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Itās that frazzled state when you feel simultaneously at a dead stand still and also like youāre a lost chicken running around with your head cut off. You know the feeling Iām describing, right?
The longer Iām in the game of running my own business, the more Iām starting to understand the patterns that emerge when it comes to burning out. In my personal experience, this feeling can come from a few different places:
Do any of these burnout sources apply to you right now?
The first step to battling burnout is knowing where itās coming from, so if youāve identified it, youāre already on the right track.
But, my question for today isā¦
Is it possible to actually prevent burnout? Can we create lives in which we never allow ourselves to get to the end of our ropes in the first place?
In the past I thought the secret was simple enough: Just take more breaks. Manage stress better. Be present. Rest.
However you want to say it, I thought this issue could be solved with a walk around the block or a Saturday spent in bed with my favorite book/Netflix binge session.
But after mulling it over this weekend, Iāve realized it takes a lot more than that.
Preventing burnout is not about taking more breaks.
Preventing burnout requires a complete mindset shift in the way we operate as creatives, and especially as business owners.Ā
āPreventing burnout requires a complete mindset shift in the way we operate as creatives, and especially as business owners. ā
Instead of framing work as a sport where weāre one player in an endless sea of other players trying to grab the same prize (success, money, visibility, legacy),Ā we have to think of work as a game with only TWO players: ourselves and our craft.
What we do is not a highly competitive sport; itās a highly personal craft.
The ultimate goal of this personal game then should be to make sure that the actions weāre taking are aligned with who we are at the core level and that weāre practicing our craft in whatever way that feels congruent with that core self.
To me, that’s not a recipe for burning out, that’s a recipe for burning bright.
This mindset shift creates a few very important distinctions that protect us from burnout:
If Iāve learned anything about avoiding burnout, itās that while a morning ritual or vacation days or breaks from technology can help,Ā these things can’t solve the underlying problem.
We have to retrain ourselves and our minds to see our path as separate from those around us.Ā
āWe have to retrain ourselves and our minds to see our path as separate from those around us. ā
But you canāt just flip the switch and start thinking this way. It requires a DAILY reminder that you are the master of your own game and you get to decide how that game gets played.
Focus on burning bright ā on doing whatever feels best to you on your terms ā and if you manage to stay in your own lane playing your own game, I truly believe you can avoid getting burnt out.
Create a reminder for yourself to keep playing your own game ā whether itās a post-it on your computer or a Google Cal reminder, or todayās Abstract Affirmations printĀ below ā and pay attention to how it feels after one week. Did you feel more jazzed about your own path and your own craft? Did you come back from the edge of burnout? I truly hope so.
Wishing you a week filled with inspiration, energy and light!
She said:
āI am equal parts excited about my business and terrified that I’m not doing it right.ā
That one sentence brought me right back to those first few months three years ago when I made the decision to strike out on my own and give this whole āentrepreneurā thing a go. (Even though I definitely didnāt see myself as an entrepreneur at the time.)
I vividly remember the same inner battle this student described between the all-consuming EXCITEMENT infiltrating my every thought āĀ what will this business become?! what will I create?! who will I help?!Ā ā and the paralyzing FEAR that I might screw it all up.
Not that I might screw it up in terms of some magnificent failure; No, my fear was of a much quieter demise.
It was a fear that I might say the wrong thing. Or charge too much. Or target the wrong people. Or name choose the wrong name. Or back myself into a corner.Ā Or choose the wrong path.
There seemed to be SO many qualified people out there telling me they had gone first, figured it out, and now they could show me the way. I was scared that if I didnāt follow all of their advice to a tee, that Iād never get anywhere and ultimately Iād be forced to shelve my dreams.
The problem is that while all of this looked a lot like advice, it felt a lot like constriction. Like this universal list of rules I had to follow unless I wanted to fail.
Iām sure I would get a big chuckle out of all those early Google searches, though even those searches couldnāt fully capture my debilitating self-doubt:
Those fear whispers were nasty little suckers!
And the more concerned I became with āplaying by the rules,ā the more fearful I became of being exposed as a fraud.
I was so TIRED of second guessing myself, of wondering if I was headed down the right path. So tired of Google searching and blog post reading and free e-book downloadingā¦
So I trusted my gut and said, āScrew the rules, the new plan is just to worry about this one thing and one thing only…ā
Yep, that was literally my business plan:Ā SHINE and welcome anyone else who wants to shine with you with open arms.
I didnāt āgrowth hackā my email list. I didnāt do loop giveaways for more followers on Instagram. I didnāt write dozens of guest posts to expand my reach. I stopped listening to ALL OF IT and instead I just focused on being ME.
Now, even I have to admit, a course sales email that is based on the premise that we shouldnāt listen to how everyone is telling us to run our businesses? Hah, maybe thatās one rule I shouldnāt have broken.
But I donāt care, because itās important to me to share this belief I hold so dear ā
āAchieving the dreams you have for your life does not depend on you GETTING IT RIGHT.ā
It only depends on whether you stick to a path that feels right and true to your heart, and that you donāt give up.
When I was starting out, I wish someone would have told me it was okay to do things differently. I wish someone would have been there to give me raw materials instead of rules and to say,Ā āHere, now go make whatever the heck you want with this.ā
Thatās what I hope my branding course can be for some of you.
A toolbox that offers you thoughtful, guiding questions and exercises that will lead you not to what IS right because I say so, but to what FEELS right because YOU say so.
I hope you guys know by now that Iām not interested in āselling you the dream.ā The dream, after all, is different for everyone.
But I will say that Iāve finally arrived at a place in my life where MY dream has become my reality because I created it. And I did it my way. According to my own rules that I made up as I went along.
I really do feel I was put here to share that possibility with anyone thatās open to believing their dream life is achievable to.
This courseĀ Iām offering is about so much more than branding to me; itās about confidence. Itās about vision. And ultimately itās about the FREEDOM there is to discover when you stop listening to the fear in your head telling you thereās a right or wrong way to chase down your dream.
If youāre ready to break the rules together, I hope youāll join me inside the course.
It’s one of the worst feelings as a creative business owner: when someone takes credit for your work. That’s why I wanted to share my personal experience with this hard situation as a business owner, one that I know a lot of creatives with online businesses have experienced.
It began when I saw a tweet with a link to an article that had the exact title of a lesson I created inside the Better Branding Course.
This article was a guest post on the blog of an online friend that I respect (who has been a part of the Made Vibrant community for a long time.) The reason the post title stuck out to me in particular is because the title wasnāt some general branding principle; it named a unique process that I had developed over hours of working with my one-on-one brand coaching clients, something I believed to be unique to my own teaching and approach.
As I read further and further into the post, it became clear to me that the similarities between the post content and my course curriculum were beyond coincidental. (I later discovered that the author had in fact been a student of the course.)
Thatās when it really started to sink in that a part of my paid course curriculum was being given away for free, under someone elseās name and, additionally, being shared socially without any mention of my name ā one pin being repinned over 70 times.
My heart sank. Tears welled. My hands even began to tremble.
