Last night I was interviewed by Tiffany Odutoye for Mike Mehrle’s socialmediatelevision.com. It was a great experience because Mike and Tiffany are infectiously passionate entrepreneurs who are working on some amazing projects that will help entrepreneurs that use social media. Spending time speaking with them made me feel energized and motivated, but what if it hadn’t happened?

Before the interview last night, I was wiped out. At work, I felt sluggish and I was having difficulty focusing on getting an analysis finished for my boss. I had even considered cancelling the interview because I felt so lethargic and just wanted to go home to sleep.

When I drove home to drop something off before the interview, I changed my mind. I had to push through and find the energy to get this done. Taking a few deep breaths, I put on my tie, brushed my teeth, and got back into the car. This was something that I had to do.

Pulling up to the interview location, I started to perk up. As I was shown the set that Mike had created, I started to get more energized. Getting ready for the interview with Tiffany, I found that I wasn’t tired at all…actually I was the most energized as I had been all week. What was going on?

Driving home buzzing with energy, I realized that I had hit one of my flow states. When I am hanging out with passionate entrepreneurs, I am energized by their motivation and desire to grow themselves as they grow their businesses. It was a great natural high and I didn’t even have to down an energy drink to get that feeling.

If you are an entrepreneur or want to be an entrepreneur, do you know when you are energized? What activities, people, or places give you a natural energy that pushes your business forward? How are you finding out what motivates you?

In my 10 Steps to Building an Online Fan Following speaking program, I share the different tools my clients and I use to develop our businesses. What I do differently from most speakers is emphasize that I am not giving a cookie cutter solution. I also push my clients to experiment with as many of the tools as possible. For example, one client doesn’t like to write so we started to work on using audio and video to deliver content to his fans. It is something he loves doing, so it doesn’t feel like work and he is more likely produce valuable content consistently.

When you are marketing your business, you have to be passionate about the techniques you are using. Do you not like speaking? Then don’t speak. Do you hate Twitter? Then don’t use it. In order to get the most value from the time you have, spend it doing the activities you love doing. Only that will move you forward personally and professionally.

What energizes you and are you doing it enough?

If you liked this post, then you should also check out:

1. Good is the Enemy of Great
2. Are You Trying to Trade A Monotonous Job for a Monotonous Business?
3. The Cake is a Lie
4. What if I Told You that Everything You Have Been Told About Finding a Niche is Wrong?
5. How to be a Superhero – Part 5: Joining Forces with Other Superheroes