There is a tremendous feeling of satisfaction when you have achieved a challenging goal. It could be reaching the North Pole or winning a new client, but nevertheless that feeling of success can provide the motivation required to take on another challenge. This can be a never-ending upward cycle, but these days with the pressures that we all face in the economic climate to maintain cash flow we can suddenly find ourselves conversely moving in the opposite direction, into helplessness.

Keeping yourself motivated and focused in business is one of the toughest tests that any entrepreneur faces today. And it’s no easy problem to overcome. Life in general is much more stressful now than it was a few years ago, as we seem to be expected to operate at full speed all the time. What with running a business, finding time to fit in family, social life, and paying attention to our health and well-being too, it’s not surprising that people find little time or energy to address the issue of motivation, yet it impacts on all these aspects of our lives.

My own experiences of trying to keep motivated relate to the Arctic environment. Having completed major expeditions to the North Pole, Antarctica and Greenland, I have had to battle against extreme tiredness, whilst pulling a heavy sledge in temperatures that were cold enough to freeze your flesh in seconds and try to keep focused and positive day after day. But regardless of whether you are in the world of the Arctic or a business environment, the ability to develop AND sustain high levels of motivation is critical to your ability to perform your job effectively.

There are no simple solutions, but there are four rules that I live by ensure I stay focused and motivated.

Be clear about what you want to achieve. It’s vital that you know what your goals or targets are, and to keep focused on achieving them. This sounds simple, but the reality of what actually happens in business can be quite different. We all know people who always appear busy, but who are not doing the tasks that will help them move towards their goals. If a person feels they are making progress then it is much more likely that this progress then generates more motivation to continue.

Become aware of what you focus on. Having the ability to focus on the short-term and the long term simultaneously is a valuable skill to have in a rapidly changing environment. Immediate problems can threaten our motivation and it’s important to remember to focus on what you can control, rather than what you cannot. All too often we spend too much time and energy focusing on the things that frustrate us rather than the things that give us pleasure. In the Arctic, it’s the choice between thinking about how cold and tired you are, or focusing on the stunning landscape and marvelling at how lucky you are to be able to appreciate this remote place.

Manage your emotions. When pressures get to us, we all behave in different ways. Some people may get angry and look for other people to blame, whilst others may feel out of control and helpless. But whatever we do, our emotions will impact on our motivation, and if we want to perform to the best of our ability, we need to learn to acknowledge and manage our emotions. On our Greenland expedition, I began to realise that I couldn’t keep up with the others in the team. The guy in front got frustrated with me and I felt inadequate and worthless. The pressure began to build and could have exploded if we both had not managed our emotions effectively. In the end I realised that crying was no good (my tears just froze) so I just had to change my mindset and think of the qualities I had that were valued in the team such as my sense of humour and organisational skills.

Be yourself. One of the most important abilities you need to have if you want to maintain your motivation is to just be yourself. It’s important to think about what you value, such as fairness, or honesty and then try to live up to those beliefs. Sometimes in business, people behave in a way that they think other people expect, rather than just being themselves. Authentic people stand out because what you see is what you get.

Networking is becoming more and more popular as a method of meeting business contacts and building relationships. Some people like to network to meet like minded people and develop a support network because it can be lonely if you are working on your own. Others want to seek out people who can refer them to new sources of business, or might even become a client themselves. Yet with so much choice available, how do you decide on a strategy to meet your business goals?

First of all you need to be clear about what your goals are. If you are a business owner looking to grow then your goals are likely to be quite different to those of an early stage entrepreneur looking for contacts and routes to market. In this article, I consider networking specifically for growth, Using Ansoff’s Matrix which is a popular tool for considering how to develop your services/products.

Existing Product/Existing Market = Generic Growth

For those seeking to take this approach, word of mouth is a useful marketing tool. One of the best ways to do this is to build strong business relationships at a network. Consistency is key. Consistency of attendance and consistency of message – what your business offers and how it can benefit others. Practice your 1 minute introduction or “elevator pitch” so that you include how you have helped others and what the BENEFITS are – not – I am a life coach…..or marketing specialist or whatever. So what – I would ask? Why should I refer you to someone else and what makes your business unique?