I canāt quite fully explain the emotional nerve this kind of thing strikes, but if any of you out there have been in a similar situation, you know how much it hurts.
I spent a crazy amount of time constructing the course curriculum to make it clear & to put my unique spin on the process of branding, so Iāll be honest, seeing the idea passed off as original sent me into a mini tail-spin filled with all sorts of emotions. First the sting, of course. The bruised ego saying āThat is MINE.ā Then the āI have to get to the bottom of thisā mentality of wanting to assign blame. Then the pain of feeling like this thing I was so proud of, this concept I (naively) felt was somehow truly original, had been taken from me. And then this final realization: NOTHING is truly original. Weāre all cross-pollinating and remixing and putting our spin on things ā thatās the nature of creating. So why did it hurt so much?
The hurt of āsomeone stole thisā is predicated on the false fear that my knowledge or my creativity is FINITE. That Iāll somehow run out, so it feels scary to have an idea taken away. But, if Iāve proven anything to myself over the years itās that there are always more ideas waiting to be born, & I know deep in my heart that WHAT you say is only a small piece of the pie; the more important parts are HOW you say it & WHY you say it.
For the record, I donāt think this person shared my ideas maliciously. I think they learned something that helped them & wanted to share it with others. But the lesson I want to share today is less about the ownership of ideas & more about the FEAR I felt the moment I saw one slipping away from me.
Today Iām reminding myself (and YOU!) that our ideas and creativity are not finite. Iām emerging from my mini tail-spin with this one simple mantra when I feel myself believing in the false scarcity of ideas: thereās PLENTY more where that came from.
The hurt of ‘someone stole this’ is predicated on the false fear that my knowledge or my creativity is FINITE. That Iāll somehow run out, so it feels scary to have an idea taken away. But, if Iāve proven anything to myself over the years itās that there are always more ideas waiting to be born.
“The hurt of ‘someone stole this’ is predicated on the false fear that my knowledge or my creativity is finite…But there are always more ideas waiting to be born.”
I think taking a minute to source the hurt and to get a grip on the emotion of it all is is the first step in making sure that your response is thoughtful and intentional.
Iāve seen bloggers publicly tear into copycats on their blogs and that never felt like the right solution to me. I think it only breeds more hurt and alienation, and thatās not ever something I want to be responsible for.
I think itās only right to allow the other person involved a private opportunity to explain themselves without fear of being harassed by your audience or followers.
This is a lesson I learned about this same time last year when I had my branding and business card design completely ripped off by a copycat. (Upon further investigation, I found that not only was my card design stolen, but my branding was used on her website and my exact About page copy from my first studio website was copied word for word.Ā Not just my art, guys, MY WORDS.)
Ultimately, the lesson I gleaned from that ordeal was that taking the high road is always the right thing to do.Ā Itās important not to jump to conclusions, and to remember that there is a real person on the other end of these situations.
When things like this happen, itās an opportunity to actually practice what you preach and intentionally act based on your values, and not out of things like revenge or frustration.Ā Be careful not to let your HURT turn into HATE.
I also think that in your communication, itās important NOT to put the other person on the defensive with accusations. Explain your perspective and your feelings, but make it clear that your desire is just to open up the conversation, not to instigate any sort of confrontation.
Hereās an example of what my email looked like to the person I suspected had borrowed my work:
Hey [__________],
Iām reaching out because I happen to come across a blog post you wrote that I wanted to talk to you about. The post was titled [_______________________]. (link)
The reason it caught my attention is because this is a topic I cover extensively inside the Better Branding Course (which I see you purchased back in October) throughout the two lessons titled [______________] and [______________________].
The reason I felt compelled to reach out to you is because the steps you cover throughout your blog post are the exact steps I cover in those two lessons. Even your points of [___________________] are pulled straight from the course.
I know that your intention was likely not to copy the course or share proprietary info ā Iām sure it was just coming from a place of influence and hopefully the concepts were helpful enough for you that you felt compelled to share them with other people.
However, I donāt feel that the information you shared offered your own twist or approach in addition to my concepts ā I feel like you were simply repackaging my course content and giving it away for free, and that hurts. I spent an unfathomable amount of time breaking down the branding process in a way that I thought would be teachable and to see that work passed off as someone elseās is very hard. I hope you can understand that. Which is why I wanted to open the dialogue for us to chat more about this.
In the future, if you do intend to share content related to what youāve learned in the Better Branding Course, my hope is just that you would either give me credit or if you would be sure to put your own spin on it and apply your own approach so that it doesnāt feel like a direct copy of the BBC content. I hope you understand that.
Please let me know if thereās been a misunderstanding or if you have any questions about my reaction to your article and why it hurt me in the way it did.
Thanks,
Caroline
My goal in that email was not only to express how this personās actions had hurt me, but to also communicate that I didnāt believe her intentions to be malicious and list ways that the situation could have been handled differently.
Iām only sharing it with you guys now in case you find yourself in a similar situation in the future and need a basic template to start with.
***I do want to say that the response I received to this email from the blog post author was exactly what I could have hoped for in a response. No defensiveness, no confrontation ā just a pure apology for any hurt that was caused and a thorough explanation of how the post came to be.
She wanted me to know that she truly didnāt intend to pass off my content as her own. It had been helpful in explaining the branding exercise to her clients, who found it extremely practical, and she wanted to share that with other people. She admitted that looking back she should have changed it more or added more of her perspective, but she was grateful to use this situation as a learning experience.
Through some additional email exchanges, she and the blogger who posted the article and myself all reached an agreement in updating the post with a credit to the Better Branding Course, and ultimately I felt a huge sense of relief and closure from resolving the situation in such a mature way all the way around.
(So to be clear, in no way do I want this article to paint this person in a negative light. My goal is simply to talk about this type of thing more so that the online entrepreneur community can communicate about the standard we want to uphold and learn how to handle these situations in the kindest, most compassionate way possible.)
Now listen, Iām not saying this whole story ends with everyone holding hands and riding off into the sunset.
Iād be lying if I said that when I still see tweets and pins related to this one post that it doesnāt sting. It does.
But if I choose to dwell on that feeling and focus on the hurt, I know it will only distract me from the good work I could be doing. Plus, in the grand scheme of things, no ONE blog post can make or break your business.
(In the words of my former self after the ordeal last year:)
YOU are more than just the things you create.
“YOU are more than just the things you create.”
You (and I) are the glorious combination of an infinite number of experiences, traits, gifts, values, beliefs and moments in time. NOBODY can steal or borrow that. Keep creating from within, keep expressing yourself in the purest way you know how, and any imitators won’t matter.
In that same vein, I also invite you to remember that the person who steals from you or borrows your content is MORE than that one poor decision too.
I think we all know how to spot plagiarism, right? A word for word rip off makes the moral answer pretty black and white. But what about all the grey? What about borrowed phrases and processes and styles and hacks and all of it?
While I donāt know what the answer is, I know that there are two things that I think we all can do to make sure we stay on the right side of that line, wherever it is:
Itās actually cool to shout out other people in your content and let your audience know where youāve derived your inspiration from. It makes you look like a curator of awesome things and your audience will continue to show up for you as you turn them on to awesome stuff.
