Darlings!
Yesterday was my FOUR year anniversary of being self-employed. I can barely believe it!
I've been reflecting back on what these four years of independence and exploration and self-sufficiency has taught me, and I keep coming back to this one thing: You just don't stop. I said it best on my first anniversary.
But other than not-stopping, you also have to constantly change, shift and grow. Your business doesn't necessarily need to grow, but YOU do. You experience things, learn from them, and then (this is the step it's easiest to skip), you have to apply those lessons to the next things you do.
And that – knowing that you're going to learn from everything, and then apply it to your next endeavor – that is what gives you the bravery to keep moving forward. So many of the creatives that write me are worried – worried they don't know enough, aren't good enough, are going to mess it all up. But, honey, of course you worry. Of course you don't know everything.
The trick to having a business (that pays your bills + supports your book habit) is to trust yourself.
Trust that you'll learn your lessons.
Trust that you'll do the next right thing, when the time comes. (It's ok if you don't know what that is ahead of time!)
Trust that, with regular review, your business will teach you absolutely everything you need to know.
I've been wondering how to celebrate this anniversary, and this morning (while I was crunching my quarterly numbers!) it hit me:
Help me celebrate by starting to trust yourself.
Take the first step to trusting yourself, by looking at what your business wants to teach you right now. In order to help you with that, I'm sharing one of the mini-books we use inside the Starship.
Today or tomorrow, hold a quarterly review, and listen in to your business. Notice what's working, what didn't, and what you want to change in the coming quarter. You can do this with the workbook, by downloading it here. (Totally free! That link opens up the PDF.)
And then, use what you learn to shape your upcoming path. Use it to move forward. Use it trust yourself.
PS. When I quit, I shared the full story here. 2 years later, I shared the Declarations of Independence of some of my favorite people.
The Starship is now boarding! Come aboard for regular review (like this! But with support!), weekly live chats, solo-sessions with me, and utter hilarity. Boarding closes THIS FRIDAY, so beam aboard here.
Betsy
July 3, 2013 at 3:08 pm (11 years ago)Congrats on making it to the 4 year mark, Tara! That’s so exciting! And well worth celebrating!!
Tara Swiger
July 3, 2013 at 3:37 pm (11 years ago)Thank you so much, Betsy!
Sheila Delgado
July 3, 2013 at 4:28 pm (11 years ago)Congratulations Tara! I loved reading about your path… very inspirational 🙂 Wishing you continued success!
Tara Swiger
July 3, 2013 at 5:13 pm (11 years ago)Thank you, Sheila!