The Entrepreneur’s Delimma: How to Sustain Your Passion

Enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of success. When you do a thing, do it with all your might. Put your whole soul into it.  — Ralph Waldo Emerson

 There’s nothing like the passion of an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurial passion is what says yes when everyone else says no and fuels extraordinary results in whatever you do. Like many others, my passion is what drove me to leave behind the security of a corporate position and boldly walking through the door of the unknown. All entrepreneurs know the overwhelming rush that comes with starting your own business.  Everyday you wake up with a renewed energy, bigger ideas and eager to see what the day would bring.

But when your business starts to grow and you’re caught up in the daily grind, you may begin to feel that you’re just coasting from day-to-day, lacking the fiery passion you had at the start. As your company grows, the passion you started with must remain intact and flow throughout the company. Passion starts at the top and is the difference in your business just surviving from day-to-day or thriving. As the leader, maintaining your passion will keep the passion flowing in your business. Think about your state of mind when you started your business. What were you doing then that you’re not doing now?

Don’t delegate. Do 

I’m sure when you first started your business you had a hand in every interaction that took place. You met with potential customers and played a part in solving every problem that came up. Besides the fact that you probably did not need a full team just yet, you were driven by passion for what you were doing and eagerly took part in every aspect of your business.  As you grow, don’t delegate everything.  A huge part of keeping passion alive comes from doing. When you’re in the trenches getting your hands dirty, you remind yourself of the desire that drove you to the place you are.

• Have weekly meetings to stay in the know of what’s on your company’s plate at all times.
• Have one on one sessions to offer advice and solutions.
• Don’t wait until work is completed by staff  to review. Go over work with your staff while it’s in progress.

Keep the ‘wow’ factor:

When you started your business you most likely went to bed late every night unable to sleep more than a few hours because of a great new idea you had that you were sure your current customers would love, and would bring tons of new ones. In the beginning, you’re constantly trying to stay one step ahead of the competition. Now that your business is stable, don’t relax but stir up the fire to stay relevant. Creativity is a positive side effect of passion.

• Have brainstorming sessions to think of new services or products you can offer.
• Think of ways to revamp or update  the services or products  you already have.
• Reach out to your customers on a regular basis. Keep a health check on your business relationships. What you did to win them you must continue to keep them.

Hire passion:

Yes, the leader plays a huge role in fueling the passion that trickles down to the team but be sure to build a team that comes with its own internal passion for the business. When a business owner is passionate about the company but the employees are not, it makes it very hard to pull off one triumph let alone many. When your build or expand your team, it’s important that you look at credentials. It’s even more important that you look at the heart. Does this person have ‘passion’ for what they do? Will they bring ‘passion’ to the table everyday in your company?

• Hire from various cultures and professional backgrounds. Often professionals from different fields bring a fresh relevance .
• Remember interns. Eager to learn and do and the free passion you could ask for. The majority of interns today are trained to be entrepreneurs, and have plenty of passion to offer.

Feed your talent: 

The surest way for anything to die is by starving it. We live in the most innovative of times, feeding your talent is just a matter of researching what’s out there and jumping in.  With technology, obtaining education to grow your talent is at a whole new level. Stay on top of what’s going on in your field. Feed your passion with your passion.  This is a perfect way to re-fuel and kept your passion tank from getting empty.

•  Take advantage of teleconferences, webinars and workshops as much as possible.
• Start your own business podcast, news letter or blog.  Sharing your passion with others is a great way to keep it alive.
• Join professional organizations and consistently network with other business owners and professionals. 

Step away:

One thing I’ve learned is that business relationship is a lot like personal relationships. absence does make the heart grow fonder.  When you get stuck in a rut doing the same thing day in and day out, you can lose the passion for it fast. Be sure to take the weekends or any one day that works for you to step away from your business. No business calls, emails or paperwork for the day will give you a chance to rest your brain, regroup and come back refreshed. Trust me, you’ll miss the business, and when you get back in the grind it will be with the passion and vigor that you thought was gone.

So much could be said about passion, how to tap into it and maintain it.  But ultimately it’s up to you to discover what works. One  thing for sure, it was passion that got you where you are today and it will be passion that will keep you going.