Your business motivation depends on your values. What matters most to you will be the foundation of all your goals. This will dictate your definition of success as well as your definition of failure.
What is your motivation for becoming an entrepreneur?
It’s important to understand the reason why you’re trying to start and build a profitable business. There will be many challenges that you have to face in your business journey — and your business motivation will be the driving force that can help you succeed.
Many entrepreneurs are motivated by money and love.
Money and love are the top business motivation for many entrepreneurs. Some people will always value money more than anything. However, millions of entrepreneurs want to build a successful business because they love their family and want a better future for them. Moms and dads want to have more time with their children. Caregivers want to have more time and money to care for their loved ones with failing health and abilities.
It doesn’t matter if you’re trying to grow a start-up that you hope will generate millions. It doesn’t matter if you’re trying to build a micro-business online in order to make a living working at home. Building a business is hard work.
As an entrepreneur, you can expect to face many challenges before you can become successful. Understanding what drives you to do the things that you do can help you persevere during difficult times.
Why are some entrepreneurs capable of putting in crazy-long hours and showing unwavering dedication to their businesses?
The Top Business Motivation? Entrepreneurs Are Usually Motivated By Money and Love for Building a Business
Money and love are the top business motivation for many entrepreneurs.
When I was newbie, I thought most entrepreneurs were just trying to earn more money and build their wealth. The truth is that some people will always value money more than anything.
As I became a more seasoned entrepreneur, I realized that most people are really trying to become successful entrepreneurs because of love.
Some entrepreneurs create products and services that make a difference in people’s lives. Some create businesses that can solve social problems and change the world.
They use their profits to fund their purpose — this usually involves love of their fellowmen, their community and their country.
Millions of entrepreneurs are trying to have successful businesses because they love their family and want a better future for them. Moms and dads want to have more time with their children. Caregivers want to have more time and money to care for their loved ones with failing health and abilities.
Here’s my story…
I started my online business during the darkest time in my life. My beloved brother and my mom were dealing with catastrophic health issues.
My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2009. Years before she got sick, my brother had a brain injury after having massive brain bleeding in 2003. So, I’ve been helping them. But, they needed me even more desperately as their health problems got progressively worse.
At the time, I enjoyed my 6-figure job as a Registered Nurse Case Manager. But, like most employees… I couldn’t take time off whenever I needed it and as much as I needed in order to help my family. So, I wanted a more flexible work schedule.
I started my first blog in 2009 and I wrote this…
“If I only have to consider myself, I do have enough for my own financial needs. I have a good job that brings me a lot of personal satisfaction as well as a good income.
The only reason why I’m working at home — to earn more money online — is to help my loved ones. It will take a lot of money to take my brother from the hospital and care for him at home.
My beloved brother, Ed, suffered a brain injury after hemorrhaging from a brain aneurysm; that’s why he is staying in a hospital at this time. Another brother is often unable to walk; he’s disabled due to gout.
My mom recently just got diagnosed with breast cancer; I’m thankful that she has been doing well after her surgery. Of course, I want more free time to spend with my family and to help them.
I really want to bring Ed home someday soon. He has excellent nurses in the hospital — they’re absolutely wonderful! But, I want to be able to care for him at home and help him with his rehabilitation.
It has been challenging for people to help him because after he came out of his coma, he responded primarily to my voice. Understandably, hospital staff members often thought he was “non-responsive.”
Thank goodness for video. I’ve been able to share my brother’s smile and his ability to follow my directions.
I am happy that Ed is still able to respond, but I am desperate to help him improve his quality of life. We used to talk a lot about life, love and everything that mattered most to us.
His kindness and wise words have made such a huge difference in my life. He helped me become a better person.
I thought I would never be able to learn to deal with such an inconsolable loss. Ed was my rock — he was always there for me.
He has always been supportive of me when I was going through trivial bad-hair days and bad relationship break-ups as well as mistakes I’ve made in my life. Now, it’s my turn to be there for him.
