what a lot of money means to them. For me making $500 a month is a lot for me at the moment while $1,000+ per month is phenomenal. For you, it might be different.

Whatever the case may be it’s important for you to work as quickly as you can to be hitting that marker or making a big step towards that.

Making money is the fastest way of gaining self respect for your business because you get to call it an actual business. You’re not a real entrepreneur until you manage to sell something and make money.

Doesn’t matter the source, so long as that’s bringing you much closer or hitting that target.

The reason I say this is because I was making money in my second year of business. The only thing is that year my total earnings that year equated to roughly $400.

So it needs to be significant and meaningful to you.

But once you hit that marker, you’ll start to look at your work and see what you can build on. You’ll start using your money to elevate yourself and your business. You’ll even look at other avenues for which you can make money.

That’s partially why I bet $500 on myself that I’d drop 20 pounds in six weeks. I want to challenge myself and elevate myself.

Making money is an obvious part of business, but we often find ourselves unfulfilled or unsatisfied when we’re not making a certain amount. That or the work that we’re doing isn’t what we truly want. It’s for this reason why you want to be making a healthy amount of money for yourself by doing what you want to do.

Whatever that happens to be.

Finally, I Paid Attention To My Thoughts

One of my biggest sources for doubt at the beginning for many can be outside pressure. You have people telling you to get a real job or perhaps you get so into your head that you think every person is against your idea.

Often my struggles and doubts I had stemmed from those specific thoughts. And they can be dangerous as they can lead you astray.

As I said, as much as building a business takes physical work, it requires a strong mentality too.

If you’re not willing to believe in yourself, then how can you believe in your business?

It’s for this reason why I think it’s vital to have times for positive thinking. Furthermore affirming yourself that you got this and can grow a business.

This is especially important during times where you’re in a bit of a lull. Either from being stuck or just after a huge success and leap forward.

So remind yourself that you’re a good entrepreneur and your business is growing. And put actions behind those statements so you can further validate those things. Whether they are recent, or in the past.

And if we don’t have much to look back on then, why not give it a shot?

Make an effort to grow your business like never before.

If you are interested and can see yourself doing the work for a few years, then why not try it out and see where it takes you?

Attitude Is Everything

Business has a flow to it and over the years you may change your business to something else and that’s alright. A business will evolve as you evolve and develop interests and discover what you want to do and how you want to go about it.

The important part is that you pay close attention to how you feel when doing the tasks and the potential reward. Furthermore asking yourself the questions that’ll deepen your relationship with your business.

Can I make money this way?

Can I do this for the next few years or more?

Is this satisfying and fulfilling for me?

The deeper understanding you have for your business the more self respect you’ll have for yourself as an entrepreneur and towards your business.