I believe that keeping a positive mental attitude is essential when you’re a solo-preneur, particularly during these troubled times. If you’re feeling desperate or scared it’s really hard to keep going. It’s hard to make plans and even harder to implement those plans. When speaking to potential customers, it’s harder to make the sale if you’re worried about making the mortgage payment.

And although in the fall I wrote a blog post called Survive a Recession? Some Businesses Are Thriving!, I too am having days where it is a struggle to stay positive.

How can you not worry? Unless you bury your head in the sand, you’re being told from all sides that the sky is falling. Turn on any newscast and you hear about the auto sector, job loss statistics climbing higher, retail sales figures plummeting. People keep dropping the “D” word. It’s not good!

And for baby boomer entrepreneurs, the situation is exacerbated by our looming retirement. We don’t have decades to make up for any losses today. We need to make our money now.

So how do we keep from being overwhelmed by the doom and gloom?

At the risk of sounding like a Pollyanna, I have to say that a conscious and strategic use of the Law of Attraction is what’s helping me through.

I’m not suggesting ignoring what’s happening in the world. However, throwing up your hands in despair doesn’t help. You can’t change what’s happening around you. But you can change your actions and thoughts. And changing your thoughts and actions can have a big impact on your success.

Try this experiment. Say the following aloud (with feeling):

“I can’t do this.”

Then try:

“I wonder if I can do this?”

And finally:

“I don’t know how, but I’m going to do this!”

Notice the difference in energy, how you feel when you say each of these statement? If you’re like me, I’ll bet the last one feels a whole lot better than the first one.

That’s what the Law of Attraction is about; focusing on what you want, rather than on what you don’t.

And it’s not just about feeling good. Changing your thoughts from negative to positive has a real impact on what happens.

If you go around thinking “I can’t” then your subconscious is going to help you be right. You’ll have less energy for your business, be half hearted in your marketing efforts (after all, they won’t work anyway) and you’ll overlook unexpected opportunities that arise because you’re focused on what’s not working. You’ll wonder why you went in business in the first place and start checking out the want ads in the paper in order to find a “real” job.

On the other hand, if you tell yourself you’re going to succeed no matter what (and you believe it), you’ll have more energy to devote to marketing and running your business. Because you believe things can go right, opportunities will seem to fall into your lap. And you’ll take advantage of them.

Now some Law of Attraction practitioners will say those opportunities arise because of your positive thoughts. I personally think that’s crap. I really believe that opportunities arise all the time, but we don’t always recognize them as opportunities or worse, don’t always act on them. But when you’re focused on success, you’re mentally prepared when something appears that will help you reach your goals.

As part of using the Law of Attraction to overcome fear about the economy, we more then ever need to have a profit motive in our business. It sounds obvious, but often times we can get distracted by administrative tasks, tidying our offices, and doing things we’ve always done. But if you’re really focused on building your business and making money, you’ll make sure you’re spending the majority of your time doing things that earn money – selling, delivering services and marketing!

It’s very simple. Have an expectation that your business will succeed. Take positive actions every day that move you towards your goals. Be open and receptive to unexpected opportunities that will help you get ahead. It won’t always be easy, but it will get you to ahead faster than giving up.

Andrea J. Stenberg

So, tell me what you think? Does keeping a positive attitude really make a difference? Do you use the Law of Attraction to get through difficult economic times? Please share your thoughts and experiences by leaving a comment below.