Resilience is defined as the ability to bounce back from adversity. We all need this ability, as life does not always go as planned.
This leads in perfectly to owning a cleaning business. Just as in life, things do not always go as planned.
Knowing this in advance allows for a bit of “preparation time”. So with that in mind I thought it would be a good idea to discuss a few tips on how you can build your “resilience level” so to speak when starting your cleaning business. Lets dig in…
1 – Continue to maintain your close relationships with family members, friends and others during your start-up phase. Time may be tight, but don’t let your relationships suffer.
This is not only a healthy way to live your life, but it allows you to be able to “lean” on those closest to you when you need to. This also comes in handy when you need to bounce ideas off others.
2 – Do your best to avoid seeing any crisis (or other stressful events) that may crop up as problems that are unbearable. Once you start thinking something is unbearable, it BECOMES unbearable. Remember… you are only running a cleaning business, not the Space Shuttle Program.
3 – Realize that some circumstances can’t be changed. Just accept the facts as they are and move on as best as possible. There is nothing worse than worrying about things that you have NO CONTROL over.
You also need to place the event that is causing your stress in a broader context. In other words, “look at the big picture”, and don’t just isolate in on the particular problem.
4 – Work on developing a realistic set of goals. Then take the steps necessary to achieve them. This does not need to be a five page list of goals and objectives, just get the process started.
Even if you just create a bullet list with some action items, just get moving. Once you make some progress, you’ll be motivated to make some more.
5 – Try to take decisive action in adverse situations whenever possible. You will need to make a lot of decisions once you get your cleaning business started, so don’t get paralyzed during the process.
As Theodore Roosevelt once said, “In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing and the worst thing you can do is nothing”.
6 – Do your best to take a long term perceptive in your business life. This doesn’t mean it will take years to make money, because it won’t if you do things right. The point here is to remember that Walmart wasn’t built overnight, and your cleaning business won’t be either.
7 – See the glass half-full instead of half-empty. You can do this by maintaining a “hopeful” outlook. Work at expecting good things to happen instead of bad things. It’s just as easy to be positive as it is to be negative, so make it a point to be positive.
This is so important becasue if you think good things will happen, then they will. If you think bad things will happen, then they will. Everything boils down to “perception”.
I hope you enjoyed these tips on resilience. I thought they were important becasue if we fail at being resilient, we will experience setback after setback, which takes your forward momentum and grinds it to a sudden halt.