Still to this day, if I use the concept of āStart with WHYā I link back to Simon Sinek and his TEDx talk. Even if I refer to the word WHY as a personās mission or driving belief I still do it. I cite him inside my course, on my blog and often in this newsletter. Why?Ā Because I respect him, and I respect his ideas. I don’t want to take credit for work that he did. He took a concept that existed long before him and he explained it in such a specific way that it resonated with so many people. He deserves to be recognized for that.
Speaking of, this quote is inspired by the quote, āthrow kindness around like confettiā which I believe you can find in @biancacashās shop here.Ā š
I donāt just mean re-writing a concept in your own words; I mean adding NEW concepts. Offering your own approach. Get really honest with yourself and ask:Ā āAm I just repeating what someone else said/did/made? Or am I taking what they said/did/made and turning it into something else?ā
If you ask yourself that question and the answer isnāt abundantly clear, than itās simply not different enough and credit needs to be given.
As online creators, I think we have an obligation to uphold a standard of respect and recognition for one another.
This experience has taught me that itās important to stand up for your ideas and for what you believe in, but itās also just as important to do so with kindness, compassion, and understanding.
And in the future, if you see someone else’s work without proper credit, stand up for them and politely ask whoever posted it to cite the reference.
If we promise to have each other’s backs on this, we’ll all be able to keep on creating without fear of being replicated.
I hope sharing my experience with this has not only showed you how a similar situation can be resolved amicably, but I hope it also inspires you to think more critically about giving credit to those that have influenced you in the future!
Have an awesome week, and keep creating the stuff that only YOU can!
After reading the book EssentialismĀ by Greg McKeown (I highly recommend it), I wanted to frame the next chapter of my life and business with this notion of āthoughtful reductionā — or the pursuit of less but betterĀ things.
The first few years of Made Vibrant were an important period of exploration and discovery for me, expanding my projects to include offerings under all three pillars of the MV mission:
These are all areas that Iām passionate about, and it felt amazing to see my business broaden throughout 2015 to serve all three pieces of my mission.
However, Iād be lying if I said that managing this many projects at once wasnāt a little bit taxing. By the end of the year I was starting to feel like I had planted all kinds of promising seeds without really taking the time or energy needed to help them grow to their potential.
While I still strongly stand behind the symbiotic, collaborative relationship between these three ingredients of creativity, business and personal growth (living my most vibrant life has certainly relied equally on all three), it became clear to me that serving all three properly would require a different approach.
In more metaphorical termsā¦ I started to feel like it was time to take a break from planting seeds in order to properly cultivate my crops. To give each one the nourishment it deserved to really thrive.
Just as I was contemplating all of this, a few weeks ago I heard something that led me to think about this strategy in an even more meaningful way, which is really the lesson I want to share with you guys this week.
I was watching a live workshop with Marie Forleo where she discussed trimming back her business offerings to focus on her one signature program, B-school. In explaining this decision, Marie said something that really hit home with me. She said her gut was telling her to make an intentional choiceĀ to go deeper, not necessarily wider.
When I sat back and thought of my own business in these terms, I realized that my gut was telling me the same thing.
Itās no secret to most of you that ādeeperā is kind of my jam. As an INFJ, I love less but more meaningful friendships. I love digging into complex problems and peeling back a more profound understanding layer after layer. I love diving deeper and deeper into my own emotional and psychological worlds to get to know myself better.
But, despite knowing this about myself, something had been holding me back from incorporating this concept into my business. So I thought:
Thatās when it occurred to me that perhaps my business/emotional needsĀ werenāt totally lining up with my creative needs.
From a creative perspective, I find that going WIDER not deeper is always my instinct. When that spark of inspiration hits, my creativity canāt help but want to follow it, and this often leads me in many different directions.
Iām aware this is not a particularly unique problem for creative people. So many of us find ourselves at some point or another with a wild case of Shiny Object Syndrome, bouncing from one project to the next because the novelty excites us.
For the past two years, this is the instinct Iāve been leaning into — the allure of developing new projects, new services, new offerings in an effort to expand my business. And I think I know why.
For one thing, it feels natural. As humans weāre wired to want bigger and better and more, and so itās instinctive for us to always ask ourselves Whatās next?
Sometimes this also comes from a place of wanting to meet the expectations of those around us. Iām not just talking about our friends and family (feeling a need to have something to say when they ask āWhatās new with the business?ā) but also from the audience weāre building. I know Iāve thought on more than one occasion that I want to keep giving you guys new and exciting things to look forward to, and Iām sure this pressure to keep going wider is tied to that.
Lastly, and letās just be honest here, new things are FUN! Everybody loves the beginning of a project when ideas are flying, possibilities are abounding, and you get to start molding that shapeless hunk of clay before you into something that resembles your vision. You know whatās NOT as fun? Following through. Pushing past challenges. Dusting off that project that has lost its shine and breathing new life into it again.
BUT, this is when I have to put my business hat back on.
āWorking on something thatās not necessarily as FUN might actually be what your business needs.ā
For instance, Iāll let you in on a little secret here: my Better Branding Course was the project that brought in the most revenue for me in 2015 (48% of my revenue to be exact). It was also the program I spent the most time and effort developing, AND it still remains the project Iāve gotten the most positive feedback on in terms of the benefits my students have experienced.
AND YET… itās the one program that has sat dormant, just begging for my attention for the past four months.
Why? Honestly just because my creativity got bored with it.
Now, Iām all for letting creativity steer the ship most of the time, but Iāve also been at this business thing long enough to know that our creativity only has the freedom and flexibility to do its thing if our businesses are profitable enough to allow us plenty of room to play.
And our businesses will only remain profitable if we make smart decisions about where to invest our efforts.
āSmart business decisions give our creativity the room it needs to play.ā
Once I realized that, I started fighting my urge to keep making NEW things, and instead I thought about how I could reinvest my time and energy into improving things that were already working.
This means making decisions like: creating blog content and resources for new customers to find Better Branding Course and Better Lettering Course. Or teaming up with my husband Jason on BuyOurFuture, which gives you lifetime access to all our combined 35+ projects for one price.
So, as I cozy up to this new approach of going deeper, not necessarily widerā¦
If youāre still in the beginning phases of your business, you may very well want to stay in that exploration mode and cast a wide net. Iām all for that.
BUT, if youāre a year or two in and youāre starting to resist being pulled in too many directions, consider that it might be time to deepen your net for a while. To reinvest in whatās working in your business. To quit planting seeds for a time in order to see what you can really make grow.
Even if it means fighting your instinct to follow the shiny objects, consider the good you might be able to do (for your audience and your business) if you double-down on the projects that youāve only yet to scratch the surface with.
Have an awesome week!
When I started my first creative business, Made Vibrant, I remember thinking that I wanted some way to combine my loves of creativity/design, business, and personal growth into one job that I truly enjoyed.
