7 Creative entrepreneurs share what keeps them motivated
Creative entrepreneurship and small business ownership is such difficult but REWARDING work. Stepping into this journey is one of the best adventures I’ve ever embarked on in my life, but it hasn’t come without a lot of exhausting nights, seasons of burnout, and lack of motivation. I’d like to share with you some of my thoughts on how to stay motivated as a small business owner, and in addition, I’ve asked 6 other creative biz owners to share their thoughts as well!
Let’s dive in!
Motivation. . .My Thoughts
For me, motivation has started to seem like less and less of a priority for my business, I know that probably doesn’t make any sense, but let me explain. Motivation is a feeling, not a skill. Feelings are fleeting. I’ve had tons of times in my business where I’ve had a moment of intense motivation that lasted for about a couple of weeks or so and it really gave my productivity a boost—which was great! But this feeling didn’t last forever. Eventually I lost that motivation and wasn’t feeling those burst of energy and motivation every single day. That doesn’t mean I’m not motivated in my business, but what keeps me going in my business isn’t necessarily about motivation. It’s discipline. Motivation is a feeling, discipline is a skill. And it’s a skill that you’ll need to harness in order to grow your small business and reach the goals you have set before you.
Let’s hear from some other creative business owners and entrepreneurs!
Bianca A, Ashbi Creative Studio
I've found that I stay motivated to complete projects and grow my graphic design business when I have clear boundaries between work and life.
I prioritize rest because creative work requires more rest than most other industries. Overworking will lead to poor creativity and, ultimately, poor work quality.
If my focus starts to dip while working on a project, I take breaks and then pick up where I left off.
I make this possible by creating a project roadmap. Keeping a detailed roadmap of projects allows me to see what the next steps should be and the order for those steps.
I like to plan a set of tasks from this roadmap each day. My work for the day is done when I finish these tasks.
I likely will have creative thoughts come to mind during my downtime, and I try to get my thoughts out on paper or my device quickly. To keep up my creativity while not overworking, I try not to pull myself back into work when ideas happen.
Keeping a work-life balance is key to my creative process and, ultimately, my success as a business owner.
Hannah Crews
The very first thing that I do in the mornings after I get my kids off to school is read the word of God. I cannot tell you how many times, after I’ve read the word of God, after I’ve gotten some scripture into my brain, that creative ideas start to flow. All the sudden I start getting these ideas that I probably would have never thought if I had not saturated myself in time with Jesus.
On top of that, exercise helps a ton, it helps my brain to keep going, it helps my energy levels to stay up, and then at the same time you’ll still have this complex of, “Gosh, I don’t feel super creative and I don’t really have any ideas coming in”. So sometimes at night, I’ll say, “Lord, can you give me a really cool dream that I would have never thought of before of a cool content idea that I can put out there?” And LITERALLY every time He pulls through. Literally just asking the Lord for ideas has also helped me stay motivated, excited, and creative in this process!
And another tip that helps me with motivation and continuing as a business owner and content creator is getting dressed, everyday, putting on my makeup, combing my hair, doing something that makes me feel better about myself. Whenever I do that, all the sudden I feel this natural bust of energy that makes me want to show up.
Being present and showing up all the time can be very difficult. But whenever you ground yourself in the things of the Lord and you know exactly who you are in Christ Jesus, that really changes my outlook on pretty much everything. Whenever I think that way and I know who HE thinks I am and who HE says I am, I don’t deal with comparison, I don’t deal with insecurity, I don’t deal with these things that normally, women are dealing with every single day.
The why behind what I’m doing that keeps me going..
I came to this place in my life where I understood that I’m only really alive for 3 reasons:
To love God
To love people
To change the world
I obviously know, “yes Lord, I love you. I love people and I want to find a way to serve these people, but in order to change the world I need you to identify the things inside of me that I’m anointed to do.”
Once those things were identified and once I realized this is what I love to do, it made it so much easier to keep continuing to pursue the things that I’m pursuing. Because really it’s not self-focused it’s others focused. It’s not me-focused, it’s how can I change the world focus and kingdom focus.
