Recently I have been going through some growing pains, BUSINESS GROWING PAINS. This is a new place for me to be in. I can handle all of the kid stuff that my children are going through but when it comes to me forgetaboutit… But in retrospect I have begun to see my business as a child growing up. Many times its going to be hard and tears will be shed over it learning to grow and expand is HARD, you can’t outsource everything because you fall victim to what I will lovingly call business kidnapping. You put yourself in danger of allowing and even worse getting comfortable with someone else handling the day-to-day things in your business, before too long your business will begin to suffer.
Starting a business and RUNNING a business are two very different tasks. There is a lot of advise out there and a lot of it is great some good and some just plain old bad. I think as we all start out fresh and wet behind the ears, regardless of educational status, we always think we know more than we actually do. When I started this business I was a new mom and a wife and I started this business as a result of transitioning from corporate America. Office work was all I knew. Someone else handled payroll, taxes, office supplies, billing and my schedule. I just showed up for work. Now 3 1/2 years later this shit is getting real. My business is growing and if i want to keep it growing I need to woman up and show up. I need to learn how to be accountable and run this show. I report to no one else but ME. I come into MY office. There is no water cooler, or other staff that I can hang out with and complain about office policies with because I MAKE THESE POLICIES.
Now what do I need to do to show up like the boss that I want to be to have a successful and thriving business. I need to #WORK and #Focus. I need to do my homework on industry trends, write out my DAILY to do list,I need to eat and exercise. I need to connect with others in and outside of my field. I need to talk to my husband and make sure my home life is happy so when I show up at work I am not bringing any negative feelings into my photo sessions. I need to make sure I understand what works for me. I don’t need every system just because all of the cool businesses are using it. I just need to make sure that it works for me and my accounting.
Most importantly I need to be true to me. Just as you have to be true to yourself. This is the trick. You have to quiet yourself enough to know what you want, and also have a core group of friends…Your advisory boar, that you can call at any time who will ask you important questions like Why do you need that, or what is that going to do for you?
Sometimes we ask ourselves these same questions and ignore the answers but when they come from an outside source it’s that ‘spoon full of sugar’ that helps the medicine go down philosophy.
Your business needs a lot of things, an accountant, equipment, a lawyer, a core network of people who will refer you, but if YOU don’t understand what YOU need to make this business a success your team won’t know either.