But, looking around, I didnāt see many people successfully combining these multiple aspects into one cohesive brand.
It was early 2014 and at that time I saw designers talking about design, life coaches and lifestyle bloggers talking about personal growth, and internet marketers talking about business and marketing.
Every piece of advice I read was telling me to choose ONE and go all in on that one thing.
But I didnāt want to choose.Ā I saw a path for myself that (in my mind at least) didnāt exist yet.
Now, granted, it was by no means a clearĀ path. It was hazy and unsure like the details of a dream you canāt quite recall. But with a certainty I canāt explain, I knew my intuitionās compass was pointing in a direction completely my own.
Every decision I made or every step forward I took I made based on my own intuition, trying as best I could to stay close to this “DIY path” of mine.
A few years later, Iām proud to say that the road is getting clearer and more certain every day. Iām proud that Iāve created a sustainable business blending all three of my loves: creativity, personal growth and business.
Iām living proof that you CAN build the path of your dreams if you do it with authenticity, consistency, persistence, and tremendous belief in the unique perspective you offer this world.
What I’m here to tell you is…
This is the DIY approach to your happiest life: if the path you desire doesn’t exist, CREATE IT.
āItās the DIY approach to your happiest life; if the path you desire doesnāt exist, CREATE IT.ā
This reminds me of a particular part of my intuition-inspired guide,Ā Connecting With Your Core (available with your Wandering Aimfully membership!):
“Instead of picturing yourself at a perpetual crossroads, unsure of which path to take, I want you to imagine yourself moving forward toward an unmarked path. One that you must carve out yourselfā¦ If looking ahead leaves you feeling lost and confused, then stop looking ahead and start looking within.Ā Forge your path from the inside out.Ā Let go of the preconceptions you have about what your future has to look like. Thereās no need to retrofit yourself into a prefabricated route; you have the ability to create a custom life. One that unfurls from within.ā
In the book, I call this little concept āyour Invisible Future.ā
Imagine that the path before you cannot be seen from this present moment because it will only emerge as you start to let your inner voice guide you.Ā Erase whatever assumptions you have about āpicking a pathā or going down a route that has already been carved for you.
Now, with a blank slate,Ā write down your ideal path and where it would lead you one year from now. Ignore whether or not this is based on anything youāve seen anyone else do before.
Lastly,Ā write down three actions you can take this week that will start you down that path you envision.
In other words, Iām giving you permission to DIY the sh*t outta your own life (no power tools or hot glue guns required.)
Now get out there this week and bring your vision to life!
Jason and I had our first Transparent Talk all about money last Tuesday and it was so much fun! (ps. Thanks for all the positive feedback on the workshop. We canāt wait to host the next one on March 8th!) We chatted about debt, income, profitability, budgeting, and loads of more fun financial stuff.
With all of that still fresh in my head, then in came the loooooove. First,Ā on Thursday, with the launch of the Art Shop and then yesterday with Valentineās Day.
I can honestly say that finally putting my Abstract Affirmations up for saleĀ was unlike any other feeling Iāve had in my ācareerā (yes, Iām using quotation marks on that one. What is a career anyway?!)
I felt so supported, so encouraged, and so VIBRANT having finally created an opportunity to send out a piece of my heart into the homes of fellow soulful creatives.
And so when it came time to sit down and write todayās email, my topic ideas bounced back and forth between these two topics:Ā love and money.
At first it seemed like they were on two completely ends of the spectrum. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized the interesting relationship these two have between them, especially when it comes to soulful creative entrepreneurship.
And ultimately this is the question that came up for me:Ā Is it actually possible to make your entire living doing only things that you love?Ā Is it possible to marry these two harmoniously?
As I considered this, it occurred to me that the relationship between what you do for money and what you do because you love it falls into three buckets…
You do some things for money and you do other things for love, but thereās no overlap. This might mean you have a steady job that you donāt particularly love but it provides you with the financial fuel you need to continue doing what you love on the side as a hobby.
You do some things for money and other things for love, and at times those things overlap and are one in the same but not always. This might mean you have a side business where youāre making some gravy money or this could mean you have your own business and need to take clients or do work that isnāt ideal, but it pays the bills until you can get the business off the ground.
Let me just say before we go any further:Ā I believe all three of these are valid choices and can bring you happiness and contentment.Ā The trick is determining which mix matches up with your values best.
If you value stability and financial peace of mind, you might find great satisfaction in Bucket #1 where you donāt have to put pressure on the things you love to do to support you.
In her awesome book,Ā Big MagicĀ (aff link),Ā Liz Gilbert describes how she didnāt quit her day job until her fourth book (and, by the way, that fourth book was the mega-international-best-seller,Ā Eat Pray Love).
She writes,Ā āI held on to those other sources of income for so long because I never wanted to burden my writing with the responsibility of paying for my life. I knew better than to ask this of my writing, because, over the years, I have watched so many other people murder their creativity by demanding that their art pay the bills… And when their creativity fails them (meaning: doesnāt pay the rent) they descend into resentment, anxiety, or even bankruptcy. Worst of all, they often quit creating at all.ā
There is certainly an allure to keeping your heartās work āfinance-freeā and there may be some of you out there who have been fighting this bucket due to the rise in the “Love What You Do” movement, when in fact this bucket could lead you to the healthiest, happiest symbiotic relationship between love and money possible. If that is the case, I hope you’ll consider Liz’s words and give yourself permission to own this dynamic.
Now, for me personally, I found there to be too much dissonance in my life when I was making money doing something I did NOT love (working in the advertising industry.) Having a stable job did not leave me with a peace of mind that was fueled by creativity; instead it drained it. Bucket #1 was not for me, and thatās okay too.
Thatās when I boldly set out for Bucket #3. I wanted to design a life for myself where I was able to wake up every day and make a living from the things I love doing. That included making art, solving problems, learning new things and then teaching them to others, helping people reveal their true selves, writing, and opening up my heart.
Let me just tell you though, not all of the things I just listed are money-making machines right out of the gate. In fact, many of them are decidedly NOT.
I had to be okay with settling into Bucket #2 for a while where I was able to enjoy some parts of my business but where I had to endure others.
For example, I would definitely put my year-long stint doing client design work into this category. There were parts of that process I deeply enjoyed but on the whole it was not what I loved to do. Still, I knew that I didnāt have a big enough audience at the time to make and sell products (what I did love) so I strategically went after design projects to buy myself time so that I could make enough money to keep working toward Bucket #3.
Slowly over time I was able to let go of the parts of my business I didnāt love and trade them out for the things I really did. Eventually that process has led me to a place where I can whole-heartedly say I love every part of my job and Iāve managed to find a way to turn what I love into something that makes money.
But what I want you to take away from my experience though is this:
The journey from Bucket #1 to Bucket #3 does not happen overnight.
It took me YEARS to get here. But it is possible.
You just have to be willing to sit tight in Bucket #2 and give yourself permission to find the balance in that middle space: to perhaps take on projects that make you money but that you donāt love; or vise-versa, to spend some time on things you love that donāt bring you money.
