Entrepreneurship…business ownership….freelancing….author or speaker….whatever you call your profession, the bottom line is that you work for yourself.
You are responsible for building your business, marketing it, talking it up, making connections, reconciling the books and most of all, finding work that pays.
It can be hard and joyous.
It can be stressful and freeing.
It can be lonely and empowering.
There is a lot of work to be done and no one else to do it but you. Or, I should say, no one else is responsible for driving it but you.
It takes a certain amount of moxie and momentum to wake up every morning and make your work happen.
So right now, decide:
Are you in lust or are you in love with your business?
Lust is chasing the cute bad boy (or gal) in the leather jacket because he looks cool. You know nothing about him but you dive in headfirst because you think this will be a helluva lot of fun.
Lust is surface. Lust runs hot and cold. Lust is about short bursts of passion and effort. Lust is moody. Lust drains you. Lust bails when things get too messy or hard.
Kind of like starting a business because you think it looks “really fun” and you don’t have any desire to put the time, effort and work needed into it. Or maybe you’ll just work on your business “when you have time,” like you do with your favorite hobbies.
It’s spending all your time building a cool, hip website rather than worrying about the bottom line. It’s randomly advertising or marketing without a sound plan in place. It’s taking get-rich-quick courses to shortcut the work, or failing to budget or plan. It’s designing pretty business cards for months rather than getting out there and hustling for paid work.
Love, on the other hand, is getting to know another person for who they really are, and embracing their soul. You know there will be good days and bad days and you learn how to work together as one solid unit–even in moments when you might want to rip their eyes out. You are committed to every delightful, frustrating, cherished and annoying moment of it.
Kind of like starting a business with eyes wide open, knowing some days you’ll be successful and others you will fall on your face, but always keeping your larger vision in mind. You learn from your mistakes. You study. You soak up knowledge. All in an effort to improve. It’s hard work but you stay steadfast and don’t lose momentum because you are “all in.”
Love is deep. Love is honest, stable and healthy. Love is constant and committed energy and motion. Love fuels you.
I’m not saying your have to run your business for the rest of your life or even that you should continue on if you no longer find joy in it. On the contrary, please, if this is where you are, give it up immediately and do something else that lights you up inside.
What I am saying is don’t confuse lust and love. Lust is a fling. Love is a commitment. (TWEET THIS!)
Love is not easy. Love has bad days. But love is a commitment to forward movement. To momentum. To growth.Love is a sweet promise into which you put your whole heart, come what may, because you can’t imagine doing anything else.
Right now, decide. Are you in love or in lust with your business? And then act accordingly.
Photo credit: Nathan Walker via Unsplash
