“Sometimes the moments that challenge us the most, define us.”
Deena Kastor
Have you ever been working at your job and started fantasizing about quitting and going out on your own to do what you want, when you want to do it and how you want to do it?
That may very well be the flame that leads to the first steps in creating your own business and going from employee to business owner. Sometimes we need a little push to make the leap. It may be a job loss, an uncomfortable situation at work or a mid-life metamorphosis. Or perhaps you’ve been planning and you’ve saved enough money to back you up as you build your business and leave your steady paycheck behind for now. Making the leap to start your business is the first and biggest defining moment.
The next defining moment is acknowledging what you’re really good at and what you love and deciding where you should place your focus or what your niche is. Let’s take a photographer for example. Someone may have an amazing eye for photography and decide they will take photos of everything that’s in their path-weddings, nature, pets, real estate marketing, headshots, etc. Well, that’s a really big scope. And just because someone is good with a camera doesn’t mean they should stretch their talents in every direction. Really think about what makes you excited and what makes it hard to sleep at night because you can’t wait to go at it the next day. It may take some time trying out different aspects of your field, but eventually you should be able to focus on a narrower scope of expertise and let some of the other stuff go that you’ve discover you’re not excited about. The photographer may discover they love to work with families as they grow and specialize in weddings and family photography and let someone else shine in capturing the milestones of graduating seniors.
Another defining moment in business is gaining confidence. Some of the common confidence stumbling blocks in business are:
- Worries about pricing and telling people what you charge and how they will react.
- Being nervous when working with new clients and whether or not you will know how to handle new situations that come up.
- Fretting over your own abilities and maybe feeling like an imposter in your field.
- Concerns about competitors in your field and whether or not you can get business from clients and customers as a newbie.
- Figuring out how to market yourself in person and through social media.
The good news is you will gain confidence as you grow! You will find many situations that come up repeat themselves and you learn how to maneuver through them. You will start getting reviews and client feedback that will help you know you’re on the right track. Just like with most things, the more you do what you love the better you will become and the more comfortable you will become. Gaining and exuding confidence in ourselves and our abilities are positive defining moments in business.
The final defining moment in business I want to cover is being open to change. We one hundred percent have to create our business foundation, create structure and create systems, but we also have to be open to making changes along the way. The necessary changes may be due to a variety of factors. A few examples are changes in where you feel your niche is, changes in technology, changes in your industry, changes in marketing options or realizing something we’re doing just isn’t working well. Or maybe even getting fired by a client and evaluating what went wrong and whether this warrants some tweeks in procedures or policies.
When I started my business many years ago, I didn’t have a website, social media for business wasn’t a thing, I wrote articles for newspapers and shared a basic business card with local business extablishments. Needless to say, I’ve seen more changes in my business than I can list here.
Change can be exciting, a great learning experience and never represents a failure! Everything we do and try on for size has merit. Don’t be afraid to try things out, tweak things, change things or let things go in business as you see fit.
“It is in the moments of decision that your destiny is shaped.”
Tony Robbins