I am thankful that he has helped me become such a strong person. Now, I have become his rock!”
My Own Business Motivation: The Last Gifts to My Loved Ones
Unfortunately, what I had hoped to happen did not happen…
After my brother’s aneurysm-related brain hemorrhage and stroke, he started to get better for a few months.
We were so excited and looking forward to him just getting better and better. He was very weak, but he was able to move his extremities all the way down to his fingers and toes.
He couldn’t speak because he was attached to a machine that monitored his oxygen and helped him breathe. But, he was also able to do a “thumbs-up” and answer my questions in different languages that we both learned.
Although he was showing significant improvements for a few months, he started having some seizures and needed medication for it. He often struggled to stay awake after taking his anti-seizure medication due to its side-effects. Surprisingly, he usually managed to stay wide awake during my visits.
About one year after my mom’s surgery for breast cancer, her health started declining rapidly. She was getting weaker and confused; her memory was failing and she was starting to have dementia. So, I moved her from Southern California to my place in the San Francisco Bay Area, Northern California.
After a few months of declining health, my mom stabilized and started to show some improvements.
Despite the extreme difficulties during the caregiving process, we had some good times. I do have to admit that quite often, I seriously thought I was going to die or at least lose my mind during the difficult times.
I will never forget dancing with my mom. I will never forget her frequent laughter. She enjoyed America’s Funniest Videos and other funny television shows as well as game shows, such as, Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune.
Sadly, my loving mom passed away in February 2012. A couple of weeks after her funeral, my beloved bother passed away in March 2012. Rest in peace, Mama. Rest in peace, Kuya Ed (Kuya means big brother in Tagalog, the main language spoken in the Philippines). I love you… I love you… I love you.
Being able to make money online allowed me to have more time and money to care for my loved ones. It allowed me to have the flexibility to travel often to see my brother in Southern California and also care for my mom in Northern California. It allowed me to take frequent time off from work without having to worry about financial issues.
In spite of the tough economy during that time, having an online business allowed me to have the sense of security that I still would have been okay financially — even if I ended up losing my job due to my frequent time off from work.
Despite the challenges, I was able to earn 5-figures marketing online part-time as a newbie. The rest of my income came from working part-time as a Registered Nurse Case Manager.
Of course, I couldn’t always take care of my internet business due to stress related to caregiving and concerns about my own health. I also needed to travel a lot.
So, I took frequent breaks from business. Sometimes, I took many weeks off. Other times, I took many months off and just stopped marketing completely.
I needed to take care of myself while caring for my loved ones.
I wanted to share my story with you because I wanted to share how my internet business empowered me to help my loved ones. I also wanted to show you that it really is possible to start and build a business online… even when you don’t have a lot of time.
I’m truly grateful for what I was able to accomplish as an online entrepreneur and the flexibility it offered me — it allowed me to spend more precious time with people that mattered most to me.
Although I did not know it when I started my business journey, I was giving my last gifts to my loved ones.
You Can Start a Business Online In Your Spare Time… Even On A Tight Budget
My belief is that anyone who is willing to work smart can start a business online and learn how to generate extra income working from home. You can work part-time, full-time or in your spare time.
I did not really plan to start an online business. I just needed a way to generate extra income in order to “buy” extra time off (from my day job) to help my family.
When I was grieving over the loss of my loved ones, I started thinking back to all the things I learned and all the challenges I have conquered.
After many months of soul-searching, I decided that I had a moral obligation to share the things I learned about starting and building an internet business, especially during those difficult times.
Although it was not my original intention to start BizSheLoves.com (previously named GoodWorKsGoodBiz.com), having this site allows me to share with you business and marketing lessons I have learned.
Why I Rebranded “Good Works Good Biz” to “Biz She Loves”
I wanted to focus on helping female entrepreneurs overcome barriers to building a successful business. So, it was necessary to rebrand GoodWorksGoodBiz.com to BizSheLoves.com.
