These days it’s easy to get swept up in things like how many followers another brand has or how big of orders they pack in content, but the reality is what looks like a success on social media might not at all be transferring into sales or truly be as fruitful as their content suggests.
Remember, it’s all just a highlight reel.
Truth be told, I’m still at a point where I’m not getting sales consistently every week. Have I grown to consistently get sales every month? Yes, but not necessarily a steady weekly flow that I think many of us assume other established businesses have. And even then, the amount I make in sales each month isn’t always consistent either! It ebbs and flows and that’s totally normal.
It takes A LOT to run a small business and grow to a point where you’re thriving. Many of us never truly feel like we’re quite there, and that’s NORMAL. The best thing you can do is not hold yourself to impossible standards. Comparison never leads to anything good and frankly comparison to something you see on social media likely isn’t the full reality either.
We’ve all been there… You see a business with thousands of followers on social media… When they share videos of themselves packaging orders they always have multiple orders with boxes stuffed full of their products… They celebrate being a full-time entrepreneur… So you assume they have achieved a certain set of criteria (whatever you associate with “success”) and you quickly become disappointed that you don’t match up.
What I’ve learned the last few years of entrepreneurship has been eye opening. I’ve talked with big accounts that are experiencing the exact same struggles as I am. I’ve watched brands with thousands of followers shut down their business for lack of sales. I’ve heard brands admit that they only record when they have orders with multiple products sold or they only show shots of multiple filled orders when orders have stacked up and that just isn’t their norm. I’ve talked with many full-time artists and entrepreneurs that aren’t at this vague level of financial stability I always assumed was associated with going full-time. I’ve even seen a few be forced to go back to full-time jobs when things with their business dipped too much to stay afloat.
I’m in a period of my life where I too am figuring out where I need to be to feel comfortable taking my business full-time, and you’d be surprised that some of the options don’t include fully replacing my salary with sales. Sometimes it’s the partner’s financial support making the entrepreneur’s dreams of going full-time a reality. Sometimes it’s the result of a discussion surrounding how much the entrepreneur and their family can do without. There’s many more ways that this could look behind the scenes, but the point is it’s not always the picture painted online of becoming incredibly wealthy overnight, living and traveling in luxury, and doing little actual work for the payoff. If that was the case, everyone would be doing it!
So just know that while it’s okay to have big dreams, you don’t always need to achieve them to be happy; and while it’s okay to look up to other business owners on social media, you usually aren’t getting the full picture.
~Life With Kails~ 