As long as you keep your intentions towards that Bucket #3, consistently evaluating your projects based on which circle they fall into and always aiming for that sweet spot between the two, then I promise you will get there.
Ultimately, the point is that you get to choose what relationship you want between the things you love and the things that bring you money. Itās up to you.
And if you find yourself in Bucket #2 wishing you were in Bucket #3, write down a list of things you can do to get there — which things you’re doing now for money, not love, that you hope to let go of in the future, as well as things you love that don’t bring you any money that you want to do more of in the future.
Is it actually possible to make your entire living doing only things that you love?
Yes, I now know that it is because I get to live that reality every day. But that doesn’t mean it has to be your goal too.
I sat staring at my laptop, eyes glazed over and on the verge of pulling my hair out. I was going on four solid hours of trying to fix a monumental issue between my website (on Squarespace) and my email list (on Mailchimp).
My website forms werenāt collecting properly (a fact I had just found out about a week prior), and after finally finding a workaround to fix that issue, like a hydra, three more had popped up.
I was deeply concentrating, trying to make sense of the complicated system I was patching together ā this form to this Google Sheet to Zapier and back to Mailchimp ā just desperately trying to manufacture an efficient system that would work properly AND make sure I was sending you guys the emails you wanted to get. Finally, amidst the intense focus, I had the good sense to take a step back and look at what I was doing.
I knew that a solution to my exact problem existed because it was a solution Iād known about for months. My friend Nathan Barry had been telling me about his software service ConvertKit for so long and how itās built specifically to organize subscribers and send emails for bloggers.
So, the question is, if I knew a solution to my problem existed, why was I practically beating my head against a wall rather than simply signing up for ConvertKit?
Well, for one thing, I had been using Mailchimp since I started my business over two years ago and Iād invested an unspeakable number of hours learning how to use it effectively. I knew how to segment my list and customize my template and check out my stats like a pro. So every time I encountered a problem with Mailchimp and even considered switching, my brain would think of all the time and effort and energy I had already spent. Switching providers would feel like all that work was for nothing, a feeling I wasnāt prepared to confront.
On this particular Sunday though, finally I decided Iād had enough. I popped over to ConvertKit and signed up for an account, telling myself I would just give things a test run and poke around. Within the first few moments, I experienced complete relief from the problem I had just spent hours troubleshooting. The deeper I dove, the more I was kicking myself for not switching over sooner.
Thatās when I realized I was the only one responsible for keeping myself in a frustrated and confused state, stubbornly refusing to jump ship on a system that clearly wasnāt working for me. And it was all because of a little thing called sunk cost bias.
Which brings me to what I want to talk to you about this week ā how sunk costs can cloud our judgment and keep us fixated on things that simply arenāt working for us.
But first, what exactly isĀ sunk cost bias?
Sunk cost bias is just a fancy psychology term to describe our tendency to keep going with something weāve invested our time or money or energy in, even if that something is a losing proposition. Itās a way of justifying our efforts when weāve taken on a cost that we canāt possibly get back (hence the term a sunkĀ cost.)
Essentially, the more we invest in something ā the deeper we see it through, the more money we throw at it, etc. ā the harder it is for us to walk away.
Now letās talk about how this can show up in our daily lives. Think about how many times in life we make decisions based on a sunk cost weāve already put in to something:
A friendship turns toxic but you wonāt distance yourself because youāve āknown each other forever.ā It becomes clear that a relationship wonāt end well, but you avoid breaking up because you donāt want to feel like youāve wasted months or years of time on it. You keep throwing money toward a bad investment like a junky car that keeps breaking down on you.
Heck, I even know people that are lawyers and hate it but they refuse to quit because of how much money theyāve spent on law school! Can you imagine working at a career you loathe simply to justify an expense that is already long gone?
Thatās exactly why acknowledging our sunk cost bias is extremely important.
Decision-making is one of the most essential tools to living our brightest, most vibrant lives. We need to be clear-minded when weāre evaluating which projects to take on, what activities to spend our time on, what relationships to invest in, etc. Part of that sound decision making means recognize our bias and then having the strength to overcome it and discard or disrupt a course of action when itās no longer serving us.
It comes down to this:
āDonāt let poor investments in the past sabotage the right decisions in the future.ā
Has it stopped you from quitting the job you donāt like? Or scrapping the website you hate but that youāve paid someone good money to design? Or is it even smaller than that ā Have you been using the same terrible vacuum for years because you invested in the expensive attachments?
And when you encounter a decision in the future, I challenge you to ask yourself: Would I still choose this route if I hadnāt invested any time or energy into it at all?
If not, thatās your cue that sunk cost bias is swaying your vote.
Iām still working on the kinks in my new ConvertKitĀ system, but Iām so glad I finally made the switch! Hopefully it means less headaches for me and more quality email content for you!
This review and preview article was written when my site JasonDoesStuff was still active. Feel free to read more about that site here if you’ve never heard of it.
Originally, I hesitated to write my first State of the Union article and realized why I was hesitating: I was afraid I might have to admit Iād failed, or that Iād find something I was ashamed of. I donāt have any clue (as of starting to write this) if I failed, but the fear that I might uncover a failure was strong enough to force me to immediately start writing.
I also wasn’t sure if there was anything worth sharing because I’d never written a recap article like this before. And then I wrote it. And… wow… super helpful!
Without further ado, here we go…
My wife and I made the decision to pack up our perfectly acceptable life in Florida and move clear across the country. We emptied a 1,600-square-foot home of stuff and let strangers come and haul it away (for a couple dollars here and there, obviously). We packed only what we could fit in our VW Tiguan and drove 3,000+ miles to our new home. Decluttering our lives, starting (nearly) completely over, and living in a brand new environment was incredible for us both. This was a huge win.
I was surprised to find out I traveled to 23 different cities in 2015! They werenāt all super glamorous cities, and they certainly werenāt lavish trips. But I found myself doing some of my best writing and thinking while on the road and in unfamiliar environments. I wrote an article about working and traveling if youād like to read more about that.
2015 was my best year financially since 2011. Yet, when I think about the amount of stress I had and time I worked in 2011, the two donāt even compare (2015 wins by a mile!). Because 2015 was a year of experimentation for me, it was no surprise that I made money from 22 different sources. Yep, 22! As a fun tidbit, I made over $200,000 in total revenue, but made only $655 in the month of May. Thatās not a typo. That actually happened. 10% of my income came from completely hands-off sources (Deal sites, YouTube, and Amazon) and another 10% came from public speaking. The remaining 80% came from digital products (almost all of which can be directly attributed to my email list). I use this handy spreadsheet for keeping projects and projections organized.
Sitting down and really understanding what I value in life was probably one of the biggest wins of 2015. A few years ago, if you would have asked me what Iād do if I won the Powerball, Iād immediately have listed all these luxurious purchases, trips, etc. All things I was supposed to want. But after writing my book and having lots of D&Ms (deep and meaningfuls) with my wife, Caroline, Iāve realized how much I donāt care about owning a big house, lots of fancy cars, blah blah blah. Knowing what I do value has made such an extremely positive impact on my life.