Marketing strategies that can help female entrepreneurs with extremely limited time, money and resources can also help other time-starved, stressed-out, crazy-busy entrepreneurs build a profitable business.
Moving forward, I will continue to share what strategies have worked for me as well as what didn’t work for me.
Knowing what NOT to do is just as important as knowing what you should be doing…
If you waste a lot of your time and money, you’re not going to be around long enough to enjoy the success of your online business. This is what happens to a lot of people — they run out of money; they also get so discouraged and depleted emotionally.
The biggest problem for most new marketers is information overload.
The more you research how to make money online, the more confused and overwhelmed you’re likely to feel. When you’re just starting out, you will stumble upon hundreds of conflicting money-making and marketing strategies.
In reality, you don’t need to learn hundreds of strategies. You need to educate yourself about the most powerful money-making and marketing strategies. You need to master a couple of strategies. Yes, you’ll probably end up with one or two favorites.
You need to learn how to focus your time, money and effort on the MOST profitable strategies for whatever you’re selling.
When you stop looking for get-rich-quick tips and get real money-making education instead, you protect yourself from many so-called “experts” that target desperate newbies willing to buy anything to succeed online.
Instead of buying costly marketing “magic bullets” that usually don’t work, you can invest in your education as an entrepreneur online.
There are many free tutorials as well as inexpensive ebooks or books and coaching. By getting real marketing and money-making education, you can accelerate your progress.
Instead of waiting years to start earning consistently online, you can achieve your goals in a matter of months. For some lucky entrepreneurs, this can happen in a matter of weeks.
Business Motivation: You Need to Clarify Your Goals and Purpose for Starting a Business
If you want to become a successful entrepreneur, it’s important to understand your goals and your purpose for starting your business.
Your goals have to be consistent with your values and things that matter most to you. Otherwise, you can achieve the results that you want, but you’ll still feel empty. Your business motivation will be greater if your goals relate to your purpose.
What’s the difference between a goal and purpose?
A goal is something that you want to accomplish. It has a beginning and an end. Once you accomplish your goal, you’re done.
A purpose is a variation of a goal; it is something that’s ongoing. Your most important purpose can provide meaning to your life.
Do you want to become a successful entrepreneur for love or money?
If your purpose online is to make as much money as possible, you can find ways to motivate yourself during difficult times and stay focused about becoming financially independent.
If you’re trying to become a successful entrepreneur because of love: if you want a better future for your loved ones… if you want more time with your family… if you want to have more time and money to care for loved ones with failing health and abilities, then you will be super-motivated during difficult times.
Looking back to all the things I was willing to learn online and all the things I was willing to overcome, I was absolutely amazed at how motivated I was to achieve my goals.
For example, I was working late one night and started to feel a lot of pain…
I was building multiple sites based on ideas I just learned from an ebook about niche marketing.
In the process of writing content for these sites, my left wrist and arm started to feel sore from using the computer non-stop for many hours that day. Instead of stopping my work, I put my left wrist and arm on a sling… and kept on working using my right arm!
I was super-motivated to start generating some income from my online business. I probably would not have worked so hard if I was not desperate to help my loved ones.
It still makes me sad to think about those dark times, but I have gained so much appreciation and respect for my strength.
You, too, will learn a lot about yourself if you start a business. And you, too, will gain appreciation for your strength and abilities.
The process of becoming an entrepreneur is not easy. But, hang in there!
You can take a break, but don’t give up!
Keep learning. Keep applying what you’ve learned. Soon, you will start to see signs of progress. Success may just be around the corner. So, stick around and enjoy the rewards you deserve.
CAUTION…
There is no guarantee that you will achieve similar results or earn any money selling any products or services online. There is no guarantee that you will not lose money. There is no assurance that you will do well.
In addition to your skills, many factors will affect your actual results. Learn more: Earnings Disclaimers and General Disclaimers.
Pin for Pinterest