New Product/Existing Market = Product Development

Once you have become a regular attendee at the networking group, then perhaps ask the organisers if you can deliver a short presentation to the group. By this time you are likely to have built up the trust of the organiser and therefore are more likely to be received in a positive manner particularly if you suggest a topic that you know will be of relevance to the group.

Most meetings have some type of speaker slot for maybe 20 minutes, and it is a great way to educate the audience on an aspect of your business that would be helpful to them. For example, the life coach might talk about strategies for managing change (useful in these turbulent times) or the marketing specialist could provide tips on how to write an interesting press release. You could try to link the timing of this presentation to the launch of your new product – so that at the end of the session you could talk briefly about your new product and the BENEFITS and provide a special offer to network members to try it out.

Also, once you start to trust the other network members, they can be a great source of feedback when developing a new product. You might make that the focus of your conversation, to ask them for their input e.g. we are thinking of offering free name tagging on our products – what do you think? So use the network to test out your product ideas.

Existing Product/New Market = Market Development

This approach takes some planning so that you can research where your “new market” might be found. For example, if you were running a web design business that was already successful in working with dental practices, you might choose to target other professionals like lawyers and architects because your product might be easily transferable. Be clear about what makes your business unique and relevant to the new market.

Carry out some research and find out what networking groups/events/conferences these people are likely to attend. If you find out about a network by doing internet research, then contact the organiser in advance and ask them to tell you the type of businesses that attend, how it is run and if there is an opportunity for you to introduce yourself to the group.

Industry specific conferences are great ways to meet a lot of people from that sector, and to find out who the key players are. Get yourself known in the sector, attend their events, read the trade press and learn as much as you can about them. It can take time to build up knowledge about a new sector, so be prepared that it is likely to cost you time and money to do this. Often, industry specific conferences can be expensive to attend, so do your homework – again ask the organisers in advance, how many people are expected to attend etc. sometimes you can look up a previous year’s conference programme to get a feel for the quality of speakers.

I spoke to one business owner who was looking to target a new sector and her biggest problem was lack of preparation. She had not thought of any industry relevant examples prior to attending the event, and then began to stutter when asked what work she had done in the sector before. Make sure you look, feel and speak confidently about how you benefit clients in this specific market.

New Product/New Market = Diversification

This strategy is the most difficult because it is a step into the unknown. In the small business sector, this stategy can be opportunity led when you meet someone at a networking event, and as a result you decide to create a service in collaboration with them to target a new sector. It can take up a lot of time and resource and is fairly high risk. From a networking perpsective, if you are looking to diversify and not sure which market to move into, then ask lots of questions and listen carefully to the responses. Women in particular have a natural talent to notice things and collect a huge amount of data every day. Your challenge is to distill the data you collect at a network meeting and consider what it is telling you. It is probably more relevant to attend networks for more established businesses to do this kind of research because you might be able to spot a market gap, or learn about what sectors NOT to go into.

It does not matter how you decide to grow your business because networking can be of benefit. So plan your strategy and make sure that you go networking with a purpose!

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About the Author:

Sue Stockdale is founder of Mission Possible, to help women to achieve their goals in business, using the same principles that led to her success in becoming the first British woman to ski to the Magnetic North Pole. Since 1997, the company has worked with 1000s of women worldwide. Services include an award-winning businesswomen’s network, and peer support groups for growing businesses. A fitness fanatic, Sue has represented Scotland in athletics, and in 2004 finished runner-up in TV’s Superhuman. Her academic achievements include an MBA in Entrepreneurship and an MSc in Quality Management. She lectures at several Universities on leadership and entrepreneurship and her advice on motivation regularly appears in the media. She is author of Kickstart Your Motivation and Secrets of Successful Women Entrepreneurs.

