Restore your motivation: How a business coach and mentor can help

33% of small business owners lack the motivation they had when the business was new. They need a way to reboot.

The easiest way to rediscover your motivation is to reach out for help, because even just explaining why you started your business to someone new might be enough.

The best people to reach for have experience. They’ve been through the challenges you face. That’s why a business coach and mentor can be so valuable.

There are things you can do now – just see our tips below – but here’s why working with an expert professional can transform your business life.

How a business coach or mentor can restore your motivation:

1. They provide clarity

As leaders we often lose touch with the tasks that create real progress. That’s where the expression “Working in the business, not on the business” comes from.

You have people to manage, business to pitch for and clients to serve. You have day-to-day demands and fires to put out. 

A business coach and mentor can be the voice of clarity that helps you see past the ‘urgent but not important’ to the ‘important but not urgent’ – and that’s where you can really make a difference.

Imagine what you could achieve if you got one thing done every day that grew your business. 

What to do about it now

• Write one list of everything you do in an average day
• Write a second list of everything you could do to progress your business
• Every day, try to replace one thing from the first list with something from the second

Watch this video for an instant dose of clarity:

2. They provide perspective

What have you achieved? Where are you going? What can you expect?

Answering objective questions is very challenging. Your perspective is clouded by how much time you’ve spent on something, or the high expectations you set for yourself and others.

A good business coach and mentor doesn’t give you the answers. Instead they ask you the right questions and help you discover the truth underneath your own worries or assumptions.

They help you to see what you’ve really achieved and what might realistically be possible in the future, so you can make real and achievable plans.

What to do about it now

• Look honestly at the achievements you’ve made in the last five years
• Now think realistically about what you could achieve in the next five years
• Use the facts from your past to help you plan how to reach your future

Watch this video to help gain some perspective:

3. They rediscover your purpose

We chose the life of running a business for a reason. We all know that the responsibility is far too demanding to do it just for money.

But who has time for navel gazing when deadlines are approaching or overheads need to be fulfilled?

One of the key benefits of working with a business coach and mentor is rediscovering your purpose, because that’s the key ingredient to a healthy and motivated life.

When you know why you’re doing what you’re doing it becomes easier to know what you should be doing to be most effective, and a business coach can help guide you on that journey.

What to do about it now

• Spend some time thinking about the reason you chose this business life
• Boil that reason down to a simple sentence and write it down 
• Look at that reason every day and ask yourself if you’re living up to it

Watch this video to help you rediscover your purpose:

4. They help you to focus

We all know how demoralising it is to spend an entire day working hard but to feel like we’ve achieved absolutely nothing.

It’s essential to know what you’re trying to achieve. Without having a clear understanding of what success looks like you’ll never be more than a busy fool.

By helping you to focus on what matters most, a business coach and mentor supports you to build the structure and strategy you need to make meaningful progress.

Because knowing what you want, how you’re going to get there and what each step looks like is the engine that drives your motivation. 

What to do about it now

• Imagine the ideal situation for your business life in five years time
• Make a timeline of everything that needs to happen to make this a reality
• Identify the tasks to support that schedule and focus on them, one at a time

Watch this video to help with getting focused:

5. They help you to set goals

How do you eat an elephant? One piece at a time, of course. 

Some business challenges are so immense that they look impossible, and when you try to take them on you end up feeling like you’re banging your head against a brick wall.

But a good business coach and mentor knows how to break down your huge dreams into easy-to-swallow pieces. They know how to make the impossible seem possible again.

Motivation depends upon the belief that you can achieve what you set out to do, and that’s what an expert can help to inspire in you.

What to do about it now

• Identify the biggest and most intimidating challenge you face right now
• Split it into three parts and give detail for each part: planning, progress and payoff
• Find something to do right now for the stage you’re in, and repeat until you’re done

Watch this video to help with setting achievable goals:

6. They hold you accountable

We start with the best intentions but when things get tough it’s tempting to let ourselves off the hook. After all, client deadlines are more important than the ones we set.

What we need is someone else to keep us honest and apply the appropriate kind of pressure that helps us see how important it is to improve our business.

With a business coach and mentor you have someone to answer to. Someone who won’t let you get away with basic excuses. Someone to hold you accountable.

Half the battle to getting motivated is feeling that something has to be done now, not tomorrow.

What to do about it now

• If you have a friend who is also in business, set deadlines for each other
• If not, try setting yourself consequences for every personal deadline you miss 
• For a win-win scenario, use productive ‘punishments’ like fitness or health tasks

Watch this video to start holding yourself to account:

7. They help you stay patient

There are no silver bullets, and nothing is going to change overnight. 

We want to see progress, we want to feel like we’re achieving something and heading in the right direction, but when you’re impatient for results you end up getting distracted or giving up.

A business coach and mentor gives you the support to stay on your mission, even if it takes longer than you’d like. They help with your self-belief and your ability to be patient.

Patience and motivation are closely linked, so working with someone who can keep both in a healthy condition could be just what you need to succeed.

What to do about it now

• Find three minutes every day to meditate and help yourself slow down
• Think about the next thing you really want to achieve, but break it into small steps
• Then, rather than rush towards the goal, give each step the time it deserves

Watch this video to enhance your patience:

8. They talk to you regularly

Focus, patience, responsibility – they can all help us to reignite our motivation and achieve the life we want. 

If we’re not careful, however, putting too much pressure on ourselves will only make us withdraw further into our own heads, stopping us from achieving anything.

A key benefit from choosing a business coach and mentor is the regular contact. Perhaps you talk daily, weekly or just monthly. But each time gives you a chance to vent and to reset.

By talking through our challenges and explaining how we’re getting on (or what we’re worried about) we create space in our heads to find solutions and be decisive.

What to do about it now

• Find a scheduled networking event so you have a regular place to talk 
• Try recording a daily or weekly video log of what you’re going through
• Most coaches offer free ‘discovery’ calls to talk about what might work for you 

Our One to One mentoring uses regular sessions to make your business work for you

Get started now

How can we help to restore your motivation?

At RDG Accounting we provide expert business coach and mentoring services to a variety of businesses, from start-ups to sole traders or limited companies.

By analysing and understanding your current business model, processes and systems, we help to evolve the way you work so your business gives you the lifestyle you want.

A reliable, professional chartered certified accountant is essential to both managing and understanding the health of your business.

We can help with:

• Company accounts
• Business Start-up
• Bookkeeping services
• Tax returns
• VAT
• Sole trader accounts
• Payroll
• Cashflow planning
• Management accounts

If you run a small business and would like to benefit from some one-to-one advice to restore your motivation, please book a call.

Alternatively, if you’d like to get started sooner you can call us on 0333 200 0714.

Book a call