Welcome back yet again to The Short Series: Our Business Story, a five-part series we have been using to share the ins + outs of our business story!! How Maison Meredith Photography all began, where we’ve been, + where we are now!! Our hope is that by sharing some behind-the-scenes information on how our business has grown to where it is today, we can share our personal wisdom + advice with those who are in the beginning stages of their own businesses!! And if anything, to let other creatives know that they are not alone in their journeys, their fears, their successes, + their failures in their own business as well!! : )
I’ll be upfront in saying that today’s post isn’t as “practical” as previous posts — there are no lists on what to do or not to do, no bulleted sections or five easy concrete points I’m trying to make. Rather, today is an idea … a belief + way of thinking that has allowed us, in my opinion, to grow + find success in our business!!
Being smart while working hard to make it happen.
This is not what you are going to want to hear, but let’s face it, there is no SINGLE way to start a business + to grow it successfully. The journey looks different for everyone. One business owner will tell you they did a,b,c, + d to start + grow their business, while another will tell you they did e, f, g, + h to start + grow their business. And … BOTH worked. It’s just not a concrete, cookie-cutter plan that all can follow. There are times to take risks in your business, + times to analyze, make lists, + plan. And I guess that’s what I’m here to tell you today: starting + owning a business involves BOTH of these things — risk AND hard work.
Caleb once shared with me a quote that I will never forget. It says something along the lines of how you can never wait + wait + wait for the RIGHT time to do something … because the “RIGHT” time will never come. There will always be an excuse to wait just a little longer … save just a little more … plan just a little harder … you get what I’m saying!! There will never be a “perfect” or “right” time to do that thing you want to do because you will always find an excuse for why it’s not.
Enter the RISK.
At some point, you just have to do it. You have to take the leap, + in my case + for the purpose of this blog post, I’m talking about starting your business! I DEFINITELY hope that you have planned, that you do find yourself in a somewhat financially comfortable situation to take the leap, + I do hope you see things happening for your business that make you believe it will continue to grow (for example, before I started our business officially, I was getting a LOT of inquiries for sessions + I saw no reason why those inquiries would stop coming in). I DON’T think it’s smart to up + leave your current job with NO plan, NO thought, NO number-crunching or goal-setting … you get the idea!! (You can read more about what our own planning looked like in this post, this post, or this post)!
But I also don’t think it’s smart to never truly pursue your dream because you’re waiting for the “right” time.
Remember what I said before? There will never be the “right” time. At some point you have to take the risk … and THIS is where working hard comes into play : ) When you’re taking a risk, + when your livelihood + your DREAM is on the line, you WILL work hard to make it happen. Sometimes taking the leap to pursue your dream is exactly what you need to grow your business in the way you’ve been wanting!! Because you simply HAVE to do it!! You have to make it work (but since you have a plan + you have thought it through, it will work!! hehe)!! ; )
Starting, growing, + running a successful business is all about BALANCE. It’s a LOT of hard work, a lot of prayer. A lot of unsuccessful moments + a lot of successful ones! That’s just how it works. You plan AND you take risks. They’re BOTH involved!! So today, if you find yourself waiting for just the “right” time to do that thing you’ve been waiting + waiting to do … I encourage you to just GO for it. Take the risk, + then work really, really, hard : )
Next (+ final) post I’ll be sharing another way this idea of risk + working hard recently played a MAJOR role in our business!! : ) Stay tuned!!
To read the first three posts in The Short Series, click below:
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