I never thought Iād be a āwriterā, yet itās the job description I best identify with right now. I donāt consider myself a good writer (whatever that even means), but I donāt aspire to win awards with my writing or be recognized for my word-smithing. In 2015, I wrote over half a million (500,000) words and tossed most of them in the garbage. But the ones that didnāt end up in the garbage helped convince people to buy the stuff I make and learn from the experiences Iāve had in life. If thatās all my writing ever does, Iām totally okay with that.
Truthfully, I think this is the thing Iām most ashamed of. I regained almost all the weight I lost in 2012. Freakinā bummer. But I realized that I canāt do everything. I needed to focus on realigning my businesses and ensuring I kept some balance and happiness in my life. Unfortunately, working out and eating right fell by the wayside a bit. Iām hopeful that by having āmoderationā be my word for 2016, I can create better habits and get back in my fighting shape! (I was never actually in fighting shape. It just felt cool to write that…)
For the first few months of the year, I really struggled with social media. Should I get on Periscope? Should I put more time into creating content specifically for Facebook? How many tweets is the right amount per day? YUCK. Iāve done two 30-day social media sabbaticals, and theyāve taught me a lot about how social media affects my life. I get stuck scrolling through carefully curated feeds of peopleās lives and end up comparing my own life to theirs. Itās not healthy, and I strongly believe social media is an addiction. Iāll be stepping back heavily from social media in 2016 and trying to focus more on in-person time and creation time.
If Iām being honest, which Iām really trying to be here, I failed Teachery and my co-founder, Gerlando. I should have invested more time and more energy, but I simply put too many other things on my plate (and in front of Teachery on that plate). I still strongly believe in what weāve built with Teachery, and I am trying to set a more focused plan for the time Iāll be able to spend growing and nurturing Teachery and its users.
I donāt really care about how big my email list is or how much web traffic I get to JasonDoesStuff.com, but I was surprised when I checked the numbers. My email list (The Action Army) grew from 6,767 subscribers on January 1, 2015, to 8,738 subscribers on January 1, 2016. Thatās an average of 5 new subscribers per day, or around 160 per month. My website had 205,000 pageviews in 2015, and because it launched in late 2014, I donāt have year-over-year numbers to compare it with. I do know that:
This may sound weird, but 2015 was the first year I truly felt comfortable talking about IWearYourShirt (IWYS) and didnāt have a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. When I walked away from that business in 2013, I was in a bit of a dark place. I just felt like a complete failure and like I let a lot of people down (myself included). Iāve since picked up those shattered pieces and started to realize how important every mistake, mishap, and decision made during that time was for becoming the person I am today. I credit a big part of my newfound comfort with IWYS to reading the book The Obstacle Is The Way (a must read!).
If you know me at all, this is a shocker to you. Before 2015, Iād probably read 5 total books in the past 10 years (no exaggerationāI can name them). But in 2015, I read over 20 books. 20! Iāve discovered that I get a lot of ideas for my own writing from reading books. I think itās partly due to the experience of reading a book and focusing only on that one task. Itās impossible to see popups, notifications, and other distractions on the physical pages of a book, or even on my Kindle. I have a reading list of my favorite books here.
I had no idea Iād become an uncle in 2015. It was definitely a surprise. But my sister and her husband welcomed their first child (Jake) into the world, and he couldnāt have been more adorable. Iām perfectly capable of holding a baby, but man oh man, do they make me sweaty (probably both out of body heat and fear that Iāll break them).
BuyMyFuture was such a great project for me in 2015. Not only financially (that part was good, too), but also as a way to prove to myself that I still have big creative ideas and can execute them well. I really love the initial community of BuyMyFuture buyers and canāt wait to welcome more people into my future in September of 2016.
Heyyy-oh! Yep, Iāll be working on my second book this year. No spoilers yet, but it will be another non-fiction book, focused on entrepreneurship. I already have a fun idea for the pre-order phase, which should happen in May. Pumped for this one!
Iām excited to kick off a solo weekly podcast on January 28. The goal of this podcast is to help entrepreneurs and small business owners make changes and take action in their lives and businesses. Iāll be doing this by highlighting weekly article topics Iāve written about and sharing success stories from people in the Action Army Community.
If youāve followed me at all in 2015, then you know Iāve found my Internet Boyfriend (as my wife, Caroline, calls him). Paul and I work really well together and share a lot of the same values. We have a handful of projects weāre working on together in 2016, and Iām really excited for the fourth season of our co-hosted podcast (Invisible Office Hours), which launches in February. Weāre going to build a software product during the podcast season and pull back all the curtains on what goes into that process. I canāt wait for the challenges this will bring.
As of this moment, Iām not sure where Caroline and I will be living after April. Weāre going to take a few trips to scope out other areas of California and the West Coast. Itās a bit scary, but also exciting at the same time. We love San Diego, but also want to keep exploring and seeing new places. Oh, and weāre planning a few trips outside the US in 2016, too (like Iceland!).
Iāve decided to take a break from public speaking in 2016. While Iāve thoroughly enjoyed speaking these past few years, I feel like I need a break. I want to create more, experience more, and learn more. Taking a year off should give me lots of ammunition to come back with in 2017. Or Iāll just become a hermit. Who knows?
You certainly donāt have to share your 2015 review and 2016 preview, but Iād challenge you to at least write one for yourself.
If you hesitate at the thought of writing your own State of the Union, Iād guess that itās because youāre afraid of what you might uncover. I was afraid, too! But after going through everything and writing it all out, I can honestly tell you I feel great about facing those fears and assumptions. You may uncover a bunch of things that need your attention, and you may realize that you need to make some changes in your life or business(es).
āWithout reflection, we go blindly on our way, creating more unintended consequences, and failing to achieve anything useful.ā āMargaret J. Wheatley
Take an hour or two to reflect on 2015 (or whatever previous year it is when you read this). Find the areas where you need to improve, and admit to them. The mental anguish we put ourselves through is often worse than realizing and admitting what we did wrong and then moving on!
I hope this was helpful for you. It was definitely helpful for me. Now go write your own State of the Union!
If you liked reading this, here are my other State of the Union articles:
As of writing this post, this officially marks the 100th week of Made Vibrant’s newsletter to Self-Made Society!
I honestly can’t even believe I’ve hit send on 100 of those babies, but as I’ve said many times, starting a weekly newsletterĀ was the best decision I made when I started my business.
It’s been such a gift to not only document my personal and professional growth week after week, but it’s provided me with a weekly opportunity to interact with all of you — to hear your stories, your struggles and your triumphs. So a huge thank youĀ to those of you that have been reading for months and months, and a huge welcomeĀ to all of you that are new to the club!
For this week’s letter, I actually decided to steal an idea from a friend of mine, Paul Jarvis. Paul also has a weekly newsletter and yesterday (in his 175th newsletter – he’s got us beat!), he sent out an email called “State Of The Union, 2016.”Ā I thought it was so interesting that I asked him if I could rip off the idea and use it here, to which he kindly obliged.