Danielle Holleran, Details and Swirls
It can be really daunting and crazy running your own business, trying to come up with new ideas and reinventing the wheel every single month, every single quarter, or every single season. Especially when you’re full time and don’t have anything else to fall back on! Now that I’m entering motherhood and have a child to provide for, I feel like the pressure is on even more to stay motivated and to keep thinking of new things and what your audience is going to like. It can just be so overwhelming and so much pressure that we put on ourselves. We kind of go down a rabbit hole, or at least I do, of what’s next?!
I think my motivation really just comes from my innate passion and drive for my business, being creative, and doing the things that fulfill me. Now more than ever, now that I am full time and entering into motherhood, I really have to put my business first in terms of providing for my family now, and things that are going to not only fulfill me but also push my business forward. I’ve learned that more and more as I’ve gotten deeper into business. When I first started off in my business I was really all about testing new areas and trying out all different things and really just seeing what sticks. But now that I’ve found my groove within my business, I’m more motivated by pushing forward and saying, “what areas of my business do I know work and where can I really dive into those areas and grow them more?” I’m not as worried now about diving into this new field, and testing out that because at the end of the day there’s only so much time and energy that you can put towards different things.
After a few years into business I’ve developed what niche areas really work and I can just run with those. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still experimenting in different areas of business that I would like to grow, but I’m really motivated by seeing “this area really works in my business, and I know that I can push it forward” so I’m going to put most of my energy into areas that I know will work because I don’t have to play into as much trial and error. That comes with time and testing out a whole bunch of things to see what sticks.
Of course, now being a mom I just have even that much more motivation behind my art and my passion because I now need to provide for my baby and his upbringing. I just want to work as hard as I can doing the best that I can for not only my customers and giving them a great experience for my overall business, but now for my whole entire family as well. It adds a whole other fire under my passion and everything for my business!
Tara Sun Ministries
Motivation in ministry comes from knowing my end goal. For me, that is to help women know, love, and live God’s Word in their own lives.
When that goal and the goal of glorifying God and serving His people is at the forefront, it helps me wake up every day with excitement and motivation to serve.
Practical ways I stay motivated are setting realistic expectations — not pushing myself too much during the day, but making a list of 3-5 most important things to complete. I also try to prioritize rest to ensure that I don’t burn out, because that is one of the quickest ways to zap your motivation!
Jennifer Allwood, Life & Business Coach
I’m able to stay motivated in business for 2 reasons...
Reason #1 - I believe this is what I’m called to do on this side of heaven. Because I’m sold out on the idea that I’m supposed to teach other women how to make money online, motivation isn’t even really a factor. I feel like this is what God has put me here to do, to help other women get set free financially, to be able to do it while they’re at home, and to be able to do it online. Since I’m sold out on that idea, it honestly doesn’t really require a lot of motivation.
Reason #2 - We’ve gone all in on my business. My husband has been home for 4.5 years working with me on the business so it’s easy to stay motivated when you’re entire family depends on your business. We don’t have a plan B! This is plan A, B, C and D.
Ashton Brye, Ashton Creates
Being a Small Business owner means you’re the boss, the employee, the Marketing Director, The Manager, and everything in between. It is consuming in more than one way which is what makes the boundaries you set so important. The only way I am able to maintain a work life balance is through my boundaries and my schedule. I keep a schedule throughout the week and have set auto responses and maintain my business hours. Even if I work from my home all day, I make sure to have a schedule and get up and dressed each day to make it feel more productive.
Mindset can totally change things and I have found what works for me as I have worked my business over the last 2 years. Weekends are important and taking time to step away and spend time with my friends and family makes all of the difference in the world.
Owning a business is a lot of work, but knowing your limits, setting boundaries and having the best clients and customers makes it all worth it!
Audrey Bailey, Brush and Barley
Motivation is something that I still continue to struggle with, especially in my business. That being said, I know exactly what causes my motivation to dwindle. I have learned just how important rest is, and recognizing the burn out signs early on.
Motivation will not come without rest. Intentional rest is an essential part of not only life, but running a business, it is literal fuel for us. Living in a world where hustle culture is constantly pushed, there is a very thin line between rested productivity and panicked productivity.
I think to be intentional in staying motivated in business is recognizing that rest is not weak, it is needed. Intentional rest is what fuels organic motivation.
