Advice for Solopreneurs – Breaking Out Of Your Funk
Hi, my name is Sue Laurent… and I’m in an eFunk.
No – this is not some new dance craze. I have hit that point in the ebb and flow of a solopreneur’s journey where I’m just stuck in an “entrepreneurial funk”.
I know it’s temporary, but as the chief, cook and bottle washer of my own professional destiny I also know I can’t afford to wallow in my funk for too long. When I’m not moving forward I’m not making money. When I’m not creating, I’m not growing. When I’m not firing on all cylinders, I’m not serving my clients to the best of my abilities.
But I know I’m not alone…
Being a solopreneur or small business owner can be a lonely journey at times. Sure, you may have a staff to speak to, or you might attend live events, workshops, etc., but your dreams, your goals, your purpose are yours alone. And yes, that’s an amazing thing – and I’m so blessed to be able to have this opportunity to be my own boss – but there were some things I did not expect when I stopped “working for the man” 9 months ago.
One of the biggest surprised – at least so far – has been how much energy it actually takes to get a business off the ground.
I’m not talking about the work – and yes, there’s lots of work, but at least for me, I totally geek out on helping companies use strategic marketing techniques to grow their business so it really doesn’t feel like work to me – but the ENERGY it takes to keep going.
And when the energy has been drained out, that puts me into my eFunk.
And when energy is low it can be really difficult to pull yourself back out again – but it must be done.
So last night I mentioned my funk to my Accountability Group (it’s my amazing support group that meets for 15 minutes every day to check in on our business progress) and they asked how they could help.
Now I had to think about it for a moment – what was keeping me blocked, and how could they help me move the block out of the way? Sometimes, when you’re in a funk, it’s hard to see what could help.
I finally said “give me one thing to do by tomorrow”.
I said this because after 25 years of working for other people, it’s sometimes a challenge to “create the strategies/tasks what I must then execute” and when I have nothing to “execute”, I spin my wheels and get nothing done.
While “tell me what to do” was a bit of a cop-out, it was really about getting me out of my eFunk so I could start moving forward again.
So they said “write something about what you’re going through” – and just like that, something clicked.
And here we are…
I’m writing about my funk – and I’m going to take the next 5 days to try out different techniques that have been recommended to me to try to break out of this “sticking point”. We all get stuck – whether it’s on where to start, how to grow, or what’s the best next step for our business. Everyone has their favorite advice for getting “unstuck”, and since I haven’t yet settled on my magic formula, I’m going to try a few.
If you feel like following along with me during my 5-day experiment, come on over to my YouTube channel – I’ll be checking in with daily progress reports. Click here to subscribe: NeverStopMarketing YouTube Channel
DAY ONE VIDEO
Day One – Motivation Techniques – Take a Hike!
DAY TWO VIDEO
Day Two – Will Meditation Work?
DAYS THREE AND FOUR VIDEO
Days Three and Four – Doing Nothing and Looking to the Past
