The Ms. CEO Show

Felicia Joy is a world class entrepreneur and the founder of Ms. CEO Media Inc.  Her column is published on www.msceoshow.com each week.  To send Felicia a question or share your thoughts on her blog click the “comment” link above.

In grade school, “A” stood for “apple”.  As a working entrepreneur it stands for “awholelottastuff”.

There is so much to be concerned with on a daily basis as an entrepreneur that life and business can quickly become overwhelming.  A lot of “A” words will come in handy as you continue to build your business.  Among the practical and critical ones are: Accounting and Around-the-corner-cashflow.  But there are others that are more philosophical but no less important.  Like Attitude and Action!

Action is one of my favorite words.  I want to share with you a little secret I discovered about it too.  Action equals energy and energy is transferrable.  Sometimes I’m beating my head against the wall trying to figure out a business challenge or what my next move should be.  And the answer just doesn’t come. 

This is the same psychological phenomenon that Albert Einstein described when he was tinkering with his numerous inventions.  He’d stay in his lab around the clock (although he didn’t keep clocks around; he didn’t want to set false parameters and boundaries for his creativity).  Day and night he’d toil on something and no breakthrough thought would come.  So, he’d stop that experiment and start something else and during his time away from the unsolvable, the answer would come—or his mind would shift and when he went back to it the answer somehow was there. 

Abracadabra?  No.  “A” is for Action and action is a powerful force and the energy of it is transferable.

I have experienced this same phenomenon in building my business, jumping those hurdles (i.e. turning a prospect’s no into a yes) and busting through the roadblocks (finding money to make next week’s payroll).  Action is almost always the answer but it might not be business action that you need to take.  Exercising is awesome for jumbling up the mind and unearthing the answers within or freeing the mind to connect with the answers outside of it.

Running errands and cleaning up are great too.  Or whatever it is you need to do.  Sometimes we focus so intensely on what’s wrong or what’s bothering us in business and that eventually becomes unproductive.  Running around in circles may feel like you’re doing something—and you are; but how far are you getting?

An “A” or “Action” each day will keep the entrepreneurial blues away but it may not always be business action that you need to take. 

Get busy now with something outside of business if you’ve been grappling with a challenge—and keep your notepad (or BlackBerry) ready to jot down the answers that come!