What they Never Told Me
Before I even dreamed of the Emporium, I had dabbled in owning my own “company”. I’d worked with a few direct sales companies and loved a lot of things about it, but they just weren’t giving me what I needed. Then I started thinking about opening my own store and I thought, “I can do that. It can’t be that different then what I’ve been doing, can it?” The short answer is a loud, adamant “yes!” mixed with a chuckle because boy was I wrong!
There were two big tidbits of knowledge that no one told me or prepared me for, and, to this day, I’m still in a constant state of osculation, circling from re-learning, adjusting and acting upon it in one way or another with them both.
The first one was maybe the hardest to learn. I still struggle with it today. The first lesson was to basically unlearn everything I thought I knew. Because direct sales is it’s own world. It doesn’t function in the same realm of rules and business as much of the rest of the world does. Or, maybe they do but not in a good way? I don’t know. Either way, I did have to unlearn almost all of what I had learned before. I had to stop trying to be what I thought I was supposed to; stop taking the steps that team leaders had drilled into me again and again as if these pieces of knowledge would magically create the success I was looking for. Spoiler alert, it never did. I just kept spinning my wheels and wondering why I was so bad at it. Was it me? Did no one like me? Was I just not good enough? Was I doing something wrong? Honestly, Yes! I was doing a lot wrong. I just didn’t’ see how to correct it. (I’m still working on that.) It’s a processes for sure!
The second little gem of wisdom was, nothing is one and done. Never once have I sat down and said, “This is how it’s going to work. This is what we’re going to do. Here is the system!” and it all work how I dreamed it would. Not once. Because nothing about creating something amazing yields itself to perfection without a lot of thinking, evaluation, trial and error, time and a lot of work. So I’m always rethinking and evaluating. I interview myself regularly (usually at night when I’m trying to go to sleep).
Interviewer Me: How did that work for you?
Business owner me: It went Ok. I mean, it didn’t make me a millionaire and I don’t have a zillion orders to ship out but…
Interview me: And how do you feel about it? Did it feel right? Authentic? Are you proud of what you’ve done? Did it serve the purpose you intended?
Business owner me: Hold up! Those are a lot of different questions that don’t all have the same answers!
Interviewer me: And what are we going to do about any of the answers that were “no”? And crying is not an option!
Business owner me: Not even a little bit?
Interviewer me: Not even a little.
Business owner me: But what if I cry first and then really delve into what isn’t working for any reason and how to adjust it in a way that I can say I’m proud of and excited about?
Interview me: Okay. Fine. But only for a few minutes. We’ve got work to do!
So, you may not be surprised to know that I am constantly exploring what I could do better. I explore what would make me proud of what I do first and foremost and if what I’m planning will help me feel pride in what I’ve already accomplished. Does it provide something good to others? I’m not perfect. I’m learning and growing everyday. What felt authentic and right yesterday may not feel authentic and right today because I’m not the same person I was yesterday. I’ve cried more tears, had more laughs, learned more lessons and had more adventures. I’ve dreamt more dreams. And becuase of that, because of the way I’m ever evolving, my creations will be ever evolving, too.
Some days I wish that someone had sat me down and told me that much of what I had been taught could be let go of for better knowledge and that I’d never just be able to sit back and let all of my brilliant systems function perfectly for every occasion. But, then the truth comes to me and I know that, even if someone had, I wouldn’t have understood it anyway.
