I encourage everyone to pursue what they want in life. The last thing I’d want to do is rain on someone’s parade. If you’re thinking of starting your own business, this one’s for you!
If you have a family who supports you emotionally and stands by you as a cheerleader on your journey, you’re ahead of the game and make sure you don’t take that support for granted.
It’s going to be a looooooong road. I like to refer to my challenging times as “walking through the mud.”
In business (and in life) everyone walks through the mud sometimes. There’s no getting around it, you have to accept that it’s going to happen, and you have to keep going.
Walking through the mud looks like: challenging clients that might not align with your business approach, but you took them on for the cashflow, your laptop completely dying a tragic death DURING an ordering appointment, large orders coming in with mistakes needing to be reordered or unhappy clients for reasons you can’t control. And the list could really go on for a long time, but you get the idea.
Oh yeah, and you (or hired help) have to remember to do your various tax reports, post on social media AT LEAST once a day, keep on top of your product orders, maintain relationships with clients, build new relationships with clients, clean your office, stay organized and create new products or services.
Being a business owner is like trying to escape a blackhole. Or is it?
From my perspective, you need to have your priorities and boundaries in check. Take it from me, someone with a Master’s degree in Professional Counseling and over 10 years experience working in the mental health career before my photography business.
Shameless plug: Business Boundaries if you want to join a group of female entrepreneurs looking to create systems and procedures to eliminate guilt, this group is for you!
Here’s a sample of what we focus on:
Priorities: how often you want to work, how much money you want to make, what type of community you want to serve and what do you want to be known for.
Boundaries: when to say no, when to close the office door, when to stop buying shiny new things for your business and when you need to refill your own bucket.
I could talk for hours about what it’s like being a business owner, along with prioritizing and setting boundaries, but this seems like enough to get you started for now.
As always, I’m here to connect with you all! You know where to find me.
Talk soon,
Erica