Some days you don’t feel like going into the office. Some days you don’t feel like responding to folks on your team that have questions and need direction. Some days you think it might be easier to let someone else lead while you take a vacation from making decisions. Every entrepreneurs has had days, months or even years that can feel like this. When your passion has taken a vacation and has left you behind to deal with reality, take heart. You are not alone.
Courage. Excitement. Confidence. Focus. Determination. These are all words that entrepreneurs have at their tip of their tongue to ensure they launch, run and grow their business. The reality however is that many of these attributes can wane over time and fade into the background as your business plateaus and fails to find growth opportunities. It can be challenging to find external opportunities such as improving your business for customers and it can be challenging to find internal opportunities that improve your team. Creativity can come and go and not always at the best moments. Sometimes you can’t capitalize on creativity and other times you can’t find creativity to capitalize on. This can be tough for any business that is looking for the next iteration their business will go through. If you happen to be in a market that has become stagnate then motivation and inspiration are even harder to come by.
More than twenty years ago, JetBlue was launched as a scrappy start-up airline and rose to become the fifth largest airline in the US. JetBlue was started by a serial entrepreneur, David Neeleman, who used every trick in the book to help get JetBlue to where it is today. But today is not where JetBlue wants to be. JetBlue is struggling in a crowded market to find growth while maintaining its customer base and improving its services. There are many challenges that JetBlue faces including on-time arrivals, higher labour and fuel costs as well as losing its differentiation amongst airline travellers. Like any business, JetBlue worked hard to be different and carve out a piece of the market for itself. As they enter their third decade of operations much of that culture has shifted and changed as happens at any business that gets to a large size. Finding growth when you are a large market player can be very hard to do.
No one said running a business would be easy. There is no secret to getting your mojo back if you feel like you have lost it. The natural movement of a business is up and down. If you are in the midst of business being down, don’t lose heart. Recognize that it is part of the process. The trick is to make sure you don’t stay down and keep looking for opportunities to be the best provider of the service or product that your business offers. Growth comes from doing what no ones else is doing. What can your business do that none of your competitors are doing or doing well?
