Finding motivation is one of the hardest parts of being a solo business owner. When you’re just depending on yourself, it can be hard to do all the things that you need to. Who is going to know anyway?

This is the number one reason why solo business owners fail. They can’t motivate themselves, and it starts adding up until they have to find a new job because this one is not bringing in enough income. It can be they aren’t marketing themselves enough or they aren’t getting all of their client work done. They’re both problems that can kill a business.

So what can you do to stop this before you no longer have a business?

Get a buddy

I have to share that as I’m writing this, Doc McStuffins is singing, “Buddy up,” in the background as my daughter is dancing around. Getting a buddy isn’t just for business owners.

In this case, finding a fellow business owner who is in a similar place with their business is a great option to find motivation. They will have similar obstacles and understand what you’re going through. You can go talk about your current obstacles and hold each other responsible for certain business tasks that you are having trouble completing on your own.

I have always done this informally with my buddies, but I know plenty of people who have formal meetings with their buddy monthly or even weekly. If you’re finding motivation to be difficult for you, I would do a formal arrangement and meet in-person or over Zoom. Then you will get the little shove you need to get things done.

And where do you find buddies? Networking. My best ones came from associations I was a part of, but I have also met some great people just from networking online or in-person. Just put yourself out there constantly and you will eventually meet the person you need as your buddy.

Gamify it

When I make a game of tasks, I get them done faster. In fact, my whole day is all about how much can I get done in ten minute increments. The answer on most days? Quite a lot.

You can do what I do or there are a million other ways to do it. My friend has one day a month for all the tasks she hates to do. She gets a big bag of popcorn or a big box of chocolates. Every time she gets a task done, she grabs some. And by the end of the day, she’s out of her treats and done with her tasks. She got here simply by realizing what would motivate her when nothing else was working.

I experimented for many years to get to my solution. I’m sure my friend did as well. What got us on the right path was figuring out what would motivate us best and doubling down on that. So figure that out about yourself and then think of how you can make a game out of that motivation.

Have a routine

This is super simple but also effective. The routine doesn’t have to be elaborate. You can just do the same things at the same time every day. Your body is then in the habit of it happening that way.

But another thing that really works is to have a transition activity that signals to your body that it’s time to do a certain task. My daughter has this for bedtime routine (and for just about everything else if I’m truly being honest here). She has a set routine every night that signals to her body that it is time to settle down and get into her bed. The same works for business.

Maybe you always play a certain song when you do invoicing. Heck, you might even try to get the invoicing done by the time your playlist is over. Maybe you do another task that easily transitions into a task you have trouble doing. And know that it will take awhile for your body to respond to that signal. But by the end of the month, it should be second nature.

Whatever you do, find that motivation. It’s going to be the difference between your business surviving or dying, and I want to see you thrive.

What do you do to keep yourself motivated?