I’m declaring self-sabatoge an epidemic in the handmade community! Just spend 15 minutes on a handmade forum and you will see post after post from artisans saying that they ‘can’t sell’, ‘no one wants their products’, or some variation of a statement that the work can’t be done to promote their craft.
I get it. Running a business is hard. It’s even harder waiting the first six months or so for sales as you try to find your customers.
In order to make it past the first few months of suckville, you have to make a conscious effort not to internalize that negative self-talk. Once you start that internal dialogue, you open yourself up to real failure because you will not be motivated to grow within your business.
I CANNOT BE SUCCESSFUL
The biggest self-limiting belief that I see on the forums is, “I cannot be successful”. While everyone defines success differently, success is possible for you.
It’s natural to doubt your own talents and abilities, especially when we are bombarded with perfection on social media all day. But, success is defined on your own terms. It could mean working four days a week or making enough to cover your child’s daycare. Define what success means to you and tell yourself that you CAN achieve it. Then, set a plan in motion for it to happen. Spend your valuable energy on making success happen rather than wasting that energy on telling yourself that it won’t.
I WILL BE REJECTED
Another common statement I see is “no one is going to like my stuff”. The reality is that you will probably be rejected by a few people. As I’ve said in previous posts, you aren’t trying to sell to everyone anyway. But, if you provide a quality product, there WILL be people who want to buy from you.
Not everyone will like your products. That’s just life. I’ve worked with thousands of customers, 99.9% have been precious and wonderful. There will always be that 0.1% that cannot be pleased. Do not let the fear of the 0.1% keep you from success. Do your best to make the situation better and move on. The moving on part gets easier with practice.
We all deserve happiness and success. We just need to get out of our own way and stop telling ourselves that we can’t be successful.
So much of our success depends on our personal thought patterns and whether we believe we can achieve it. As business owners, the worst thing we can do to ourselves is play into the belief that we are incapable of achieving our dreams. When we spend our time worrying and doubting, it takes valuable energy away from making our goals happen. This is when failure sneaks in.
Today, I challenge you to take time to identify any of your self-limiting beliefs and explore ways to reframe your thoughts. What is it that you want to accomplish with your business? What does success look to you? If there were no limits on your business, what would you achieve?