I set out to lay the foundations of The Wam Design today, and it was a great success.
By success, I mean I count my chickens that the username is unique enough to be used across all social media platforms. Phe-ew! That sounds mind-numbingly trivial, but seriously, you try it and tell me it’s not a total pain in the arse.
No, the biggest thing today was actually inviting my friends, family and acquaintances to support me by following the facebook page I created. That means they’ll get updates every time I post something, and have the ability to engage with my content or services. Just thinking about it make me really self-conscious!
If you can’t tell already, I’m in the process of adjusting to being...in view. I feel like a meerkat, poking my head out of the burrow for the very first time, daunted by the unknown. You know?
Anyway, I’m transitioning from the sphere of employment where no one knows what I do (discounting transient small-talk), to the entrepreneurial work environment where I need to speak up or noone will know I’m here ready to provide a service.
Adjust your mindset from employee to entrepreneur.
If you have a job that pays well, but you’re not absolutely thrilled to go to work everyday and you have a passion you’d rather pursue, then adjusting your mindset is really the first big challenge.
Being employed means your job gives you (relative) financial security, stability and a structure. Depending on where you work, there’ll be programs and a budget for personal/professional development. And you’ve already got the job, so your next paycheck doesn’t rely on you telling people what you do for a living, there’s a marketing team to do that. But what you don’t have is control.
If your manager requires a contract to be signed and completed today, you stay as long as it takes to finish, but you’re on salary with no overtime policy and it’s already 8pm on a Friday. You want to read more Tolstoy because Russian literature sets your pants on fire, but you’re hungover because your week’s been so stressful and uninspiring that you just needed to lose control within the boundaries of accepted societal norms. Oh, and all you can handle for the rest of the weekend is take out and Netflix.
Now, I’m not saying that I’m immune from that. In fact, I know that going down this road will mean working longer hours than the average 9-5 while earning a breadcrumb, if anything at all. The stress of getting it off the ground surely won’t help. I also know that I’m partial to a tipple, or two, or three - but who’s really counting?
What I’m really trying to say is that doing something you love and taking a risk to pursue it means you’ll want to wake up early everyday and get shit done. It means you’ll feel less compelled to finish that bottle of vino because you’ve already checked your level of tipsiness in the bathroom mirror, and you know there’s a list of exciting things you want to achieve tomorrow. It means control.
With control comes full responsibility for how you spend your time. But with that comes the need to think about how you’ll earn your bread for the day, and that means marketing.
Marketing is an annoying buzzword for telling people about what you do.
By no means am I a marketing guru. If we were doing levels, I’m definitely in the rung of beginner. But what I do know is without it, you’re invisible, which means your dream business is invisible...and you won’t get paid.
The biggest problem we have with marketing ourselves is the social construct that humility is a desirable characteristic.
I’m not saying humility is a bad thing; we’ve all had the experience of desperately searching for a non-offensive segue out of a “conversation” where all the other person can talk about is themselves. Rather, I think that the concept makes us question ourselves too much. It forces us to prioritise other people’s perceptions of us and what we do, instead of expressing what we truly are or believe. If you want a fun, philosophical exploration of this common ailment, find a copy of ‘Status Anxiety’ by Alain de Botton.*
Naturally, I’ve developed a rather deep, internal conflict. Now I, and probably a hell of a lot of you out there, worry too much about what other people are going to think and/or say about my ventures. Even the idea of telling people I have a business makes me want to hide in a cave named, Imposter Syndrome. This almost always has a negative impact because I get too self-conscious to show people what I do.
Ask yourself: is my ego and self-esteem really so fragile that my ability to progress is predicated on the idea that everyone will love what I do?
The short answer is, no. At least that’s what I have to constantly remind myself when I put something out there for the world to see, and ultimately critique. At the end of the day, we all just need to stop giving so much of a f*ck.*
Because for anything great to happen, taking measured risks are always necessary.* Like making the first move to ask if that cutie patootie wants to have coffee sometime, or building what will hopefully be a successful business.
In sum, it’s ok to feel self-conscious, you just need to get it out there.
What we’re actually dealing with is a question of confidence. We all recognise that confidence can get you pretty far in life. So shout it from the rooftops if you have to, the most important thing is that people know what you love to do and how you can help them.
Failing all that, we can always rely on the trusted aphorism: fake it till you make it. Combine that with passion, skill and dedication, and you should be unstoppable. You just need to keep at it.
Until next time,
Lali
@thewam
*I'm trying out amazon's affiliate link thingy for the first time. No idea if it'll work. Apparently they kick you off the program if noone clicks within 180 days. I'll track it and tell you guys how it goes! Either way, I recommend at least a skim read of any of these books, wherever you may find them.
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