"Failure doesn't mean you are a failure. It just means you haven't succeeded yet"
-Robert Schuller
Over the last few months I have been struggling to meet the goals that I have set for my business for the year. They are small goals. Things like: Increase profit to $1,000 this year. Increase followers on Facebook and Twitter. Develop a strong business and marketing plan and stick to it. Increase clients by ten. It all seems simple, however the more that I am diving into it, and wanting to make this work, the more that I am realizing that it is not as simple as I thought that it was going to be.
I will admit that I am a bit stressed about the whole thing, and I have fallen into the trap of feeling as though I am failing. I have set goals for my business and for my blog, and for whatever reason I am just not meeting them like I should be. I blame myself for not being knowledgeable enough in business and blogging, and this leads to believing that I am failing. However, am I really failing?
I am slowly growing my knowledge as my photographer, and as I grow I make sure that I am sharing that knowledge here with you. What does that do for me? Well it does two things, one it helps me to cement what I am doing in my head and helps me to remember it. When I was in the military we were taught with one method. It was the "See one, do one, teach one" method. he way that it works is that you have something demonstrated to you, then you perform the action, once you have performed it successfully you must teach it to the next person. This was something that I did not think would work when I was first introduced to it, however I have now realized that I am learning and maintaining more knowledge when I practice this method. The second thing that it is doing for me is it is helping me accomplish the goal of 8 blog posts a month for me here. If I am learning or improving on something at least 8 times a month that means that I am also sharing it here with you. Two birds with one stone. So, is this really failing? (as long as I am consistent)
I struggle with the idea that my business is more of a hobby then it is a business. However after watching a few videos from the The ModernTog I have come to realize that this is something that I need to shift my mindset on. Once I start treating it like a business and not a hobby I am sure things will begin to change. I have also learned from The Business Bytes Podcast that is run by Rachel Brenke at the Law Tog that I need a client avatar. Sounds weird, but believe it or not it has helped me move from treating my business as a hobby to a business. I am now trying to find ways to appeal to that person/avatar, and find ways to reach them and get them to want to book with me. So, I am not exactly succeeding yet, but am I really failing?
When it comes to owning your own business and doing what you love you have to define what failure really is. This is something that I believe only you can define, and that no one else can define for you because it is going to be different from person to person, and situation to situation. For example, for some people not being able to support their family and being full time is a failure. Not being on page one of the google search is a failure. At this point in my business my belief is that if I drain the fun out of photography and I lose my love for it, that is when I have failed as a business. I am running my business for fun and to help my family, however I do not want it to consume my life and make it to where I no longer love going out and taking photos and making people feel amazing about themselves. When I lose that, that is when I will tell you that I have failed.
I am sure that there are a number of you out there that question your sanity and think that you are failing every single day, but are you really failing? Did you wake up this morning? Did you get out of bed? Did you accomplish your morning routine with your family? Now that you are sitting in front of your computer are you getting ready to work toward some goal? If you have gotten this far into this post, then trust me my friend you are not failing! You have already succeeded a lot already today! Take those successes and continue to apply them to the things that you need to get done for you and for your business. If that means that you have a full day of editing ahead of you, well I am sure that you have a coffee pot full and ready to go. If it is a day full of shooting, I am sure the batteries are charged and you are ready to go. These things are also successes. Never discount the small things. Always try to look for the wins, not the failures. A failure is nothing but a bump in the road to teach you something in order to grow. All you have to do is learn your lesson and move forward from that moment and apply what you have learned from that lesson.
What are some wins for you? What are you struggling with? How do you view failure? Lets talk about it! Leave your comments in the comments below or if you would like to discuss it personally please contact me via email. You can find the contact box on the right side of your screen.
*Disclaimer* The links that are in this blog post ARE NOT affiliate links. I believe in giving credit where credit is due. These two ladies have helped to open my eyes in this area and if you are interested in what they can do for you I highly recommend that you follow the links and see what they can help you with!
0 comments:
Post a Comment