I’m almost two months into the parenting journey and I can’t help but notice the similarities between being a mom and running a business.
One of the most obvious comparisons I’ve picked up on is this: nothing can prepare you for this life.
No matter how many books you read, or how many articles you browse on the Internet…
No matter your best laid intentions and plans…
No matter all of the advice and anecdotes you hear from family and friends…
When I made the decision to quit my full-time job and start my own business, I knew there were sacrifices to be made.
Sure, I no longer had to suffer through the long commute to the city. Instead, I was the one who got to decide at what time I started my day. But I also had to find my own clients and do the work that would pay the bills (not to mention handle my own bookkeeping).
And yet, perhaps the most difficult sacrifice to accept as a young, female self-employed person is this: I don’t get a paid maternity leave.
As many of you know, I’m currently preparing for the next big evolution in my life: becoming a mom.
However, there’s a big part of my identity that I don’t want to lose in this transition—the business owner/entrepreneur, who has become a central part of the woman I am today.
I’m not naïve to the fact that this is probably going to be the most challenging point of my life so far. But I also believe that being a business owner will make me a better mom, and vice-versa. And while the scheduling will certainly overlap at times, the responsibilities will always be separate to me.
We have an exciting announcement to share with you all: the Web of Words team is growing…
However, our latest team member is a bit more demanding than most.
They’ve challenged me to give up two of my favourite indulgences: coffee and red wine.
They’ve required a nine-month training period before officially joining our world.
I once read somewhere that the way you spend New Year’s Eve will predict the way you spend the rest of the year. Personally, I was looking forward to ringing in 2018 surrounded by two of my favourite things: good food and good friends.
But if the past year taught me anything, it’s that life rarely goes as planned (so stop wasting your time worrying about all of the elements that are out of your control).
There’s a reason you didn’t see any celebratory Instagram story updates from Luke and I on NYE. First of all, we missed the countdown completely—and not because we went to bed early (that would have been a much better trade off). Instead, we were up all night facing Luke’s second battle with food poisoning (or some awful 24-hour bug) of the holiday.
On a positive note, we were dealing with it together, something we’ve really gotten the hang of, thanks to this whole business partnership thing. And rather than dwell on all that went wrong, this is the prediction I am taking with me into the new year: we’ll handle whatever comes our way, shoulder to shoulder, hand in hand.
If I knew then what I know now, I may have hesitated for a little while longer…
I may have decided to wait – to take more time to top up our emergency savings account, to really figure out our five-year plan.
The last two years haven’t been easy. There have been months when we struggled to pay all of the bills. Weeks when our work would come before our marriage. Days when we questioned whether we made the right choice.
But if there’s one lesson I’ve learned over the last few years, it’s that goals and plans are merely a guideline. While they certainly serve their purpose, it’s rare that all of the boxes get checked, that all of the steps fall gently into place.
Making big life decisions is hard. And when you tend to overthink everything (like I do), they weigh heavily upon your shoulders.
But I’ve learned quickly that action is better than inaction. It’s better to take a step in the wrong direction than to not move at all. It’s better to learn and grow from your mistakes than to miss out on an opportunity you never knew was there.
The truth is: You aren’t supposed to have it all figured out.
Your online presence is a representation of your brand.
It’s not enough to simply be present on your social media platforms – you have to be engaging.
This means taking your strategy beyond the last-minute posts you publish while standing in line to pay for your lunch.
It requires a thoughtful plan and strategy to ensure your content cuts through the noise online and helps build real, meaningful relationships with your audience.
Whether you are just sitting down and hammering this out for the first time, or you have attempted to put pen to paper on a strategy before, we’ve got you covered with the six key steps to creating connections that convert on social media.
Do you find yourself falling into the comparison trap on social media?
Everyone does it.
Not just on a personal level, but professionally too.
You see other business owners with more likes, more followers… And you feel like what you’re doing is never enough.
It’s an undertow of negativity; you try to fight against it, but it just keeps sucking you in.
The truth is, there will always be someone, somewhere who is doing more of this and less of that.
Don’t let them distract you from pursuing your own goals and values.
They’re not you.
And you’re only seeing a filtered version of their truth. You have no idea what’s really going on behind the curtain.
According to the New York Times, in the real world, The National Enquirer (a weekly publication) sells nearly three times as many copies as The Atlantic (a monthly) every year. But on Facebook, The Atlantic is 45 times more popular.
More likes doesn’t mean more business. It doesn’t mean greater success or happiness.
Have you ever been told you weren’t fit for a job before you even applied for it?
Has someone in a position of power ever suggested you wouldn’t rise to the top because you couldn’t “do it all?”
How would you respond if someone excluded you from a promotion simply based on your age and presumed life choices?
We know it’s illegal for employers to make hiring decisions based on a woman’s lifestyle. But what about when you do it to yourself?
How often are you skipping out on opportunities because you’re trying to “plan ahead?”
It’s a frightening reality for millennial women. We launch our careers in aim of big, ambitious goals, with dreams of our future children hiding in the back of our minds. Before long, our visions for having a family “one day” impact nearly every decision we make.
It’s like we’re preparing ourselves for this inevitable trade-off we’ve come to accept simply because the social norms suggest doing so.
One of the hardest things we have to do as social media marketers is explain to our clients that it’s NOT just about ‘likes’ and ‘followers’.
Admittedly, it is nice to see your popularity growing.
It’s easy to get sucked into measuring success through the like economy on social media.
But life—and business—is about so much more than that.