I've been meeting a lot of women lately that are also in the process of building their business. I've found that the favored metaphor for building a business is building a house. Authors write about laying your foundation, putting up the frame, et cetera and so on. However, since I'm not much of a carpenter, I find myself thinking of my own business as a garden. Every day I try to plant a seed, through networking, blogging, putting up a flyer, that will hopefully help my business grow. I also tend to what I've already planted, by contacting the people I've connected with or taking the time to brush up on my knowledge of Chinese Medicine.
Gardening - and I mean actual gardening, not the metaphoric kind - has become sort of a meditation for me. I think of my growing business whenever I plant a new seedling, and I feel like it's helped me clarify some of the lessons I've heard repeated by my mentors and teachers throughout this process. Here are a few things I've learned.
When in doubt, go for a sure thing. When I first started gardening, I loved the idea of growing things that nobody else had - rare herbs, strange fruits, weird heirloom varieties that were on the brink of extinction. I ended up with a lot of things that didn't even sprout, or weren't suited for my climate, or yielded one or two sad little fruits after taking up valuable space in the garden. There's a reason why certain things are popular - they work! I find this applies to my business as well. We're always being told to "think outside the box" and dream up some new way of doing things, and yes - a certain amount of experimenting can pay off. But there's no shame in investigating what your peers are doing (how they're marketing, what services they're using, how their websites are laid out) and then adding your own personal touches.
Don't take on too much at once. Looking at the seed catalogs when they arrive in January, I get the itch to buy just about everything I see. I always have to remind myself that I have limited resources, and if I plant too much at once I'll get burned out. It's better to make a more modest start and be able to fully tend to your small plot than find yourself strapped for time, cash, and energy, letting everything get taken over by weeds. There will be time to take on more next season.
Invest in perennials. An asparagus bed takes 8 years to get established, but once it does it requires very little care. Likewise, strawberries rarely yield the first year, but are one of the first and most reliable things to come up once the snow melts in the springtime. If you're planning on being in business for years to come, it's best to think in the long-term. Maybe you place an ad or run a promotion that doesn't exactly pay off right away, but you never know when someone will need your service and happen to remember your name, months or ever years later. You never know when a seed you planted will suddenly bear fruit.
Don't give up on the runt. On the same token, don't give up on something just because it's looking a little scraggly. I've heard again and again that consistency is key when it comes to starting a business. For instance, maybe you're having misgivings about the location you chose. It takes a long time to start getting clients in the door, and when you decide to pick up and move, you're basically starting over at square one. As someone who's always tempted to move on to the "next big thing," I often repeat this as my mantra: "When you want to reach water, it's better to pick one spot and keep digging than to dig 100 shallow holes." Give things a proper chance to run their course, and you're more likely to be rewarded.
There's only so much you can do. At the end of the day, you have to trust that the seed, the soil, and the sunshine know what they're doing. Same goes for marketing - sometimes you just have to toss your seeds into the wind and hope for the best. There's no use fretting over what you can't control.
So that's the metaphor that works for me! Do you have any good ones?
Gardening - and I mean actual gardening, not the metaphoric kind - has become sort of a meditation for me. I think of my growing business whenever I plant a new seedling, and I feel like it's helped me clarify some of the lessons I've heard repeated by my mentors and teachers throughout this process. Here are a few things I've learned.
When in doubt, go for a sure thing. When I first started gardening, I loved the idea of growing things that nobody else had - rare herbs, strange fruits, weird heirloom varieties that were on the brink of extinction. I ended up with a lot of things that didn't even sprout, or weren't suited for my climate, or yielded one or two sad little fruits after taking up valuable space in the garden. There's a reason why certain things are popular - they work! I find this applies to my business as well. We're always being told to "think outside the box" and dream up some new way of doing things, and yes - a certain amount of experimenting can pay off. But there's no shame in investigating what your peers are doing (how they're marketing, what services they're using, how their websites are laid out) and then adding your own personal touches.
I buy the same seed mix for lettuce every year from Pinetree Seeds. It's always the firs thing I plant.
Don't take on too much at once. Looking at the seed catalogs when they arrive in January, I get the itch to buy just about everything I see. I always have to remind myself that I have limited resources, and if I plant too much at once I'll get burned out. It's better to make a more modest start and be able to fully tend to your small plot than find yourself strapped for time, cash, and energy, letting everything get taken over by weeds. There will be time to take on more next season.
Lady's Mantle, or Alchemilla. Any easy-care, attractive perennial with medicinal qualities.
Invest in perennials. An asparagus bed takes 8 years to get established, but once it does it requires very little care. Likewise, strawberries rarely yield the first year, but are one of the first and most reliable things to come up once the snow melts in the springtime. If you're planning on being in business for years to come, it's best to think in the long-term. Maybe you place an ad or run a promotion that doesn't exactly pay off right away, but you never know when someone will need your service and happen to remember your name, months or ever years later. You never know when a seed you planted will suddenly bear fruit.
"Provider" Bush beans ready to be transplanted
I almost gave up on my tulips this year - they came up much later than the other tulips around the neighborhood! But lo and behold, they popped up just in time for the gorgeous spring weather
There's only so much you can do. At the end of the day, you have to trust that the seed, the soil, and the sunshine know what they're doing. Same goes for marketing - sometimes you just have to toss your seeds into the wind and hope for the best. There's no use fretting over what you can't control.
So that's the metaphor that works for me! Do you have any good ones?
