Okay I think the 2 things that are really getting to me lately is that
- I have been running 50% off sales and I feel like if I can’t make sales during this time of the year, then I truly am a failure.
- I have a 0%apr credit card that goes back to having interest in January and I still have 6k to pay off (I recently put 6k on it that was not made by my business so really had 12k debt)
I am a very blessed person. I’m a sahm and our family is not balling by any means but we aren’t dependent on my business succeeding for bills or groceries.
Things have been going really well in my life outside of my business but I cannot move past how hopeless I feel because I’ve failed to even make 6k after nearly 9 months of putting in so much time and effort.
I try and dwell on the positive - like how my husband is supportive and how I really like having a project to work on anyway so doing this has kept my mind sharp and I’ve learned so much But i still feel like I’ve encountered SO much bad luck, like spending 2 days trying to take professional looking photos and they looked great on the camera screen but came out blurry in Lightroom - that’s just one example but it’s a LOT of stuff like that. Things that even though I try to have a positive mindset and tell myself - you’ll really only fail if you give up now. Anyway, I know it’s wild because there’s so much competition but in the most consumer driven, spendiest time of the year I still can’t get it right And now my only options are take money I didn’t earn to pay off my bills or transfer my balance to ANOTHER 0%apr credit card with a transfer fee. Either way all I see is the finish line ahead in the distance and knowing that I’m not going to get there. I guess I’m just looking for a sympathetic ear and anything I can do to be more positive! I hate being sad around the holidays!
Businesses fail often. People say it all the time but very few people listen.
The question you have to genuinely ask yourself is: How hard are you working at your business everyday? Are you putting in 4-6 hours a day to make it work? Or did you put in 4 hours one day and expect stuff to just magically happen? My typical work day is me working consistently 7 hours a day. Some days it’s more. Some days it’s less. Most days I work 7 hours consistently. 7 hours is not a lot for many business owners. Some are grinding 10-12 hours a day between various things.
So if you’re not grinding at your business, consistently putting in 4-6 hours a day, then maybe you have to consider the reason things aren’t working as you expected is simply because you had unrealistic expectations going into things.
There’s nothing wrong with that either. I did that with an adjacent business I tried. It happens. But it doesn’t mean you’re a failure either. Just means you’re unwilling to invest the time necessary to make the business successful. That’s a choice, not a failure.
I do put in those hours pretty consistently