As most people are working from home these days (and HUGE THANKS to the healthcare workers who are still out there trying to save us all!), our differences have lessened slightly.
More of us are in the same boat now. Trying to fit in work between kids and house stuff. Plus dealing with the stress of what will happen? Will the money keep coming in? For how long? It's kind of like many of you are getting a glimpse into what it's like to be a small business owner.
But I want to give you another glimpse, a more positive and fun one. Yes, there is stress and uncertainty. But there are also wins. And the wins are so exciting because the work is your baby. So it's like watching your baby take their first steps or graduate from high school.
For me these wins are:
1. Every time I get an order on my website.
I have a Shopify app on my phone and every time I get an order it makes a "cha-ching!" sound like a cash register opening. Sometimes this happens when I'm watching tv with my kid, and she gets really excited too. Sometimes it's first thing when I wake up in the morning and turn on my phone.
This is one of my favorite sounds! It doesn't just mean that money is coming in (although not gonna lie, that's a huge part of it), it means that someone, somewhere, made the decision to buy something I made. Someone likes my baby!
Marie Forleo says, "Everything is figure-out-able". Any small business owner can tell you this is true. Because it has to be. Right now, my business is a one-woman show. And the budget is tight these days. And by tight I mean $0. (Zero dollars).
So even though I started this whole thing because I liked making jewelry, I ended up being: a bookkeeper, graphic designer, customer service rep, online marketer, and website code-er. Yes, yesterday I spent hours figuring out how to code my website on the back end to change this:
to this...
Do you see the difference? Well, I did a happy dance around my living room when I finally was able to make that change!
And now all I want to do today is figure out more tweaks I can do with the coding on my website. But as my own boss, I need to decide which tasks in my business NEED the most focus today, and that's often the hardest part.
The Shop is my happy place, as I always say. It's also a physical expression of how I feel, what I'm working on, and what I want for you, my customer. When move furniture around or re-design a wall, I get so excited and I can't wait to share it with you! I'm like a little kid, and you're my mom. Ok, that's weird, but you know what I mean. I just want you to love it too! (I do hope that I will be able to see my wonderful customers in The Shop at some point this summer!)
4. Every time I get positive feedback about my work.
This is a big one, in fact it probably should be higher up on the list. My boyfriend can tell you that every once in a while, I receive a message or a social media post or comment that literally brings me to tears. When you tell me that my jewelry makes you happy or has had a positive impact on your life in some way it fills my heart to the point of bursting. It seems like every time I start to doubt myself, every time I start to think about giving up and just getting a regular job, I get a crystal clear message from the universe (in the form of one of my customers) to keep going. THOSE are the biggest wins. And for that, I thank you, so much.
Things are crazy out there right now and I have no idea what kind of impact this pandemic will have on my business and all the other small business "figure-outers" out there, but know that we are scrappy, we are hustling, we are thinking of ways to adapt and change, we are reaching deep into our resourceful brains and trying to think outside of all the boxes!
So, hang in there with us and keep that positive energy coming! We live on it! (Literally, it's what we are living on right now!)
Ps. I really wanted to put an emoji there at the end but my computer has stopped allowing me to add emojis with my keyboard, so I'll be figuring that out today too.
2 comments
So glad to hear people are still ordering….Im going to be ordering for my daughters teachers and in the past I have just ordered for myself….question is, is there a place where I could put a little message to them?
Thanks!
Clara
Just yesterday, significant other and I were talking about how other small businesses could take a model from your blog posts. They give us a glimpse into you life beyond the storefront but also circle the shop like satellites, making connections between you and the pieces we can buy there. And since the time now is all about connecting in the most positive ways we can…well, good on you! Also, downright miraculous that you figured out a code to make the site display like that. Now that’s an accomplishment that makes me bow before you!!!