Back in 2009 I was at a crossroads of my entrepreneurial journey. My girls were little – 3 and 5 and I recently closed my first business – a gift basket biz that I ran for many years.
As a creative I’ve always been multi passionate. I was trying so many different things, trying to figure out what my next business could be.
I was making hair accessories, and trying to sell them on ETSY (and learn ETSY!) , at local craft fairs and in local shops.
I was into cake decorating – baking and decorating cakes for every occasion imaginable!
I was getting into scrapbooking but felt the books were boring so I started making my own accordion style books – also trying to sell on ETSY and local fairs.
I was making party favors – personalized chocolate bars. The list goes on and on!
I was photographing everything I was creating so I could post it on my newly created blog.
I was going in a million different directions, getting nowhere fast and feeling completely overwhelmed!
Then I decided to take my first online course – it was a course all about blogging – everything you needed to know to have a successful blog. Could this also be my business?
In one of the first modules the instructor asked us to list all of our favorite blogs, then to take a look at each of them and write down what we liked. That was easy! No matter what the subject was, the thing the drew me into each blog was the photography!
Ding Ding Ding!!! That was when I had my light bulb moment!
Was I creating cakes just so I could photograph them?
Was I creating hair accessories just so I could photograph them?
I was creating the books to creatively show my photographs!
PHOTOGRAPHY was the common thread among everything I was doing! Right then and there was when I decided to drop everything EXCEPT photography. I decided to do photography professionally by photographing kids since I already loved photographing my own and that’s how it started. You know what?!? As soon as I dropped everything else to focus on one thing I instantly felt like a weight had been lifted. I had clarity and focus and I felt in control. I continued blogging – not as a business, but instead as a tool for my business.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed, take a step back and look at everything you’re trying to do at once. How can you streamline? Can some things be a hobby instead of trying to make a business out of everything? Is there a common thread like in my example?
If you need some help with this I wanted to invite you to my free masterclass happening Monday August 3rd where I help you go from OVERWHELMED to IN CONTROL of your life and biz. You can register here. Let’s do this together!
Leave a Reply