How To Overcome Hard Times In Your Business

If you work for yourself, you’ll have times where you do great and times where you feel like everything is going downhill fast. Bookings are down, sales are down, no one seems to be in need for what you have, and you have no idea why. It’s probably the most frustrating feeling. It’s uncomfortable, scary and makes you doubt yourself more than anything out there.

February was always that month for me. I don’t know why, but it seems like time February comes around things seems to slow down. Not because I’m not working as hard, it’s probably always been a mixture of things. I feel like I’m spinning my tires and getting nowhere fast. 

Do you know what my favorite month is? March. 

March is always full of new opportunities, big changes, and out of all the months of the year, I have always felt most in control in the month of March. 

Being uncomfortable makes us grow, and I probably work, think, and try a lot more things in the month of February because I’m not comfortable with how I’m doing. In a way, February is the month that reminds me to try new things, to think a little bigger, to try a different direction and refocus on what’s important. So although that month is hard, it helps me grow as a business owner. 

I remember seeing my income I had learned to depend on, decrease from 10K to 3K for my monthly gross. I was freaking out and felt like this was the month I would fail running a successful business. 

I had never been so doubtful in my capabilities than that month. 

That month I had a choice to make. Walk away or try something different. 

I decided to sit down March 14th (This was the day everything changed for me) and focus on what was important. I told myself not to get up until I had some kind of plan on paper. I did exactly that, and that month, I made over $15,000 and had a new outlook on what was possible. The following month I doubled my highest monthly income and earned over $34,000. 

The following months changed the way I ran my business, valued my time, saw myself as a small business owner, and re-inspired me to peruse my dreams and give it everything I had. 

I know that that month of hardship hadn’t happened, it wouldn’t have forced me to think a little harder about what I was doing. I would have continued on my safe and steady path and never had questioned anything I was doing. 

What I want you to realize is that hard times are exactly that. Hard. They are there to push us forward, to make us try a little more and re-think what we are doing. You’ll grow so much more from hard situations than the easy ones. 

If you feel like you’re in one of those patches of hard times, or feel like you haven’t even had good enough times to create “bad” times because everything up until this point has been hard, know that tomorrow might be the day it all comes together for you. 

Remind yourself that hard times come and go. It’s is not your destination but is there to help you create a stepping stone to where you want to be one day. 

If you’d like my personal help to get you on the right path, I would love to invite you to join my class. It won’t do the hard work for you but will show you how to develop a plan for your business that’s connected to your vision of success. This class is designed for photographers, but I welcome anyone who is in the creative field and perusing turning their dreams into a profitable business. 

Always remember; We don’t grow when things are easy; we grow when we face challenges.