Should You Give Up? No!

Whether you’re new to the crafting world or have been selling for years, we ALL hit a brick wall every now and again.

So let’s talk about it.

You know those days when you feel like giving up and selling all your supplies?

Yep. Been there done that. The last time I went on a rant about wanting to quit my wreath business, my husband (in his attempt to always keep me laughing) said “NO WAY are you quitting now. You have too much crap!”

And while part of me wanted to ignore him, I understood what he really meant was, “You’ve already come so far.” And he was right. Running your own business isn’t always going to be full of wins. Sometimes there will be missteps. And fails. But in the end, if this is your passion you pick yourself back up and keep going.

Have you seen this graphic? It’s been circulating around the internet and I was unable to find the original creator but it’s SO true. You might think the path to success is straight and narrow but 99.9% of the time it’s not. It’s a hot mess.

But it’s your hot mess. Because it’s your business. Something you are building for yourself and for your family. Which means inside the mess there is beauty. And excitement. And growth. Sure, sometimes you have to look really closely to find it. But trust me, it’s there. 

 

Don’t forget about you!

The other day in my free Facebook group (p.s. you should join us!) a former student was expressing some of the same frustrations. She was having trouble balancing life and work. Don’t get me wrong, family comes first always.

But YOU need to come first, too. Many of the comments on the post were from fellow crafters who were feeling similar struggles, but what stuck out to me was the comments like this one:

lauren kilgore - beautiful mesh facebook group

As a mom, or a husband, or a son, or a daughter – you have to put on your mask first. “You can’t pour from an empty cup.” If making things is your passion then don’t sell off all your supplies – just take a step back. If you start to feel like giving up – take a step back. Breathe. 

You don’t have to make six figures to be successful. This isn’t all or nothing. The beauty of having your own business is that you can choose when you want to work. You can choose how “big” you want your business to be. You make the time if you want to. Or not. It’s all up to you.

Figure out what you can do

Maybe now is not the time to go “all in” with your own business. And that’s okay. But that doesn’t mean you have to stop creating. Or stop doing things here and there to promote your business. I have a husband, two kids, and a day job right now. Believe me, I get the struggle.

But at the end of the day, when the kids are in bed and my husband is watching football, I sneak away to my craft room and make something. And it brings me so much joy.

I do what I can for now and try to give myself grace that I can’t do more at the moment because of my priorities. When things change at home (kids get older, I don’t have a day job, etc), then my business will change. But I’m not giving up.

And I don’t want you to give up, either. 

 

Take it one step at a time

If you’ve purchased trainings or courses in the past – start implementing! Don’t wait for that rainy day to start doing what you need to do to make your business grow.

While we’re talking about training and courses, I want you to stop spending all that money on new trainings and courses if you’re not going to put it to use. There is so much valuable information out there. But all anyone can do (as a coach) is give you the information. YOU have to be the one to take it and run with it.

Check out this recent blog post where I talk about whether your crafting is a hobby or truly a business. 

Take the time to really think about your goals for your business. Where do you want to be in 1 year? In 5 years? Then commit to what can you do today to take a step towards those goals?

It’s all baby steps. None of it happens overnight. Over time you master certain things to leave your brain free to learn more. And over time you earn more revenue so that you can pay others to help you do some of the smaller tasks in your business.

It can feel like it takes forever. But if you stop now, all that forward progress will be lost. And then what? You find a new hobby? Do you want to be a “hobby jumper??” A jack of all trades but a master at none?

If you want real results you have to stick with something long enough for that to happen. 

So let’s make a pact. I want you to comment below with what you’re going to do this week to move your business forward and commit to it. Let’s cheer each other on!

For my part, I’m going to be finishing up adding Instagram training to Handmade Sellers 201 that releases in January 2020!