12 Nov 2014

We have bad weeks.

Or bad months.

In this economy, many of us might be having a bad year.

When your frustrations mount and your small business starts to feel like a burden, you start to feel like giving up.

However, you’ve invested almost everything you have in this business, quitting your job and diving into the competitive Calgary landscape of entrepreneurship.

You tell yourself you can’t give up.

But how do you keep plugging away?

Give up on giving up

Is there a tiny bit of you that still believes in you? Of course, there is. That’s how you got here in the first place, Mr. or Ms. Small Business Owner.

It’s time to reinforce that feeling and get your business — and your confidence — back on track.

Let’s try:

1. Doing the little things.

Your business to-do list needs some attention. Attack the easy, little tasks and get yourself into a groove. It might make the bigger tasks seem less difficult to tackle.

2. Lowering your expectations

OK, you set your sights high for sales and profits this year. You might have to drop those numbers to a more realistic level to give yourself a better picture of how your business is doing.

3. Consulting a business coach.

Nobody knows it all, and a lot of entrepreneurs are just winging it. It’s OK to ask for help from someone who knows what they’re doing. Last year, we teamed with Forzani Business Consulting to offer a coaching seminar. Our clients loved the information we passed onto them.

4. Finding some inspiration

Seek advice from the experts. We share a lot of great how-to stories from Entrepreneur.com, Inc.com and other publications on our Twitter account. We know a business owner should never stop learning and we want to share that information with you.

Just do it

Believing in yourself and your business isn’t the easiest thing to do some days. When we’re feeling down, it’s all we can do to keep working.

You have to face up to your feelings of failure and force yourself to be productive.

We all want to have an overnight success, but those cases are rarer. It takes hard work, dedication, passion and confidence to move your business forward.

Remember what Mark Cuban, business magnate and member of The Shark Tank, says:

“What I’ve learned … is you just got to stay focused and believe in yourself and trust your own ability and judgment.”