Summer Business Affirmations: I Am Enough!
If you caught my last post, you already know I'm sharing a few mantras this summer that help keep me from burning out in my business.
This one is: I am enough.
During the last few months of school, my daughter and I started a new little morning routine. Which sort of inspired this whole series.
Instead of turning on the radio during our drive to school, we started listening to positive affirmations together.
Some of them felt pretty cheesy, but others we said out loud together, and it changed the whole feeling of our day.
One of those was: "I am enough."
Those three words stuck with me long after I dropped her off. Mostly because I hear the opposite from business owners all the time.
The Comparison Trap On Social Media
If you run a business and post on social media, you've probably felt like you’re not enough before.
You compare your first few weeks of posting to someone else's well-established feed without thinking about the whole team behind their posts. You compare a phone photo to a professional drone shot. You compare your follower count to a stranger's.
Somewhere in that comparison, a lot of business owners decide they're not ready to be online yet or they’re not enough to be there.
A lot of the time, we make excuses for when we will start posting. We tell ourselves we'll post once the logo is redone, or once the website is updated. That list of "once I" reasons can go on for years, and the actual posting never starts.
Even After 12 Years, I Still Second-Guess Myself
I've worked in social media for more than a decade, and I still catch myself hesitating before I hit publish.
Should I rewrite this caption? Should I record the video again?
Then I remind myself: The content that gets the biggest response is rarely the most polished one.
It's the quick video I record in my car after a meeting, so I don't forget an idea.
It's the behind-the-scenes photo from an event. (Selfies are kinda my thing now, actually, because they work so well.)
Those unplanned posts are the ones people message me about days or weeks later.
Is the audience who would expect a perfectly curated feed the one you want to talk to? No! You want the ones looking for a business owner they can relate to and trust.
A polished post can show what your business does. An off-the-cuff one shows who's behind it, and that's what keeps people coming back.
This is true whether you're posting on Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn.
Start Small, Starting Today
Let’s just start, today, right now.
Publish the post you've been overthinking, exactly as it is right now.
Or use a photo already on your phone instead of waiting for the "right" one.
Both get you posting today, instead of waiting for who knows how long!?
I Am Enough, and So Are You
So even if it feels cheesy, take a deep breath and say this out loud:
I'm enough to tell my story.
I'm enough to share what I've learned along the way.
I'm enough to show up exactly as I am today, not once everything is perfect.
The next time you catch yourself thinking you're not ready, think instead: I am enough. Then hit publish!