Motivation Slump

One thing I've always had is motivation. Especially when it comes to my business. Since the day I conceived the idea I have always been able to whatever was necessary for success. I've given up countless hours and thousands of dollars, not to mention leaving my career and moving back in with family to save money. That's why the past few days were a first for me.

Last week was my first full time week running SportsLizard.com. I started off with a bang - I came to the realization of just how much work I could get done with more time and less distractions. My largest accomplishment was launching Mobile SportsLizard.com on Saturday. But for some reason after that I fell into a rut.

I started becoming distracted by everything around me - friends/family/hobbies - all of those things I was worried about when I moved back to NY. I temporarily began to feel "comfortable" and with that comfort came a loss of motivation. Couple that with the fact that by quitting my job I don't get to see first hand what I DON'T want to do everyday, and I was in a hardcore slump. Working for myself was, for the first time, getting difficult.

I have no reason to be "comfortable" - the reality of the situation is that all of my comfort was flushed down the toilet when I quit my job. I have enough savings to live off of for 6-8 months and then I will be forced to get a job, something I don't want to do. In reality, I suppose it's not that big of a deal if I had to get a job, but I treat it as the equivalent of being sent to hell (again, to avoid the whole becoming "comfortable" thing.) Anyway, all of this means that I need to step it up NOW and prove that this business is profitable enough to make a comfortable living off of. There's not a doubt in my mind that it will be, but that only gets me so far. It's time for results.

So what got me out of my rut? This month is the two year anniversary of the day I decided that I wanted to run my own business and came up with the idea to run SportsLizard.com. This afternoon I pulled out the article that convinced me to change my direction in life and sat in the exact same chair to read it that I did two years ago. Then I picked up my original notebook where I scribbled down my first thoughts of SportsLizard.com. Then I went to my computer and looked at the reality of what I had done. Millions of people had an idea that day back in February 2004. How many have turned that idea into reality? And how many of those have had the success that SportsLizard.com has had? That fixed me quickly.

I'm sure that this won't be the last time that I slip for a day or two (I am human). The important thing is that, as an entrepreneur, you don't slip for a few weeks or months. You are likely the only thing driving your business forward. It's hard to succeed if you are 100% focused, but it's nearly impossible to succeed in spite of yourself if you lose focus.