What’s Your Inspiration?

What's Your Business Inspiration?

As a solo-entrepreneur or small business owner, it’s critical to have inspiration.  Inspiration that you can draw upon when the going gets tough. And there are always tough moments when you have a small business, especially in the early days.

You need inspiration to draw upon to rally your energy and finish out that project late in the night.  You need inspiration to keep going when your confidence is shaken by the loss of a big contract you were sure you were going to get.  You need inspiration when you’re feeling alone in your business and missing coffee breaks or gossip at the water cooler from your days in the corporate world.

But that’s not all.  The etymology (origin) of inspiration is the Latin word inspirare, meaning “to breathe in”.  Having a strong sense of inspiration is also about breathing in, or taking in, creative inspiration.  Inspiration you can draw upon to offer your clients creative solutions to their problems.  Inspiration for developing new products and services.  Inspiration for writing articles, books, and blog posts.

So, where does that inspiration come from?

For many small business owners, when you really take the time to examine what it is that drives you, the answer is a surprise.  Your inspiration is about making enough money to pay the bills or working hard so you’ll be recognized and finally get that pat on the back you are craving. Your inspiration is rooted in something that is about fear of loss, fear of pain, or the need for recognition.

But that kind of inspiration can be exhausting.  It’s an ongoing quest for more.

Our work, rooted in the Medicine Wheel Tool of the Genuine Contact Program, offers a stronger, cleaner, more energizing source of inspiration.

It’s inspiration that is rooted in purpose.  The purpose of your work answers the question ‘why does this business exist?’  When you are very clear about purpose, when the purpose of your work is integrated deeply into you and is filled with passion, expectation, and a deep sense of alignment, it becomes an unending wellspring of inspiration.

The purpose of your work is the reason you started your small business in the first place.  But sometimes that sense of purpose can get lost along the way in the day-to-day doing of running a small business.  Today it’s time to bring it back out, remember what your purpose is, and make some plans for keeping that sense of purpose front and center as your source of inspiration.

What’s the purpose of your work? How does it inspire you? Share your answers in a comment below.

Rachel Bolton
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Senior Consultant and Coach

Rachel Bolton is a senior consultant and coach specializing in work with small business and start-ups at Dalar. She works internationally with small business leaders as a mentor and coach, with a focus on assisting small businesses to build a solid foundation for optimal growth from a clear and inspired purpose, strategic vision, and appropriate structure for the business’ development.
Rachel Bolton
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  1. Claudia Knapp
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    Thank you for this great inspiration on inspiration and how to follow one’s business or task without getting burnt out.

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