I've had a business epiphany and it feels SO good. When I say epiphany - it's my own personal epiphany. A big little epiphany! Little to anyone else, but to me it's huge!
The Christmas break, time for my brain to recover from all of the busy, the slow steady days in pyjamas, watching The Intern (if you haven't seen it then I highly recommend it), and talking it all over with Tom, all seemed to create the perfect storm for my epiphany.
My brain finally found some clarity, and I feel like I can move the business forward in exactly the right way now. It's so exciting! I would love to share my thoughts here, to write them down, a little reminder for when I doubt myself, for when the vision feels clouded.
So here goes...
2016 was a tricky old year for me. Post-natal depression, business difficulties, financial struggles (that was a big one), the first year juggling life as a family of five. It wasn't the easiest. As soon as the clock ticked over to 2017 my brain seemed to click over with it.
I finally realised that 2016 was basically about surviving. If we made it through in one piece with businesses and lives that still function, children that are happy and growing, and a shred of sanity, we did really well! And we did. And so suddenly when that clock chimed 00.01am it didn't feel like we were trying to survive it anymore, it really felt like we had made it.
I think I got so worried about money last year that it changed the way I ran my business. I didn't always make the best choices, and I got really, really scared. For a while there I kind of hated it.
Now I've realised (remembered) that money should never ever be the focus. Not for me anyway. It has to bring me joy. I'm not interested in a business that creates a pot of money simply to sit in a bank account and sound impressive. It's just not who I am.
I want to be happy each day and create beautiful products and make customers happy. And to have a workplace that people love working in and create jobs that make a difference to people's lives. I thought last year that I might want to downsize and have less staff, but I absolutely don't. I love that I'm *hopefully* playing a part in helping their days/lives to be better. I would much rather make lives happier than have a pot of money in the bank <3
And that's exactly it. I want to somehow make a small difference to people, and to myself. And that means remembering that finances aren't my goal. Joy is.
It means running things a little differently, making choices that benefit me, and phasing out a few of our existing product ranges to make space for newer things. For things that truly bring me joy. It feels really, really good to feel clear about it all.
And as I realised today - I'm so ready!
So I hope you're ready 2017, because it's going to be awesome!
