Dozen Rawlings

Dozen Rawlings

You may bound out of bed each morning ecstatic at the prospect of working another day in your business. But there may also be times when your entrepreneurial zeal begins to wane and you just coast along, going through the motions. The long hours, erratic cash flow and wearing all those hats can wear you down.

Below are ten easy tips to renew your business passion and keep you energized:

1. Contemplate why you started the business. Revisit your core values-the 'non-negotiables' most important to you, and then do what you can to realign your activities with those values.

2. Keep your vision and your goals clearly before you. Visualize where you want to take the business. Use all your senses. Ask yourself, what will it look like when I get there? How will I feel? What will I be doing each day?

3. Invest in your education. Keep learning: attend seminars, study business books and read biographies of other successful entrepreneurs, such as Pour Your Heart into It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time by Howard Schultz and Dori Jones Yang.

4. Make a list of all the things you enjoy and are good at. Is there a way you can spend more time on these?

5. Brainstorm something new you can create for the business.

6. Spend time with positive people. Allow no negative self-talk, and no whining, ever! Consider reading Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude by Jeffrey Gitomer.

7. Take good care of the boss-you!

8. Hire a coach or mentor.

9. Don't fly solo! Surround yourself with like-minded people. Join a Small Business Advisory Board.

10. Commit to the long haul and get busy doing what you know you need to do next in the business.

Use these tips to stir up your passion for business. You'll begin to see problems as possibilities and difficulties as opportunities to learn and grow. Most importantly, you'll enjoy the daily challenges of growing your business.

Victoria K. Munro is co-founder (along with husband Dave Block) of Make-it-Fly® LLC, a company dedicated to creating success for small business owners through creatively designed programs and tools. Victoria has started and run nine different businesses. To receive FREE business success articles with tips to help you with your business, sign up for their award-winning ezine, "In-Flight Refueling," at: http://www.Make-it-Fly.com, and receive a free copy of the eBook, Get More Done in Less Time: 101 Quick and Easy Time Tactics & Tips.