This Stuff Is Hard

In the past few months I’ve had over 100 coaching conversations via email, phone calls and texts with entrepreneurs & business owners. 

Most of these conversations end up being around dealing with emotions… strained relationships… putting out fires… dealing with unhappy clients or customers… not being able to find enough reliable help, etc. 

I like to categorize these conversations as “panic mode” — where it feels like everything is crumbling and you won’t be able to save it.

Research has shown that entrepreneurs suffer more from depression, stress and severe anxiety.

We are always in this heightened state of fear, stress and self-sabotage

I get it. 

I’ve been there.

Yes, I’m a Coach. But I’m also a business owner myself.

I’ve been through about every setback imaginable in my career so far:

• Nasty lawsuits
• Product launches that bombed
• Betrayed by former business partners
• Had a trusted manager leave and steal clients
• Had to shut down an underperforming business
• Spent over 2 years living on the road without a real home

There were many times that I wanted to quit.

I wanted to take the easy way out and blame everyone else.

I questioned if I had what it took to be an entrepreneur.

I turned to alcohol and other vices to deal with the stress and pain.

Perhaps some of this sounds familiar to you.

On a given day you can be on the highest of highs, and 2 hours later you can be on the lowest of lows.

It’s the equivalent of being on a wild roller coaster ride on an hourly / daily basis.

But successful entrepreneurs are those that can…

Deal with the emotions…

Not let one bad day turn into 2 bad days…

Find solutions instead of searching for more excuses…

And perhaps most importantly follow these 3 C’s

1. Control What You Can (emotions, actions, perspective, attitude, etc.)
2. Cope With What You Can’t (other’s actions, outside noise, unexpected events, etc.)
3. Concentrate On What Counts (how you handle adversity)

One of the greatest pieces of advice Craig ever gave me was this:

“Never get too high when things are going well, and never get too low when things are going poorly”

This allows you to keep your emotions in check and be able to stay calm and level-headed during both the high times and the low times of this wild roller coaster ride.

I know this isn’t as tactical as some of our other advice. But I felt it needed to be said based on recent client conversations.

You must accept that sometimes this entrepreneur life gets hard.

The solution…

Stay grounded.

Keep your emotions in check.

Remember your long-term vision (your Big Why)

Lean on your support system to help you get through the tough times.

And you’ll keep moving forward and gaining wins with this crazy game of entrepreneurship 

This was on my heart to share with you this week.

Coach Daniel Woodrum
Head Coach, Early To Rise