Building Resilience As A Business Owner
By Dominic Bruneau | Profusion Consulting
5 Sept 2022
You’ve had the idea; you’ve launched the business and you have the enthusiasm and energy of a toddler in a new playground. You’re full of ideas and can see what a huge success your business venture can be – until its not. Soon enough, your ‘business baby’ starts to feel hard and you start having feelings of doubt.
First thing to know, is that this is completely normal and we all go through it. Because, building a business isn’t easy. Your family and friends might not understand what you do, you might receive radio silence when you share work stuff on your social media page. Perhaps that launch you did sank like a stone and left you feeling like you should try something else?
On top of this, there are the events of the world, which right now, aren’t exactly rosy! All this can quickly feel overwhelming, and all you want to do is stay under the duvet and hibernate. Your body and mind will want to take the easy option and stay comfortable pulling those covers over. This is when you need to tap into your power of resilience.
So, how do you build up your resilience as a business owner and overcome the feelings of overwhelm and disappointment?
First of all, it pays to remember that resilience is something that needs to be worked on. Our ability to bounce back is not a constant (unless you’re some kind of robot) and will depend on other factors in your life.
You are bigger than your fear
It’s normal to feel fearful of doing new things – it’s the natural response your brain has in order to keep you safe. As I talked about in my last blog – ‘Why businesses push the f*ck it button’, fear can drive us into self-sabotaging behaviour rather than deal with the feeling and pushing through.
There will be many aspects of your work like that will make you feel fearful. While you may want to stay in your comfort zone forever, this will not see your business grow. Indeed, you will not grow as a person if you stay in your comfort zone. You need to get used to feeling slightly uncomfortable in order to learn lessons as you go, improve in your ability to do new things and develop your business.
Do the things you hate
Sometimes, you just have to suck it up and do the stuff you don’t want to. You may hate going live on social media – I have to admit, I’m not a massive fan myself. You worry about messing up, making a fool of yourself and the whole world thinking you’re useless. The truth is, even if you do mess up, at least you are showing up as a relatable human-being with personality to boot! Nobody wants to work with a robot – so own your nerves and your insecurities, and it will make for a much better ‘live’ than getting it word perfect… yawn!
The fact is, you worry about what everyone else is thinking about you when the truth of the matter is, they are far too occupied with worrying about what people think of them. You are not the spotlight of their attention – they are!
Get comfortable with being uncomfortable
Hitting that sweet spot of being uncomfortable just enough to allow us grow and not feel overwhelmed is where you want to be. You would never do anything new if you always stayed in your comfort zone. It’s good to feel a certain amount of stress. It’s what makes life interesting and stops us from getting bored. In fact, stress can be good for us – that rush of adrenaline and the feeling when something goes well is something we strive for.
As demonstrated by The Yerkes Dodson Law – optimal performance comes from external pressure somewhere between moderate (comfortable) and high (overload). A certain level of stress will help you perform at your best. Go beyond that, and your performance declines.
Of course, some of our stresses are those that we bring upon ourselves, where there are others which are out of our control. It’s how we deal with those episodes will determine how we move forward. Stress is simply our body’s reaction to a situation and can actually help to deal with the uncomfortable feeling. We shouldn’t be afraid of the feelings that will help us improve in the long run. We feel these this way because it matters… and if it matters, it is worth striving for.
Remember, the more you do something the better you get at it – so don’t give up, even if it doesn’t feel good the first time around – or even second or third. Be open to any negative feedback to improve and get better. Keep resilient, and soon it will become second nature. That’s when your confidence will soar… and your resilience becomes even stronger! It’s like a superpower!
Failing is learning
Failure hurts. It hits our self-esteem, our self confidence and our ego gets a bashing – however, without failure, we cannot possibly learn and grow.
So how do you turn your failures into future success?
Know when to move on. When you accept the process of failing and learning, you can bounce back quicker and continue with the same passion as when you started. Remember, your passion and energy is what will make people want to work with you and move your business forward.
Be aware of the signs. Look out for the small mistakes that helped to trip you up last time and adapt accordingly.
Take a look back… and see how far you have come. You’ve got this far because you have learnt and adapted as you’ve gone along. All that has come from your resilience to bounce back when things haven’t gone quite right.
Own It! People appreciate transparency in a business. It builds trust so much more than trying to cover things up – especially when you then get found out! It’s pretty much game over then!
Be kind to yourself
Practicing resilience can be hard work – that drive to keep going through tough times. So make sure you are looking after yourself in the process. Plenty of sleep, exercise, nutritious food, talk with friends and loved ones. Take time out from your business to clear your mind. It is often just what you need to gain the clarity to move forward.
Remember to celebrate the small wins as you go – even if it’s what you have learnt along the way following a mistake. Those small wins will all add up to something extraordinary.