May 15, 2020 — Do you have periods of deep thought that can last days or even weeks? During those times you might have people ask you, “are you ok? You seem, distracted or something.” And likely, since they love you enough to inquire about your apparent issues, they might offer to help in some way.
If they offer to help, you will have a reaction based on your personality type. If you are the type who needs input to make big decisions, you might take them up on that offer of support. If you are the type that needs to seek solitude to work through these issues in your head, you will politely decline, thanking them for their concern.
Our brains are so complicated! What I have learned, noticed, whatever you want to call it, is that you can’t actually comprehend something until you are PRIMED and ready to accept that new level of understanding. You can seek and seek until you are blue in the face, but then, when it’s TIME: you will get it. I think of it as RECEIVING the gift of comprehension.
Here’s how that very concept played out for me recently.
2020 is, among many other things, the 4th year I have been in my soloprenurial business venture as a professional organizer and absolutely LOVING IT! Helping people get their heads above the overwhelm and get started on their organizing journey is what I was MADE FOR, no question. As a former middle school Spanish teacher, I get to keep that teaching side of me going, but in a totally different population.
However, being a business owner requires totally different talents! Especially in a world that changes as quickly as it does in the 21st century! The overwhelm is REAL, folks, but you charge forward because your passion is driving you every day. Doing your thing with the people you attract is AMAZING and gets you out of bed raring to go do the thing! You are changing lives, spreading joy, making a DIFFERENCE for your people. At least on the front end you are…
Oh, but the “back end” of business is a COMPLETELY different thing, y’all! I don’t know the statistics, (and I don’t intend to look them up right now,) but SO MANY small businesses fail not because of lack of knowledge of craft, hard work, or passion, but because the STRUCTURE of the back end is really hard to get solid, especially if you burst out of your gate and work too much IN your business, rather than ON your business.
So what’s the issue, then? Just work on the structure, right? Ideally, of course. But it takes some time to figure out what that entails, and also, here’s the big one: you are not good at all the things, and they DRAIN YOU. The more they drain you, the less energy you have for the real reason you started that business. And here’s the worst part, the saddest part: you think you are NOT EVEN MEANT to be a business owner. Surely, if you love what you do, you should be solid right? Oh don’t we wish??
It is hard work, and takes knowledge that you may not have. But guess what? There is HOPE! There are many other people, structures, systems that are there FOR YOU to take advantage of, fill in the gaps, and elevate you so you can do YOUR THING.
Yesterday, in Q2 of the 4th year of my business, I FINALLY got a CRM in place. A CRM is a client relationship management tool. Without a system to follow up with leads, clients/customers, and networking contacts, you will fail. A business needs raving-fan clients that feel loved and connected to you, the business owner. A love-em-and-leave-em MO is not going to help you have a successful biz!
How, Ryan, did you finally do that? It was two-fold. First, I joined a business coaching group that taught me the success path that one needs to follow in order to thrive. And second, that group taught me that you MUST GET HELP on the things that not only drain you, but also start to convince you, little by little, that you were never cut out for this, no matter how passionate you are.
So, I have been getting help on my back end systems and holy shizz!! The boulder I have been pushing for over THREE YEARS all of a sudden feel more like a beach ball!! Oh, it’s still hard work, of course, but it’s the right structure to move my needle forward!
Do you try to make a roast without marinating, seasoning it and turning on the oven to the right temperature? NO WAY!
Guess what? Dinner is almost ready:)
Cheers! –ryan:)
