Three Steps to Leading your “Ever After” Life

The title of this post is, perhaps, a little misleading. This isn’t really about three steps to happiness.  Life is way more complicated than that.  But if you’re looking to build or grow a business then these steps will certainly apply.  As I never really know what to title my posts we’ll go with it.  Just stay with me for a moment, okay?

A little history first – Those of you who know me in person probably know that I have a little bit of an entrepreneurial spirit.  Even when I worked in the corporate world, I was always looking for a way for my husband and I to have our own “shop”.  We’ve done a lot of different things over the years – from craft shows to custom cabinetry and sewing work. We’ve opened a full service spa and have had an independently contracted service business. Now I have a teeny tiny etsy shop.  Other than the spa and the service business, most work has been hit or miss, sometimes successful, sometimes not.  The goal was always to find a way for us both to be self-employed at home, but for a lot of different reasons and choices we’ve made, that hasn’t happened yet.

A lot has changed over the years since we first dipped our feet out into the small business world, mostly because of the internet, but there are some things that stay constant.  During a recent exchange with my oldest son, I reminded myself of these constants.

A little more history – our family has a bit of an independent streak.  We also, (though it took me a long time to see it in myself) have a bit of a creative streak.  So we often look for ways to merge those two things together.  My oldest daughter is a stay at home mom and has built a successful shop making props for newborn photographers.  She also dabbles in art and lettering work and is growing those skills.  My oldest son has an incredible eye for photography and videography, and also has the technical skills and knowledge to edit and mix and tell a story.

Enough history, forward to present – I love inspirational stories about people who have found their own way – their “Ever After Life”.   Not very long ago, I stumbled on a photographer who’s work I love, Paulina Duczman.  I did a little research and found that she has only been taking pictures since 2014.  Not even four years from the day she first picked up a camera to take some pictures of her children and now she’s a celebrated and award winning photographer and teacher.  Pretty inspirational, yes?

So like I do whenever I find someone who is living their Ever After Life, I researched more and read as much as I could find about her.  There are some great life lessons in her story and I shared them with my oldest son, but I want to share them here as well, partly because they might help someone else, but also because I need the reminder as well.

So here are three steps to building your dream business:

1. Be Vulnerable – you have to put yourself out there.  Tell people about your work.  Show them what you do.  Even if it isn’t perfect yet (and it won’t be).  This is how you grow.  Yes, some people won’t like what you do and their words can be harsh.  But a lot of people will love your work.  And your work needs to be seen to be appreciated, which leads me to my second step.

2. Be Visible – Paulina Ducszman entered contests.  She entered all kinds of photography contests, even at the beginning when she knew her work couldn’t match others.  She said she did this to grow and learn.  And she took what she learned, applied it to her photography and entered more contests and she moved up award levels until she reached the top.  Through entering these contests she made her work visible to others.  It goes hand in hand with being vulnerable.  You have to let others know what you do.  You might have the most amazing product, but if no one else knows about it, it won’t matter how hard you work because no one will be able to buy it.  Which brings us to point number three.

3. – Be Tenacious – Never, ever, ever, ever give up.  It takes a lot of work to learn about cameras and lighting and posing and editing to go from a first camera to award winning photographer.  You have to focus intently on your goal.  Your goal may change and grow as you learn things along the way, but you still need to keep that focus.  Learn everything you can and then apply it.

I needed to be reminded of these things.  I struggle a lot with being vulnerable and I need to put on some thicker skin and just put myself out there.  I think a lot of people have a hard time with this.  I also struggle with focus.  I have so many ideas running around in my brain that I barely have time to begin pursuing one thing before another great idea comes along and distracts me.  The result is that very few things actually get completed.  Having a lot of interests is fine, but when trying to start or grow a business, having focus is very important.

Do you have anything you’d like to add?  Which point do you struggle with the most?  Which of them comes easy to you?

I’d also love to hear about others who are pursuing (or living) their Ever After Life and include them and their story here on the blog.