What inspires you? Oftentimes, inspiration varies from person to person. For example, one person could be inspired by their loved ones, while for another, their inspiration could come from the desire to achieve their childhood dream.
Self-employed entrepreneurs come from all walks of life, but what exactly inspires them? Let’s take a look at some of the things you can explore to find your inspiration.
What is Inspiration?
First, let us take a look at inspiration. What is inspiration exactly?
According to the Oxford Dictionary, inspiration is the process that stimulates you—it is the thing that pushes you to do things, create something, and express yourself.
Essentially, inspiration is the energy within you that pushes you forward. It is what keeps you doing the things that you may have thought impossible. Inspiration enables you to want to do the objectives you wish to accomplish.
Inspiration is sometimes thought of as an emotion that strikes people at random, thus we often think of it as something that nearly happens by mistake. What inspires you, however, is a process, as stated at the beginning of that dictionary description. Our minds are aroused, and we are motivated to act. The secret to feeling inspired is learning how to induce inspiration when we need it.
There is no one, predetermined method that will inspire everyone. That is so because everyone is unique and draws inspiration from diverse things. Consider what you were doing the past few times you felt inspired. You need to figure out what works for you, and this is one of the greatest ways to accomplish so. Think about your current location, activities, etc. The next time you require some creative thoughts or solutions, look for any commonalities and take these into consideration.
Things You Can Explore for Your Inspiration
If inspiration lets you push yourself further, then it is essential that you can find the things that inspire you. So here are some ideas on exploring the things that inspire you as a self-employed entrepreneur.
Go Back to Why You Became Self-Employed
What was the original reason that made you choose the path of self-employment? Going back to the first reason that set you on the track to becoming a self-employed entrepreneur can help you find out what inspired you originally.
For example, you may have started because you wanted to have a sense of independence or financial freedom.
Whatever your reason is, remembering it will help you think of why you do the things you do today. Looking back on things lets you have another perspective for your inspirations.
How Has Being a Self-Employed Entrepreneur Changed Your Life?
A self-employed entrepreneur works for what they want. This means it takes a lot of hustle and drive to achieve what you want. What has being a self-employed entrepreneur done to your life?
Perhaps, there have been many new skills that you have learned or discovered about yourself since starting. For example, you may have learned to create your own invoices for your business.
Learning what changes being a self-employed entrepreneur has brought into your life will bring more clarity on what inspires you today.
The experience of becoming an entrepreneur fundamentally alters you, affecting how you think, act, and wish to live your life. Entrepreneurship will alter your life, usually for the better but occasionally for the bad. Following are some ways:
- Your enthusiasm for work increases. The key to being successful as an entrepreneur is to follow your passions.
- You ponder your past employment at regular jobs. The normal 9-to-5 office job seems odd and less interesting to you every day.
- You approach everything with skepticism. Being in charge forces you to consider everything, from the placement of your living room furnishings to your daily cup of coffee.
- Brand-new experiences turn into commodities. Because you are aware that new experiences open the door to fresh insights, you yearn for them.
- Anything can become an idea. Every thing, circumstance, and experience you come across becomes a potential foundation for a fresh concept.
- You recognize everyone’s potential. People’s strengths and faults can sometimes be seen right away, and you can see their enormous potential.
- Most things can be reduced to numbers (if you choose to). You have the ability to objectively assess practically everything since you have to objectively study very subjective issues.
What Motivates You To Keep Going?
There will be times when what you do gets a bit tedious. This could happen when doing what you love or what is necessary to keep everything moving forward.
What are the things that urge you to keep on going? What keeps you placing effort into being a self-employed entrepreneur?
Checking what has motivated you so far can help you identify your inspirations. This will help you clear your mind and also push you forward. Inspiration stimulates your mind and body to let you keep going when things get tough.
What inspires you to succeed?
According to their aims and ideals, different people would be motivated by various things, making motivation subjective. Your motivation at work could differ from your motivation at home.
Living Purposefully
I firmly believe that your purpose plays a major role in sustaining motivation. Motivating yourself becomes simple once you identify what it is that makes you feel alive on the inside.
This is also known as internal motivation, which denotes that internal rewards control your behavior. Thus, you act without regard to what others may think because it makes you feel good.
If you still haven’t discovered your mission, keep looking because it’s also looking for you.
The Rewards You Have Received Since Becoming a Self Employed Entrepreneur
Being a self-employed entrepreneur has its benefits. You could get to building what you want, getting to explore what sparks your interest, and having control of what you do. These are wonderful rewards that one could receive for being their own boss.
What rewards have come into your life since becoming self-employed? What makes this rewarding—what does it bring to the table?
As an entrepreneur, what specifically gives you satisfaction in what you do? Noting down what rewards you have enjoyed so far will provide you with a better idea of the things that make you want to do your job.
How Have You Overcome Hardships?
Most likely, your journey to becoming self-employed was not an easy path. There are times where things go wrong, and you might find yourself wondering what to do. But, with so much responsibility in your own hands, how have you overcome your hardships?
Everyone has had difficulties when starting as an entrepreneur. For example, some may have failed to manage their employee expenses because they were unable to use and generate paystubs.
What issues have faced you along the way? How did you push through these challenges, and what changes did this bring into your life?
Remembering what obstacles were in your way helps in later searching for the things that drive you today. Looking back can help you see how far you have come and remembered the essence of the things that pushed you onward.
Your manager just informed you that they don’t believe you are ready to assume further leadership responsibilities. They don’t think you’re the proper fit for the position and don’t think you’ll be successful. What do you do in a circumstance like this that is challenging? Is it time to declare defeat and give up, or should you summon the strength to fight back and disprove them? Is this what inspires you to achieve more?
Consider the aforementioned illustration. People telling you that you aren’t good enough and having doubts about your skills is an opportunity for you to strive harder and be successful. It occurs when you convince yourself that you’ll face hardship head-on but that you’ll triumph over it instead of crumbling.
An excellent first step in the face of difficulty is to change your perspective. Similar to learning from mistakes, if you choose to do so, you will develop personally and motivate others to develop resiliency.
Final Thoughts: Explore What Inspires You As A Self Employed Entrepreneur
Knowing what inspires you will help you as a person and help you achieve your goals as a self-employed entrepreneur. However, before you can know your inspiration, you first have to explore the things that inspire you first.
Checking out the different experiences you have had lets you explore—and determine—the inspiration that influences your passion.
