Building a business is hard work. It is it's own full time job. There are so many things you have to think about, from registering the business (Incorporate or Limited Liability, for example) to designing your website to creating your logo. If I never have to look at another color chart again, it won't be soon enough. What did I get myself into?
To begin with, I was doing something that had not been done very often before. I was creating a company out of three different gigs and looking for a way to make them blend together cohesively. My father, my accountant and an experienced entrepreneur, kept insisting that the IRS does not recognize wellness consulting as an industry. My friends and fellow marketing experts could not make sense of combining social media marketing with corporate yoga. My sister and graphic designer could not understand how my logo could stand on its own for social media consulting, health and wellness coaching, and yoga instructing. Fortunately, my mother and greatest cheerleader could see the big picture. And so I kept going.
I devoured books on "slash" careers, such as the 2007 "One Person/Multiple Careers" by Marci Alboher (a book surprisingly ahead of the times and one all future entrepreneurs should read)! I practiced my 30-second commercial. I introduced my idea in different ways to different people to gauge reactions. I knew I was off the traditional plan, but I believed it could work! After all, there are celebrities who found their fame in acting and are now fashion designers, politicians who are authors, and athletes who own companies. I'm sure it helps to make a name for yourself in one industry before embarking on a journey through another, but why not?
I've talked to a lot of millenials, and they are not afraid of taking the more scenic route rather than the direct path. Young people everywhere are creating new strategies for work/life balance. They are bartending to earn money, saving their cash, and then taking a few years off to travel the world. No longer are people entering the workforce with the sole purpose of earning tenure in their field, or becoming millionaires, or even managers. The next generations are more interested in living their passions, of finding happiness and experiences, even if that means less prestige and income.
So why not?
Here I am, well past the millenial years, but with the same dreams of freedom, of working hard for myself and my family, instead of working hard to make someone else's dreams come true. I made it through the paperwork and I'm slowly finding my way through the website design, with the hopes of eventually taking on clients and doing the work that my business will do! In the meantime, there was this pesky logo that I got involved with.
I'm not sure how it took on such monumental importance. I just wanted something quick to slap on a business card and use on a flyer. I know that logos can be important, but if I don't have any clients, it won't matter how cool my logo is. My plan was just to put something on paper and move on. Things rarely go as planned.
My sister is a creative designer and she came up with a concept that I loved. However, every time I looked at the Warrior II figure (which is my head, in case you were wondering), I could not get over the fact that the figure had a floating head. It became the topic of all our logo conversations. "Rochelle," I would say to my sister, "I don't want my friends talking about my logo behind my back because it has a floating head." And we would laugh. Rochelle would show it to friends and ask what they thought about it. They always loved it, until she said "Does it look like the head is floating?" And then that is all anyone could see. The floating head.
So be it.
If people remember my company because my logo has a floating head, I'll take it. At some point, you have to just accept where things are and how things are and focus your time and energy on the things that matter, like finding new clients.
In the same way, if you are a small business owner. you will be faced with challenges of all kinds. Some will matter more than others. Try not to get bogged down in the ones that don't matter. They are a great way to procrastinate from the more important issues at hand, but they will not help you grow your business. If you ignore posting on social media because you are afraid of making a mistake, you will miss growing your business through social media. If I focused any longer on the floating head, I would have missed prospecting and working with clients. There will always be fear that this one mistake or error or thing that is not perfect will break us, will destroy our business. The truth is, only you can do that, by choosing not to start.
It is through mistakes that we learn. It is through floating heads that we build a stronger brand.
Here we go. Whole Image Wellness, Brand Body Being, and the occasional detached head.
