We’ve all been there. Every successful entrepreneur has at one point or another felt like throwing in the towel, calling it quits and taking the path of least resistance. For some it was a mere thought and for others it appeared to be an all too near reality. Anyone who tells you differently has not built a successful and profitable business – period.

Golden Days and Perfect Storms

It’s something that many entrepreneurs don’t like to talk about. Most successful entrepreneurs would like to soon forget the painful periods of growing a business. We prefer to relish in the golden days. But golden days and perfect storms are both essential components of an entrepreneur’s journey.

When Your Back is Against the Wall

Every day you are given a choice to move forward in spite of perceived challenges or succumb to defeat. The choice is yours and it becomes an even harder choice when you feel as though your back is against the wall. But take it from someone who has been there, if you have the strength to pick yourself up off the floor, wipe away the tears and fight through the toughest periods in business … you will undoubtedly and unequivocally succeed.

Hidden Lessons in Fight-or-Flight

Think back to some of the most successful periods in your life and I guarantee that there are telling lessons hidden within. Things you thought that you could not do, barriers that seemed impenetrable and situations that often looked bleak and undesirable.

We are all too familiar with the biological response to acute stress, better known as fight-or-flight. But what happens in business, when you get the urge to fall back instead of push forward? I encourage you to tune it to ‘fight’ every time. The best way to prepare and win a fight is to know what you can expect. There are four essential things that you should prepare for and expect along the way:

• Life will appear to get more complicated. People, places and things will all seem to rally against your cause. Most notably people will either champion your vision or write themselves a one-way ticket on a jet plane. Nonetheless, understand it is a part of the process and there is no way to get around it but through.
• Business will yield the unexpected. At one point or another people indirectly or directly connected to your business will not always perform as you expect. Always prepare for the unexpected by speculating worst-case-scenarios and expect the best during the process.
• Personal and professional growth is not an option. For most everyone this is painful. Developing new habits, skill sets and characteristics are all fair-game when you are building a company. You will take on new roles that are reciprocal to the employee mindset that you have been trained to operate in.
• Your business will only go as far as you can see.  If you have no vision for yourself or your business it will stay in the adolescent stage for a very long time. A vision will enable you to act decisively and quickly on important matters. A long-term vision will keep your wits about you when the going gets tough and believe me at one point or another it will get tough.

Every reason noted above can seem to be an unbearable challenge. But none of the reasons in any way, shape or form give you a license to give up, cave in or quit. Every opportunity is most often disguised as a challenge that you’d rather not deal with. But don’t shrink back; focus on solutions and not the problem. Giving up is not an option and to have what others don’t have you must be willing to do what others won’t do.

Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go. –W. Feather

Did you enjoy this article? If so, subscribe to YFS Magazine and never miss an update.