Let’s face it. There’s often a lot of mental gunk that comes up for folks about money when they start a business. Lots of mental drama around wanting more, confusion over pricing, and questions about value. The worries seem to be endless.
But for some folks, there seems to be a particular chain of worries that sprout up when we start doing work that we love to do.
We think we should change our prices (because we’d do it for free anyway, we just love it so much!) or that we should offer a discount (after all, we don’t want to seem greedy!), or we bend over backward to accommodate the smallest objection (I want this to be available for everyone in the whole world!).
Working for yourself from home can seem like a dream at first glance.
Skip the long commute and the micro-managing boss.
Work when you want, wearing whatever you want.
No more long-winded meetings that kill your productivity.
Sounds lovely…until it’s not.
Running the show can be tricky sometimes. From hard decisions to big investments to difficult conversations, being in charge of your own business means that you’re the one who has to do it all. There’s really no passing the buck on the big stuff.
For those of us who are real people-pleasers (ahem, this girl right here), it can be easy to let our accommodating tendency take over. But oftentimes that can end up resulting in bad business decisions:
The great thing about running your own business is that you get to call the shots. So here are three ways to bring some boss energy to your conversations to ensure that you call the shots that will serve you.
Your colleague else had their biggest month yet, while you’re just hoping to break even and pay the bills this month.
Your friend just lost a bunch of weight and looks amazing…and you’ve been battling with that last 10 pounds for months.
Everyone seems to be taking some exotic vacation, meanwhile you’d be excited for just one extra day off to sit on your back deck.
Ugh.
We all have stories and crappy beliefs we’ve grow accustom to repeating simply because we haven’t stopped to examine them and their validity. Of course, once we acknowledge how unsupportive a belief is, we want to ditch it as quickly as possible and get to something that is more helpful and positive.
And therein lies the problem!
We try to swing wildly from one end of the thought spectrum to the other, and it simply doesn’t work.
Elise Davis is the metalsmith behind the modernist, bold jewelry brand, Clster. Her inspiration comes from the Art Deco period's geometric shapes and repetition as well as modern minimalism. “I strive to create pieces that appeal to a variety of women: from those whose personal style is more delicate & petite to women who are bold & want to make a statement with their look.”
From time to time I discover a new trick, app, or system that solves some small frustration or issue I’ve been dealing with, and it just makes me so happy I have to share. The following discoveries I’ve made aren’t really about solving big issues, but rather help with those little things that streamline your day and bring a little delight and ease to your business.
We get soooooooo worried about what other people will think when we:
put ourselves out there
raise our prices
claim a new identity
share new photos
publish a blog post
The list could go on forever. And it really boils down to us thinking one of two things about what others will say. We think they’ll either say “you’re not good enough” or “who do you think you are?” And it freaks us out and keeps us stuck.
Sophie is a freelance filmmaker and film editor, videographer, and photographer. She’s inspired by mountains, rivers, wildflowers, rocks and wild humans wandering out there. She believes the power of storytelling is infinite, and creativity flows best with some fresh air and laughs. Preferring projects with an environmentally and/or socially conscious spin, big or small, she believes change starts with awareness. She’s driven by curiosity, and feels most alive in the splash of a perfect whitewater wave, in the deepest fluffiest powder turn, laughing to tears with friends, and amidst the wildest story.
In a world full of hustle, hustle, hustle, it’s fairly common to lose track of time and start to blur the lines between work time and free time. Many small business owners feel like work never ends, the to-do list grows by the minute, and they can’t figure out why they feel behind when all they do is work!
They want a sane, balanced schedule, but they also have goals they want to hit. So where should they spend their time? How should they set realistic goals?
It’s pretty easy to just start talking to your customers about all of the awesome features of your product or service. You talk about the all of the details you’ve built in and the latest and greatest materials/technology/skills you’re using in your process…
The only problem is that they just don’t care that much! You’re potential customer is here to solve a problem of some sort. And until you speak to that problem and the benefits they’ll get from what you’re offering, they’re likely not paying close attention.
Many of my clients tell me that one thing they want to get out of working with me is “more confidence.” And when we’re done working together, most of my clients report that they do, in fact, feel more confident.
But what does that really even mean?!
To me, it’s simply about creating that feeling that propels us to take different actions than we would ordinarily. It doesn’t mean we suddenly have some skill or talent that we didn’t before. Or that we’ve passed some invisible milestone where now fear is no present.
Most of the time, it really is just about getting clear on what we really want, and creating the thoughts that support the actions we need to take, and allow us to feel feelings that give fear a run for its money.
