A few years into my business, I came ‘this close’ to buying into the hype that most small businesses in my industry just can’t make a living wage, let alone a decent or good wage.
I was ‘this close’ to buying into the excuses that it’s the schools’ fault for allowing us to pay so much for school and then we couldn’t make an income.
I was ‘this close’ to believing I couldn’t make my role as both ‘mom’ and ‘business owner’ work.
I was ‘this close’ to giving up on all of it.
There was a point when I had to finally consciously make a decision. Either be content with a hobby business (meaning it was not going to make an income), or step up to serve more and serve better.
I decided that a hobby business was not for me and it was not going to have the impact I wanted to have because it meant I was not serving as many people in my community.
I think most of us small business owners hear that statistic about how many small businesses fail in general, and it’s often hard to not wonder, ‘will that be me?!’ The problem is while more business owners start to believe failure is their only option, more and more people actually need our help.
Now I think about the lives changed, and I think about how much I love my time at my business and with our clients. And I think, “Thank God when I was ‘this close’ I chose to buy into the belief that success was possible and it was important enough to work to make it happen.”
So what can we do when we get ‘this close’ to giving up on our dreams? Because let’s be honest, there are times when business can be stressful and hard and discouraging, no matter where we are on our business owner path, those times do happen.
Here’s what I suggest doing, and what I still do when I’m ‘this close’ to feeling discouraged:
-Center yourself- use deep breaths, exercise, meditation, whatever works for you.
-Become an observer into your own life- take the emotion out and see things as they truly are.
-Focus on simply what’s working and what’s not, and adjust using that information.
-Look inside yourself for answers- our external reflects what’s going on in the inside.
-Energetically hold the space for what it is you really want to happen in your business- often for me this means making sure I have the energy, time, and focus to really do what I’m hoping to accomplish.
-Celebrate yourself and all you have actually accomplished.
Here is the real gold I’ve learned that I want to share with anyone following their dreams and pushing through toward their bigger vision for their life. Usually when we’re ‘this close’ to giving up, we are also ‘this close’ to breaking through to success too. So now, instead of getting down when I feel ‘this close’, I get excited about what I’m about to break through to in my business!
Cheers to feeling ‘this close’ and pushing through over and over again toward success!💜
- I was ‘THIS CLOSE’ - May 7, 2019