The idea is simply to take stock of how things went in 2015 and to give you all an idea of where things might be going in 2016. I hope the recap is valuable in illustrating some big lessons I’ve learned, and I hope it gets you excited for what’s in store in the coming months! Let’s get to it…
As I mentioned above, I wrote a Monday letter to you guys every single week of 2015. I didnāt even take a break in December when I was on hiatus (like I had originally planned)Ā because it truly continues to be the highlight of my week.
I still maintain that the two most crucial elements in growing a sustainable, profitable solo business are consistency and authenticity. (You can read more about my feelings on this in a post I wrote for Elle & Companyās blog,Ā The Collaborative.)
The Self-Made Society newsletter is the fundamental way I consistently share my authentic self with you guys, and it has paid off by continuing to grow this community of passionate, positive soulful creatives. My core list grew from 1,400 subscribers to 3,400 last year, and Iām really looking forward to continuing that same trend in 2016.
By far the most game-changing decision I made in 2015 was hiring my assistant,Ā Laura. I fought the idea of bringing on help for a long time, mostly because I had no idea how to grow a team and that fear of the unknown held me back. But I finally hit a point back in the fall where all the little things on my to-do lists really started to add up and the notion of trying to keep everything organized was overwhelming. I could feel my anxiety coming into the foreground (something I desperately wanted to avoid), and that’s when I realized that even though I didnāt know āhowā to hire someone, there was nothing that said I had to do it anyone elseās way but my own.
I found some amazing applicants through the blog, but ultimately Laura felt like the best fit and weāve been jamming together ever since! Not only has it been immensely helpful to have her get processes in place and organize the various projects Made Vibrant has going on, but the best unforeseen benefit has been having a fellow soulful creative in my corner supporting me and cheering me on with each step in the evolution of Made Vibrant. She reminds me of the WHY behind the brand on a regular basis and that has been the greatest gift.
Back in February of last year, the hand-lettering course was selling pretty well and was bringing in a steady monthly income, but I kept thinking there was untapped potential there. I was getting emails from students saying the course had reignited their creative fire again, and I wanted more people to experience that benefit.
Meanwhile I was starting to see some real traction with my semi-regular lettering posts on Instagram, which is when it hit me to start a monthly lettering challengeĀ to encourage people to join the course. In the months following the challenge debut,Ā monthly course sales more than doubled,Ā making it one of the most directly impactful marketing moves I’ve ever made.
To date, there have been over 18,000 posts with the #BetterLetteringCourse tag. Even cooler than that, though, is the interesting intersection between lettering and self-reflection that has emerged. The daily prompts we share each month now act as a kind of daily journal prompt,Ā and reading the captions and stories from students as they post is so incredibly rewarding for me. Instagram has turned out to be such a rich and thriving place for this community, which was another big learning that came out of 2015.
This is what made the biggest change in my daily life and the business model last year.Ā Late in 2014 I made the tough decision to stop taking on branding clients and to move exclusively to a products-based business. As much as I loved (and still love) freelance design, I had to admit to myself that not only was managing client expectations hard for a highly sensitive and dangerously over-achieving person like myself, but the economics of running a service business (trading time for money) just wasnāt that desirable.
I finished up my final design project in the spring of 2015, and this year I launched two new e-courses, with the most successful by far being the Better Branding Course,Ā which took my business revenue total to over six figures —Ā 3xing the revenue of my first year in business as a freelance designer (2014).
Now, Iām not telling you guys that to toot my own horn or to brag about how much money is in the bank (most of it went to paying down debt and buying out the lease on our car!), but Iām sharing it with you as an illustration that itās possible to build a highly profitable business without e-courses that cost $999 and weekly sales webinars and crazy complicated email funnels and free opt-ins on every blog post.
All those things can be effective tools at the appropriate times,Ā but more often than not they can leaving you feeling overwhelmed and icky and chained to your laptop managing it all.Ā Instead of going that route,Ā I simply created affordable, valuable courses that I was proud of, products that I genuinely knew would help people, and then I promoted them when and how I wanted to in a way that felt natural. Could I have probably made more money? Maybe. But I was still able to triple my previous yearās revenue with a list well under 5,000 subscribers and while actually working less hours, traveling more and staying healthier. That is a win in my book. (If you have any specificĀ questions about how I made that happen, feel free to reply back and let me know. Iām happy to share what Iāve learned!)
This was a sort of experiment I started on a whim after I saw such fantastic engagement from the Better Branding Course Slack group. However, what I learned from the experiment was that without a regular content schedule or reason for people to show up and chat about a certain topic, there’s no real reason for anyone to pop in.
To give the Slack community idea the chance it deserved, I should have asked you guys how that group could be most valuable and planned more consistent content based on that. Moving forward my goal is to either come up with a structure and plan for it (like weekly Slack chats around a specific topic for example) OR to potentially close the community so itās not hanging over my head and taking up mental space.
Again, Slack works phenomenally for a specific topic or community interest, but as a general group without structure, the activity there becomes sparse. (If you want the Slack group to stick around and have ideas for what would make it valuable, please reply back with feedback! Iād love to hear it!)
In August I decided I really wanted a more formal, easy to navigate place for all my e-guides, worksheets and e-courses on the website. I envisioned it as a helpful place for soulful creatives to go and find resources to push their businesses or lives further. What I found out instead was that most people donāt buy resources directly from that page ā they buy them from the various content marketing posts or from this email newsletter.
Since most of the non-course resources donāt have a specific traffic source driving to them, the sales were pretty low compared to my other revenue sources. Just to give you an idea, the non-course products in the shop (guides, e-books, and worksheets) accounted for less than 1% of my total revenue in 2015 (only about $800 total.) I didnāt realize this until I did my end of year financials, but it was definitely an eye-opener to see that as a business opportunity, Iād probably be better off creating freeĀ resources and using those to add new soulful creatives to this community. Youāll likely see a shift in that direction this year, as well as more courses since that seems to be the preferred way that people like to consume their helpful content!
When it comes down to it, this is what I feel like I struggled with the most in 2015. While it feels like I planted A LOT of seeds, I wasnāt able to properly harvest the fruits of all that planting because I had trouble seeing things through to completion. For example, Iād create something like the Better Branding Course, but then when it came to that last 10% of coming up with a well-thought out promotion plan, Iād just move on to the next shiny object project.
The result at the end of the year was this overwhelming feeling like I had a lot of projects out in the ether, but none of them fully baked to completion. My goal in 2016 is to instead curateĀ my list of projects,Ā really commit to one thing at a time, and make sure that I fully see each project to completion. I still have plenty of ideas for what I want to accomplish this year, but in order to do each of them well, I need to let my brain narrow in on one at a time and push myself to fully realize the potential of each idea by completing its intended vision.
Now that brings us to this year! What do I have in store for you guys and where do I see the future of Made Vibrant headed?
I started Made Vibrant with the intention of exploring the interesting intersection between life, creativity and business. While the focus skewed a bit more toward business last year (with resources like the Better Branding Course and Your First E-Course), my deep love affair with acrylic art that started back in August feels like itās leading me to swing more toward the creative side this year.
