Vulnerable share: The three hardest lessons I have learnt in my business.
As well as Christmas shopping, social events and yummy food, this time of the year also calls for a bit of reflection. Every December I reflect on what has worked and what hasn’t over the last twelve months. I usually take this insight and use it to plan for the year ahead. Reflecting on some of the harder moments since starting Studio Monday inspired me to share some of these and what I learnt from them.
In the small business space it can be easy to think everyone else has everything together especially since people tend to share less of the harder parts of running a business. So, I hope you enjoy reading this and can relate in some way.
Let’s dive in…
Don’t let validation from others, determine wherever or not, you validate yourself.
There have been times within my business where people around me didn’t necessarily believe in what I was trying to do. At the start of 2020, before Studio Monday existed, a graphic designer told me she would have put my CV in the bin if she was recruiting. She said I wouldn't have stood a chance against other designers applying. I went home and cried. If I took this as evidence it was never going to be possible for me to be a graphic designer, I wouldn’t have started this business. She wasn’t going to validate me as a designer. So I had to validate myself, and my own validation had to be enough.
The hard lesson here was learning I couldn’t let someone else's opinion of whether or not I was ready to start a business determine whether I believed I could. One of the most famous examples of this in action was Vincent Van Gogh. No one around him recognised he was a good artist - he sold one painting while he was alive. However this didn’t mean he wasn’t a good artist, it just meant the people around him at the time couldn’t see his talent.
Another example of this is social media. It is easy to rely on comments, likes and follows from others to validate whether what we have created is good enough.
The reality is, sometimes external validation won’t be there and you have to choose to know you are good enough and what you have created on social media is quality, regardless of whether other people see it.
Of course there is space for tweaking and modifying content to be better and resonate more with your audience. However, I think in this scenario, to validate yourself means to choose to not let self doubt and imposter syndrome creep in when something doesn’t land as well as you thought it would. It means dusting yourself off, knowing you are good enough and trying again.
2. There has to be passion somewhere within your business, because at times there might not be money.
This could be any kind of passion: either for what your business does, a passion for who you are helping, or a passion for the lifestyle you want to create as a result of the business. I learnt this working in my business full time. Things happen like covid and there are slower seasons, times when I didn’t have clients and consequently not a lot of money. Those are the times when if I wasn’t so passionate about design, helping woman in business and the life style I really wanted to create for myself, I honestly think my business would have folded.
Money is not always guaranteed and if that’s the main driver of your business when the money isn’t there it may seem like there’s nothing left. You can however always have passion for what you do and who you want to help regardless of what happens externally. This can be hard to process and in an ideal world you won’t be in this situation but the reality is not all businesses are successful from the start and slow seasons can happen.
3. Get comfortable feeling uncomfortable.
By this specifically I mean in relation to making moves within your business. Sometimes it is easy to wait until you feel 100% happy with what you have created before sharing it or what you want to do before putting it out there. However I have learnt that whilst it’s uncomfortable and my perfectionist brain hates it, sometimes things just have to be an 80% effort and that’s okay - otherwise I would be waiting forever to launch something or at least until the opportunity has passed.
Messy action (whilst uncomfortable at times) is better than no action. I am a perfectionist and within my design this is an asset and something I really appreciate, however within my business it means I end up working on things forever when the reality is 100% doesn’t necessarily always exist.
It’s definitely not always easy to share the lows but everyone experiences them in some capacity at some point. I appreciate you reading this and being here.
I would also love to hear what your thoughts are and if in any way you can relate.
More than anything I hope you have a really lovely Christmas and New Year, get lots of rest and are able to start 2023 feeling fresh. See you in 2023.
