Three helpful things I've learned (so far) about building my own business
Even just half a year ago, I wouldn’t have thought of myself as a very business savvy person. And I have to say, I was never particularly into business either. I just always thought, that it was none of my strengths. But over the last few months, I came to see, that I really like it. A lot actually! And that I might even become pretty good at it. So much of it has to do with the fact, that I am able to do it for myself, for my own business and not for anyone else. I am definitely not an expert and there are a billion things, that I still have to learn, but here are three things that have helped me so far:
1 – Use your intuition! Usually, it won’t let you down.
I never really considered intuition a business skill. It was never something, that was presented to me as being useful for these kinds of things. For being a good friend, yes! For being an empathic person, yes! For making some decisions, yes! But for building your own business? No, you need knowledge, a lot of knowledge and not intuition. Not true. At least in my experience. Intuition helped me with SO MANY things so far! Would it be good for my business right now, to start with “classic” marketing or sales strategies? No. It might be how you “used to do it” according to the books, and it might even speed things up. But it doesn’t align with my values, it’s not the way that I feel is right for MY business. I want to build relationships, I want customers who become friends, who get the vision and who are excited. I didn’t read any books on how to do it this way, it’s just my intuition, what I’ve seen from people that I look up to and how I like to be treated as a customer. If you are a very intuitive person, maybe try building your strategy around your intuition. Strategy is very important, but give intuition the space to guide you!
2 – Take YOUR time. Create your own rhythm.
As someone who was employed for eight years, I just realized how the rhythm of nine-to-five is engrained in me. At the beginning of working for Dear Aline, I always tried to discipline myself into starting at 8 am and to at least work eight hours, just like in my day job. I tried to trick myself into it, by designing some cute morning routines, just to get my mind around starting that early. Growing up in a very career and performance driven country, that’s the way you do it. I felt lazy and undisciplined if I sat down later then 9 am. I quickly came to realize, that this is not how I work. This is not beneficial for either me or the business or anything else. I have a different rhythm, then the rhythm I was taught since I started school. And one of the reasons why I didn’t like being employed, was that to me eight hours a day is just too much. Really, after six to seven hours my brain is done. And if I pressure it to continue for another 1 to 2 hours, it’s definitely not efficient nor productive. So I learned to give myself time, to not shut intuition out of this, but rather to listen to it and figure out the most efficient way. I learned for example, that at the moment I work best if I have an easy start and begin to work around 9:30 am or even 10 am. That way I get the chance to really wake up, to start my day without stress or pressure and to slowly get my brain going. And again, this is very combinable with a rhythm! Just figure out what feels right for you, what functions with the type of person you are, without pressure to do it like someone else or how you learned it should be. Then build a rhythm around it, make your little print-out routines if it helps you, write down your to-dos and stick to it!
3 – Don’t focus too much on the numbers. Even if you grow slow.
What I mean by that, don’t be ungrateful because you “only” have 500 followers on Instagram, compared to someone else. There is really no need to even compare yourself with anyone, especially in the beginning stages. I know people say this all the time, but it really is true! We can get so caught up in these numbers and feel like we should do more, or we should do it faster. But the truth is, if you already do all you can, from an honest heart, you probably do absolutely enough at this moment! In many cases, 200 people who really love your values and your product, who are interested in you as a person and who get what is important to you, are so much more worth than 10’000 followers who just love your pretty pictures and will leave, as soon as they are not satisfied anymore. And honestly, I don’t particularly want any followers, but friends, a community, even if I want to build a business out of it. I want it real and honest! Also, people who have millions of followers might have put there whole heart and time into it for a long time, or on the opposite, they might have bought and tricked and cheated on any level to get these “people” to follow. You never know! Get inspired by the people you look up to and don’t even get caught up in anything else. You are exactly where you need to be and if you put your heart into it, the right people join along.
These are just a few of the things that I learned so far, that have helped me tremendously with my peace of mind and with my productivity!
Please let me know any realizations or strategies, that have helped you on your own way (in the comments). Thanks for reading and I hope it might have been helpful for you. :)
Warmly,
Kim