I get such immense joy out of commenting on the beautiful relationship between creating things and getting to know yourself deeper ā as evidenced by the Better Lettering challenges ā but I want to explore that even more this year. The most magical revelations have come to me as I engage in my various creative pursuits, and I want to continue to find ways to share those insights in a way that encourages people to shed their expectations of what art is and simply make what their heart is leading them to make.
Iād love to make more creative e-courses (similar to the lettering course), and I have at least two solid concepts Iāll start working on soon. I still intend on āreporting backā on the business side of things, as itās still my personal mission to help as many creatives as possible make a living with their art, but I want creativity to be at the forefront again. My 2016 daily project,Ā Abstract Affirmations, plus the addition of a print shop coming soon will be the first manifestation of that.Ā Color Your Soul, my vision for a digital mindfulness subscription, is also still on the docket, and I canāt wait to see how my art finds its way into that endeavor.
Given the major uptick in products-based businesses and business resource blogs out there, I also feel that doubling down on the creativity aspect of what I do is my way of tapping deeper into what makes Made Vibrant unique and carving out an authentic niche for my skill set and offerings.
Other than that, I want to continue to grow the business in a slow and steady way so that I still have the bandwidth to answer your emails and connect with you on social media. Iām not always able to get to everyoneās comments or emails, though I promise I try, but I want to continue to make that a priority since I wouldnāt be able to make a living without this amazing group of people. And Iāll keep sending out these weekly letters if you guys promise to keep reading them! š
So thatās the plan, guys! I just want to keep moving forward, learning everything I can, and reporting back to you all in a way that you hopefully find uplifting and inspiring.
As Iāve said since the beginning, Made Vibrant is simply my personal exploration to discover my best and brightest self, and Iām just grateful that I get to share that process with people that are as generous, caring, creative and insightful as you guys.
It could be for your business or your life, but write down what worked last year, what didnāt, and where you want things to go in 2016. The very exercise of writing this down will help you bring forth intentions that you might not have recognized before.
Again, thanks for sticking with me on this crazy ride. Talking to you is the best part of my week.
It was the Friday following our big Turkey Day celebration and hanging on to the remnants of my peaceful, turkey-induced state, I rolled out of bed with that easy-going feeling of rest still lingering.
I thought, Iāll take my time getting up, Jason and I will have breakfast, and then I can dive into catching up on a few work emails just to stay on top of things.
Thatās when I made the mistake of checking Instagram.
āCYBER MONDAY SALE!!!ā the first few posts said. Scroll, scroll. ā20% OFF EVERYTHING YOUāVE EVER WANTED IN THE WORLD!!!ā Scroll, scroll. āBIGGEST DEAL OF THE YEAR. THE CENTURY. THE MILLENNIUM!ā
The messages pulled me out of my restful state into an immediate panic, like someone had dumped an ice cold bucket of water over my head.
āForget about savoring the holidays, would ya! Thereās money just waiting to be made out there!!ā
Then came the guilt.
Should I have planned a Cyber Monday deal for my shop? Should I have done pop up prints to capitalize on the holiday-shopping crowd? Should I have set up some blowout deal so that I could coerce a nice sales boost before the end of the year?
Should? Should? SHOULD.
I stopped myself.
And I remembered:
Being a smart, successful business owner does NOT mean you must squeeze every dollar of profit out of your business.
Setting up some sort of Cyber Monday deal would probably bring me a boost in revenue, yes. But what would it cost? Instead of spending the past four days cozied up on the couch, eating turkey leftovers, telling old family stories, laughing at funny faces my tiny nephew makes, I might have been answering questions on email for customers, posting on social media, redeeming orders, managing payments, etc. And thatās just not a cost I’m willing to pay.
**Please hear me when I say this: the message here is NOT that Cyber Monday is bad. Or that taking opportunities to make money is bad.**
The message here is simply a reminder that you get to CHOOSE. And that we do NOT have to feel guilty for not taking advantage of every opportunity to make a penny.
āLeaving money on the tableā so to speak is something that I do on a regular basis intentionally because I believe in what I call āvalues-based accountingāĀ ā the idea that assessing the livelihood of your business relies not just on its financial earnings but on its ability to bring you more of what you value.
Look at it this way: What is profit?
Put very simply, profit is the difference between whatās earned and whatās spent, right?
So what if we expand that definition beyond dollars.
āWhatās spentā could be money, but it could also be time, energy, emotions, will-powerā¦ not to mention it could also mean hidden costs or trade-offs ā the things we forfeit in order to work on something.
āWhatās earnedā could be money, but it could also be more of what you value: time with your family, flexibility, travel, fun, new connections, personal growthā¦ whatever those values are to you individually.
So when I look back over the course of the year and I consider all the opportunities Iāve taken, the things Iāve created, the things Iāve turned down, Iām taking a look at my profit not just in terms of how much money I made compared to how much I spent; Iām considering my profit in terms of how much freedom, flexibility, and growth I gained compared to how much stress I incurred.
Thatās values-based accounting to me, and itās why I intentionally donāt do a sales webinar every week or come out with a new product every minute or why some years you won’t see me with a Cyber Monday deal.
āSometimes you may leave money on the table, but in doing so your life can remain rich.ā
This topic is inspired by my friends AJ and Melissa, who own a company called Misfit Incorporated. They do all sorts of things from building digital experiences for big brands, to publishing, to producing Shakespeare, to hosting an artisan conference in Fargo, ND each year, to funding philanthropic endeavors all around the world.
A few years ago, AJ told me about something they do in-house called āImpact Accounting.ā He was referring to the fact that the conference they run each year, MisfitCon, despite having sponsors to offset the costs, ultimately is a break-even (if not a loss) project for their bottom line. In other words, financially speaking, there is no profit to be had.
BUT —Ā and this is a huge ābutā in their eyes —Ā the net impact that the event has on their world through the lens of Misfitās mission is STAGGERING. Peopleās lives are changed. Life-long connections are formed. Startups are born. Hearts are molded and forever marked.
Any business owner if looking at Misfitās accounting books blindly would say: āThis event is a waste of money.ā Thatās because they wouldnāt be able to see the non-financial impact. Thatās why literally when it comes to keeping track of their records, they actually evaluate each project they undertake not just for the revenue it brings in, but for the positive mark it leaves on the world. How many lives does it change? Does it further the Misfit mission? Does it align with the Misfit beliefs?
What does maximizing profit in your business look like beyond the scope of money?
What do you want to earn? Quality time with your family. Global impact. One week off a month to travel. Working from home.
And what are OR arenāt you willing to spend to get there?
For me, Iām not willing to spend my precious time away from my family during the holidays to earn a few extra hundred or even thousand dollars to my yearly revenue.
That might be the case for you or it might not. The point is, you get to choose.
Either way, consider values-based accounting when it comes to making the decisions for your business, and remember, money can bring you flexibility but it wonāt bring you the kind of happiness that living your values day in and day out can bring. Trust me.
