“Making your mark on the world is hard. If it were easy, everybody would do it. But it’s not. It takes patience, it takes commitment, and it comes with plenty of failure along the way. The real test is not whether you avoid this failure, because you won’t. It’s whether you let it harden or shame you into inaction, or whether you learn from it; whether you choose to persevere.” – Barack Obama

With more and more people setting up online businesses and the popularity of social media marketing, it seems that everyone is now an overnight success.  So how do they do it?  What do they have that you don’t?  

If you’re in business and feeling overwhelmed, exhausted and on the verge of burnout and giving up, this post is for you!  

The first thing that’s important to keep in mind is that social media feeds are a showreel.  A carefully curated feed of images, quotes and copy that best represents the brand, company and individual.  We’re all human (accept you androids reading this) and we’re all subject to the trials and tribulations of life.  We all feel deeply, we all have multi-faceted lives, families, relationships, bills to pay and well, shit happens.

So take what you see online with a pinch of salt and keep in mind some may be hugely over inflating their showreels and others may be living their dream but there is rarely such a thing as an overnight success and in my opinion that’s not sustainable anyway – ever noticed that people who win large sums of money in the lottery often lose it all very quickly? – There’s a reason for that… They’ve probably not prepared for it.

So how do you prepare for ‘success’ and what’s the difference between those who have it (and keep it) and those who don’t – yet?

Work.  Time served.  Commitment.  Dedication.  Focus.  Perseverance. Heart & Hustle.

No one gets to avoid the work.  What you don’t often get to see on social media feeds are the loooooooong hours, weeks, months and years of preparation that goes into a successful business or project.  The sweat, blood, tears, tantrums and tiaras – hello princess style strop!  Erhem, I’ve never had one of those.

So if you’re just getting started in business and you’re comparing yourself to someone who’s been in their business for 10 years and wondering why they’re making millions and you can barely pay your rent, think about how much work they’ve had to put in to get to where they are.  Think of how much they’ve had to build their reputation and ‘know, like, trust’ factor to have 1m followers on Instagram.

Everyone starts at 0.

But what about those online businesses that you KNOW only started a few months ago and are already fully booked with clients and making the kind of money you can only dream of?  They’ve done the work too.  Maybe it seems like they haven’t done the work in their shiny new, super successful business but I promise you, they’ve done the preparation.  

Maybe those seemingly lucky individuals have spent years studying the best marketing secrets, maybe they have a top class business degree or MBA, or maybe, like me, they’ve had many successes and ‘failures’ with previous businesses and have done (and continue to do) all the self-development and external work needed to build a successful business and a life that feels as good on the inside as it looks on the outside.

Some are able to speed up the curve by copying those who have gone before, working with mentors and masterminding with those who know how to bridge the gap between where they are and where they desire to be, but no one who can do the work for you.

There are systems, structures and tools that will allow you to work smarter, not harder and help you to accelerate your success and avoid burnout but we’ll talk about that in another post…

Personally, I’ve been in and out of business for the last 10 years.  I had some success with previous businesses and have made plenty of mistakes and had plenty of learning experiences. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m still not where I desire to be, I don’t have a multi-million $ empire – yet!  And I desire to be of much higher service and make a much bigger positive impact during my time here.  But I am making more than I ever have before in my current (passion) business, I have more freedom, I am able to travel more and enjoying the life that I have created, that I am creating.

I am able to do all of the above because I didn’t skip the work – after 10 years of business experience I have learned a thing or two and I continue every day to learn, grow, tweak and refine.

I started Bodhi Babes in 2014 and so I am still nursing this baby out of infancy and into business childhood.  I know that this business will be a huge success, because of the work I’ve put in to get her here.  The ‘mistakes’ I made in previous businesses, in my life.  I am where I am today because of all that’s come before.  And where I am today is very much on the journey.  Enjoying the journey.  The present.  Now.

For me success lies is enjoying the journey and creating a business and life that feels good to me. Which will be completely different for you.  It is completely different for everyone.

• So what does success mean to YOU? 
• What would feel good in your business and life? 

Start there, work back from that and do the work.  

Forget what everyone else is doing, put your blinkers on, stay in your own lane and be of high service to your tribe.  Follow what lights you up, keep taking the next right actions and make sure you make lot of time for you, fun, friends family, r&r and joy – that’s why we do this right?!  

Keep showing up and doing YOU!  We need your unique gifts and message that only you have.  You’re doing a great job!

“Trust the process.”

Wishing you all the ‘success’ and joy on your journey.

x Louise 

If you’d like to hear about the 4 steps that have helped me to build my business and create the life I desire, which will help you take your purpose-driven business forwards, click on the image below for your FREE ‘Passion, Purpose, Profit video series.