Remember how you felt the first day you opened your small business? It’s a time of excitement and joy for most of us. We’re ready to go and conquer the world!

However, once the honeymoon is over and reality sets in, we find that there are challenges as well as successes in the world of business. Some days we get overwhelmed with the challenges. After a string of those days, we begin to lose our motivation.

It’s challenging even when you are an employee to stay motivated in a job. However, employees usually have peers they can talk with to vent about their day or to keep their skills sharp. That’s not true of employers. More often than not, we walk that road alone. And unlike an employee, our motivation level is more likely to be tied to the performance of our company! If our motivation is low, it could hurt the entire business.

Focusing on keeping yourself motivated may not be what you think. Most of us think of motivation as cheerleading or rallying the troops. That may be true for employees at times, but for business owners self-motivation can be very different.

Here are five ways to keep being motivated for business owners:

1. Take a vacation. When WAS the last time you took time off? Really took time off – without a cell phone, a laptop or a digital pager? If it’s been more than a year, you need to do it! Taking time to relax and recharge is the best thing you can do to keep yourself motivated. Vacations help stave off burn out, and refresh you mentally and physically.

2. Join an association. A trade organization is a fabulous way to get contacts with your peers. You’ll have access to a large pool of people who share the same success and challenges every day. Don’t worry about being exposed to the competition – you can find people who have similar businesses that are in a different part of the country or who focus on a different area. Most associations have conferences and conventions that are great places to learn about trends and develop your own new ideas.

3. Attend training. Take a computer skills class or attend a workshop to hone some of your skills. They don’t even have to be directly related to your business. Try something general like communication skills, a writing course or a workshop on how to close a sell.

4. Chase a dream. Even corporations are sending their executives to open a flower shop or to climb Mount Everest. There’s a lot to be said about doing something far different than your day-to-day duties to give you a different perspective about what you do. Fulfilling a dream, either professionally or personally, has a profound effect on us in our careers and how motivated we are.

5. Work with a business coach. Working with a business coach will help you set some goals for your business that can help keep you motivated! Having both long-term and short-term goals are important. It pumps us up to see instant success, but it’s also very gratifying to meet a long-term goal, too! Both do a lot to keep small business owners motivated.

Most small business owners give their hearts and souls to their companies, especially during the critical first five years. It’s important to remember, though, that keeping our lives in balance always helps at work. Nobody can consistently work 80 hours or more a week without becoming burned out. Spend time with your family and friends, take time for your own interests, create time for a spiritual life and take care of your physical health, and you’ll be well on your way to staying motivated!