For a fair portion of my career I have lept out of bed early each morning, quickly got myself ready, followed by the kids, chomped on our Weet-Bix together, then took off out the door to school and work.
I have spent most of my days motivated and happy. Pushing myself to give the best I had within me.
During the periods that I worked in my own business, I seemed to find that leaping out of bed a whole lot easier and waiting for Friday to arrive (especially during challenging periods in my life) just didn’t happen. Working for myself certainly suited me and to this very day still does.
As a B2B business owner who gets to work with other businesses in different industries, I have seen many startups and wannabe entrepreneurs come and go. All of them had amazing dreams that they articulated well, with success and wealth always being a certainty. Few have actually made it though.
Some were none other than dreamers, others were charlatans that sold me and others their idea, then omitted to pay us for our work, before disappearing into the sunset. Many, however, very simply had no idea how much consistent hard work had to happen prior to seeing a glimmer of what could be classed as a success.
These people were honest and their intentions were true. Their ideas and business plans all seemed to point to a favourable outcome, but still, it wasn’t enough.
They lacked the motivation to let their business become the star of their working week, giving all it required in that time for it to take flight and success arrive.
Cue the ‘I am the business owner so I can take long lunches’ or ‘I might just go fishing instead of working today’ comments.
This funny little quote with no author has always resonated with me and during times when I stumbled with the chaos of solo parenting and managing my career, it kept me going.
The nights spent lying awake consumed by a new idea for my business, the days which often included the weekends) spent working solidly with little breaks, to meet a deadline and the consistent approach to marketing was and still is tough. Let’s not even talk about the challenges of keeping the bank account balanced!
These days, I employ people to assist me, so my working week stays within 9-5 and rarely do I work on weekends. This isn’t because I class myself as successful, I still feel this is way off. I have simply learned how important it is to give my body adequate rest and nourishment during down times so that I can fire at 150% during my work hours.
Balance truly is everything. Burnout is real and so is a business failure, but defining your work hours and giving your business all you have during these times really is a game changer.
Consistent hard work does pay off, but success never comes before that work.
So just in case, you would like to keep my favourite little quote nearby, I have created a free printable. Just click here and it is all yours.
