Keeping your momentum and enthusiasm

But you need to work on keeping this motivation.  No matter what business you have, at some point you will hit low points where you find that you are just getting up, doing your job, and going to bed.  My favourite quote on motivation comes from 1980’s American motivational speaker Zig Ziglar: “People often say that motivation doesn’t last.  Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.”  That’s why I recommend being a member of something like Vegan Business Tribe to surround yourself with other people who are on the same journey, know what you are facing and are there to help and support you.  Have regular online coaching calls with a mentor or another vegan business owner to keep each other motivated.  Book an afternoon off to go sit in a vegan cafe with your notebook to write down some ideas.  Have patience and tenacity.  Some businesses fail simply because the owners didn’t give it long enough.  So, keep a log of your key metrics (be that profit, followers, or number of customers) and compare them year on year (or every few months) so that you can see the progress.  Because it will be there.

Build and use your tribe to motivate you.  There is nothing better for your enthusiasm than talking with a customer whose life you have had a positive impact on.  Even if you are a vegan bakery and you delivered a cake for someone’s birthday party – call them up the next week and ask how it went.  Learn how you are making a difference first-hand.  Hold a summer vegan barbecue for your customers, suppliers and contacts to bring everyone together to update them on your mission and keep you excited about your business.

And remember, finally, why we are all doing this.  Today, 200 million land animals were killed, needlessly, to be eaten or their body parts used for products.  200 million more are waiting to die tomorrow.  If we include fish we get close to 3 billion animals slaughtered every single day.  The figures are obscenely huge, almost inconceivably so.  If humans were slaughtered at the same rate as animals, the world’s population would be extinct in 17 days.  Over 260 million cows are currently held around the world, forced over and over to give birth to babies that are taken away from them almost as soon as they are born so that humans can have their milk.  Many of these babies are slaughtered at only a few days old.  Knowing this, do you need to ask a vegan business owner where their motivation to succeed and help us towards a vegan world comes from?