You’re Making So Much More Progress Than You Think You Are
I know you’ve been seduced by those “went viral overnight” “became a millionaire in 6 months” “got everything I wanted and didn’t even have to try” stories about small businesses… and you’re judging your marketing success against them.
Please don’t.
Yeah, it’s possible to win the lottery. But is it likely? No.
If you judge yourself against marketing fairytales, you’re going to get discouraged and stop showing up to market your business! And then the world won’t know about your essential work. And you won’t get to live your dreams.
Can’t have that. So, let’s reframe.
You’re Perfectly On Track
You’re right where you’re supposed to be. You’ve made progress since last year, last month, last week, yesterday.
Perhaps the pace of your progress is protecting you. You’re being given the time to learn the lessons you need to so that when you reach the next level, you’ll be equipped to handle it!
Your progress may feel slow, but it’s faster and more meaningful than you think.
Celebrate Your Growth
Culturally, we’re conditioned to only notice and heap accolades on the BIG wins. Reaching the top of Mt. Everest. Your first million. Getting the blue check mark.
But imagine getting halfway up Mt. Everest and considering yourself a failure because you’re not at the top yet! Would you be motivated to keep going?
Or, do you think it’s good and just and right to notice that you’re halfway up Mt. Everest? To use that as evidence of your skill and your tenacity and the strong possibility that you can reach the top?
Which way of thinking is more motivating?
Maybe you aren’t yet a millionaire, but maybe you sold three more products than you did last month or you just had a consult call with a potential new client. Maybe you haven’t broken a thousand followers yet, but you doubled your follower count in the last 6 months.
That’s worth celebrating too. Actually, it’s necessary to celebrate these achievements to keep you motivated to work towards the big goals!
Baby, you’re on your way. Let yourself feel good about being on the right path. You’ve for sure earned your own respect for your hustle.
Make Time To Reflect
You’ve just got to set up some routines so that you notice the progress you’re making and celebrate accordingly.
And yes, it is your responsibility. You can’t sit around waiting for other people to shower you with praise in order to allow your dreams to feel validated. You might be waiting a very long time!
OK, so how can you be sure to notice the fabulous progress you’ve already made? Let’s set up some regular reflection times where you can:
Check back in on the goals you’ve set.
Assess the progress you’ve made towards these goals.
Evaluate what worked and what didn’t.
Note how you felt when you were doing what you were doing. Were you making sacrifices to your health and well-being? Do you want to keep doing it that way or find another way?
Decide whether you still want to keep working towards these goals or whether you’d like to set different ones.
You can set an interval with check-ins that works for you. You can be all corporate-y and do it quarterly if you want. Are you someone who thrives on a #challenge? Dooo it! Filming really makes it easy to see your progress. Or you can have fun with it and set it to the turn of the seasons, time it with your menstrual cycle, or however you want. My business coach has us journal and pull tarot cards at the start of each astrological sign, which I’m enjoying.
It doesn’t really matter how you time it, just set a pace you can actually commit to and actually do your check-ins. It’s a little present to yourself. You’ll get to keep surprising yourself by how far you’ve come.
Recognize F*&^ Ups & Mine Wisdom From Them
Now, it’s not all butterflies and roses. Setting aside regular time to reflect on your progress means facing the ways in which things went sideways and what you can do differently to prevent the shit from hitting the fan next time.
I know it’s hard to face your fuck ups, but running away from them denies you valuable insight- and may keep you stuck. Did you diligently post carousels three times a day for the last three months to crickets? Did doing that take so much time you couldn’t do the work you love? Instead of ghosting your social media altogether, you get to now think about what is a more doable pace for you AND a more fun medium.
And, it’s good you tried! Now you know that you shouldn’t do a marketing strategy just because a marketing guru you followed says you should… You gotta find what works for you.
I needed to make so many mistakes in order to get to the version of my business that feels right, feels abundant, and keeps me motivated.
You needed your mistakes to unlock the wisdom necessary to get what you really, really want.
Keep Going, Baby. Keep Surprising Yourself With How Far You’ve Come.
Progress can feel so slow in the moment- but it’s not. If you sat and stared at a flower bud you’d think nothing was happening. But go look at it the next morning and you’ll see the petals have unfurled and it’s in full bloom!
It feels like it’s taking forever for me to learn how to do anything without falling over in my roller skates, but a week into my #365DaysofSkate challenge and I’ve got a smooth and mean spread eagle turn- at least to the right. 😂 I’d probably still be frustrated by my “lack” of progress if I didn’t have my Day 1 video to compare to my Day 7 one.
To borrow my coach Cera Byer’s metaphor, you gotta trust the oven to turn your batter into a cake. It won’t look like cake yet if you keep opening the oven door to check on it. You’ve got to trust that you already did your part in mixing up that batter and now you need to let the oven do it’s thing! Don’t worry, as Cera likes to say: THERE WILL BE CAKE.
You’ve done your part. You’re moving ahead. You’re on track, you’re going at the right pace. And when you regularly pause to reflect on how far you’ve come, you’ll gain so much faith in how far you can still go. ❤️
Did reading this just make you unclench a little? Excellent. Let’s keep you relaxed and ready to show up for your marketing. Get the support and strategy you need to go get your business dreams. Check out my Marketing Confidence Cheerleader Sessions- I can’t wait to get you as hyped about your mission as I am!