There are now over 1 million self-employed women in the UK, and whilst over 70% own their own businesses, less than 20% of those have employees. Some might argue that women don’t want to grow big businesses, but it’s not true for many female entrepreneurs today. So what will encourage women to grow their businesses to a size that contributes to the economy by providing jobs for others?

Three things: aspirations, capabilities and resources, and underpinning them all a good idea that is scalable.

Business Model

Many women start out delivering a product or service that is based around their own skills e.g. complementary therapy. Whilst you might be the best therapist in your local area, the business can only be scalable if you create a business model which helps you (and others who may become involved in your business) understand how it makes money.

A business model should describe how your business positions itself within its industry and how it intends to generate revenue. It should answer the following questions:

1. Who pays? (consumer, producer, or third parties?)
2. What for? (goods, services, expertise, assurances of quality or security.)
3. To whom?
4. Why? (perceived value, competitive price etc.)

You need a clear and convincing answers to the above questions, especially “why”.

If your business model cannot be replicated then it will difficult to turn your service into a growth business. But assuming that it is, then consider the other areas too.

Read more about business models

Aspirations

Many women start up in business for different reasons to the traditional entrepreneurial values of financial success, power and status. Some tend to be motivated by personal comfort or self-actualization goals that allow them to work at something interesting and maintain flexibility. Running a high growth business tends to demand high levels of energy, commitment and leadership skills and might not seem so appealing.

How to get inspired

• Read about women who are running growth businesses and find out what it’s really like
• Think about your future and what you would like to achieve. Think about the benefits of investing time and effort for a few years in order to build a business that has the potential to be sold. This could provide the finance for you to achieve your longer term vision.
• Believe it is possible. Sometime the greatest fear we have is fear of success, not fear of failure so create your own model for success based on your ideal work environment.

Capabilities

This is the combination of knowledge and skills that you bring to the table. Sometimes I think many of us like to imagine we can do it all, and it’s foolish to believe that this is the case. This encourages you not to delegate and get others involved, which is what is needed to grow a business.

- Critically assess the skills and capabilities that you have. Be honest with yourself and recognise that if you are focusing on your strengths then you can start to value strengths in others and it’s easier to delegate.
- Some useful tools to use are Strengths Finder and Wealth Dynamics profile

Resources

Resources are the combination of financial and social capital that you have available which can help you make the transition from lifestyle business to growing business.

Finances

Over the years, maybe you have not had as much interest or taken the responsibility for understanding and managing finances, and research shows that women spend less time engaged in activity related to acquiring finance at the start-up stage.

This could be because we can be more risk averse regarding business funding. I wish I had a pound for every woman I have spoken to that will only start their business on a shoe string because they don’t believe it’s really going to be a success! Yet it’s this under-capitalisation of a business that can cause problems if you intend to grow.

• Find someone you can help you gain the financial knowledge that you will need or read books or attend a course.
• Challenge your thinking – ask yourself – what is attitude to financial risk? Would you put up your house as security? If not, why not? Is it that you would not put your family in jeopardy, you don’t believe in the potential of the product/service? By asking yourself these questions, you can begin to think like an investor – if you don’t believe in your business, then why should the bank or an investor?
• Contrary to popular belief, successful entrepreneurs are not risk takers, but what they do is carefully evaluate all the risks before making a decision.

Social Capital

As you begin to grow, you will need to find good people to help you. They might be business specialists, investors, potential members of staff, mentors etc. and the more diverse networks that you have, the greater the chance that you will be able to find the right people.

• evaluate all the networks that you are part of already. E.g. family, school friends, other parents, business networks, evening class contacts, people at the gym, and you will amaze yourself at the number of people you know.
• Even if you don’t have a large network, you can “borrow” social capital from others who do and that is where a mentor comes in. If you are looking to build contacts in a particular industry sector then you might consider seeking a mentor in that industry. Whilst this might seem a “one-sided approach” if you have ever mentored someone else you will know that the mentor gets a lot of satisfaction too from being able to help their mentee and to make introductions.
• How to find a mentor