Business Cheerleading. Who Do You Appreciate?

As many of you know, it’s the middle of soccer season, which means we have games every Saturday. This is our first year with a child playing soccer and we are having a blast loading up the wagon and walking down to the field with all of our gear. We’re pretty lucky because all of our games and practices are at the park at the end of our street!

Each week, we load the wagon up with our chairs, water bottles, snacks, giant #1 foam fingers and those inflatable “bam sticks” we nabbed at a recent baseball game! My husband Brian, a coach, is out on the field with Natalie and my son Carter and I cheer our tails off on the sidelines.

Thinking about this week’s upcoming game got me thinking about who I cheer for, motivate, and support in my business and who is there cheering for and supporting me.

Who are you cheering on? Do you help empower and motivate other business owners just like you? Or, do you have a business support network cheering you on to do and be your best?

Doesn’t it feel good to have a cheering squad? Isn’t it nice to hear things like:

• You’re doing a great job! I loved this blog post because …
• Thank you for your ezine this week. I really resonated with …
• I really enjoyed your presentation last week, I learned …
• Your special report really helped me…
• Wow, that teleclass provided so much information and I loved …

Receiving feedback and kudos like those above almost gives you a quick burst of that feel good, put a smile on your face, all this effort is worth it, energy that sticks with you all day.

That feel good feeling – the one that puts a bounce in your step because you know you are making a difference and that people are paying attention to your hard work – is contagious.

Don’t be stingy. Take some time each week to cheer someone else on and add some feel-good validation to their day. Comment on their blog post. Respond to their ezine. Send someone a testimonial. Recommend them to others on Twitter using Mr.Tweet. Comment and respond to their social networking posts to start a genuine conversation. Let them know when they did something you liked.

The simple act of taking time to cheer on, support, or thank a fellow entrepreneur on will not only validate their efforts and help them feel empowered and motivated, but you’ll be surprised at how good it makes you feel too!