It Can Be Lonely Running a Business

Adam Payne • 1 October 2021

The Feeling of Being Alone in Business and What To Do About it

A read a great post this morning from Gus Bhandal regarding Lewis Hamilton's fantastic achievement of 100 F1 Wins, not been achieved before. Congrats to Lewis, one hell of an achievement.

The image was of Lewis Hamilton sat alone at the head of a dining table with the caption “Lewis Hamilton and all the other 100x F1 winners.” now of course there was no one else sitting with him as obviously he's the only one to have achieved this, but what struck me was how alone he looked, which got me thinking of how lonely it can be in running a business, being a manager, leader, high achiever. 

I'm a big believer that we are the average of the 5 people we hang about with, so those 5 must have the principles, behaviours, skillset, and positivity you need to move yourself forward, and unfortunately sometimes they have to be changed. On top of this as you build more Success it will unfortunately breed a number of negative emotions within some relationships, one of which is jealousy (both personal and business), so again changes have to be made. Your inner circle and connections will potentially get smaller but more powerful and stronger as you progress with your journey.

This is a common conversation I've had with many a business leader and business owner. 

What to do about it?

  1. Get a business mentor and or coach, these are the confidantes, extended board members, people that look through different eyes, they've been there and know what it's like.
  2. Build a strong Inner Circle Team, meet regularly, talk regularly. Build that peer network, bounce off one another.
  3. Join Peer Networks can be superb, you must do your due diligence here though, ensure the peer group is right for you and where you're at.
  4. Get a Mental Strength Coach - Business is 80/90% mindset and Fear is our worst enemy. Fear breeds in the dark, in the shadows, on the sofa, wherever inactivity exists. Fear can't hit a moving target so owning the property in the six inches between your ears is priority, this is where a mental strength coach is key. This one is close to my heart as I didn't do this in the early stages and it made its mark on me (listen to my story here).

This is not exclusive advice, but highly recommended from people I have spoken to and what I have done in my journey, I cannot stress enough that you don't just leave it thinking it will go away, it doesn't! so build that strong inner circle, change it when it's not working and get yourself a business mentor / coach. I have few, and yes business mentors do have business mentors 😁.

PS: if you do feel your struggling  with that feeling of loneliness please do get in touch here, my door, phone, zoom meetings are always open.
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