Does running your own biz make you feel stranded?
Others seem to know exactly how to build their business.
They set audacious goals. They plan their actions. They achieve their dreams.
Sounds brilliant, doesn’t it?
But how does it work for you? Does business planning leave you confused, stuck, and stressed?
Planning my own business has always felt like an impossible task. I faced too many unknowns. And too many options.
When you look at my business now, you may think I’ve always known what I was doing.
But that’s far from the truth.
I’ve stumbled around in the dark.
Most business advice assumes you know your destination
Many business gurus tell you to dream BIG.
And to follow their fool-proof blueprint.
It never worked for me.
I used to think building a business is like planning a cycle trip. You decide on your destination. You know how many miles you can cycle per day. You look for hotels, inns, and B&Bs along the route.
But business planning doesn’t work like that—at least not for me. I didn’t know my destination. I couldn’t plan my overnight stops. Heck, I wasn’t even sure whether I wanted to cycle or travel by hot air balloon.
Shall I explain how I built my business without having a clue where I was going?
Focus on the next step
Possibilities are endless, right?
Do you want to freelance or run courses? Do you like coaching one-on-one or want to sell books and DIY courses? Do you want to sell to freelancers or CEOs? To marketers or sales people?
When feeling overwhelmed by too many questions, I get unstuck by focusing on the next useful step.
When I started my business, for instance, I didn’t know how I’d make money. I didn’t know what I’d like to do or what I wanted to sell.
So I decided to start with the first step: Build an audience. I had learned how to write and how to pitch guest posts, so that’s what I set out to do.
And I didn’t get it right.
I wanted to attract marketers at small and medium-sized companies because that’s an audience I knew.
But the people I attracted were mainly freelancers and small-biz owners.
And you know what?
Instead of changing my marketing tactics to attract the “right” audience, I changed my ideal reader profile. Because I enjoyed working with freelancers and small-biz owners.
I grew my business by trial and error. I learned to get comfortable with unknowns and followed my curiosity.
Decide with both heart and mind
In a solo-biz, planning is hard because profitability isn’t the sole predictor of your success. You want to enjoy what you’re doing—even if you might not know yet what your passion is. I, for instance, had no idea I’d enjoy writing and teaching others how to write.
For each decision you must balance two requirements:
- Does this decision make business sense?
- Does it feel good, too?
For instance, when injury struck late 2014, I had to reduce my working hours drastically. I choose which tasks to do based on a mix of business sense and feel-good factor:
- I made more money per hour by copywriting than by teaching my courses. However, helping people find their voice and express their ideas excites and inspires me more. So I decided to continue with my writing courses and to quit freelance copywriting. Money can’t be the sole driver of your business decisions.
- While my hand-drawn cartoons have become part of my brand, the business benefit is hard to define. However, as I enjoy drawing and find it relaxing, I chose to continue with hand-drawing my blog illustrations. You don’t need to maximize productivity.
- In the world of growth hacking, you promote each piece of content like crazy. But I prefer content creation to promotion, so I promote less and write more.
Don’t make decisions based on what other people say. Learn to trust your own judgement, and let both your heart and your mind guide you.
Find out what resonates
When you focus on building your business step by step, you become more open-minded; and you’ll find surprising opportunities on your way.
If you had told me early 2012, that I’d be hired as a copywriter, I would have laughed at you. I’m not even a native English speaker, so the idea of working as a copywriter seemed ridiculous to me.
Writing books about blogging and copywriting? Even more idiotic. Early 2012, I didn’t even consider myself a writer.
I didn’t plan to be a copywriter. I didn’t plan to write books. I didn’t plan to teach business writing courses.
But I followed my curiosity and listened to my audience:
- Soon after I had launched my blog, I offered a limited number of free web reviews by Skype to the people on my email list. I learned they struggled with both what to write and how to write it, and because they didn’t follow a process, their writing got muddled up. That’s how I came up with the idea for my book How to Write Seductive Web Copy.
- I developed the Enchanting Copywriting course after participants in my blogging course told me exactly what they wanted my next course to be.
- My guide on writing About pages? A blog post about the same topic generated one of my highest open and click-rates. Together with the comments and emails I received, I knew people were interested in this book because it’s one of the hardest web pages to write.
- My book Blog to Win Business and my Enchanting Business Blogging course were a little different—I wrote what I wished I’d had when I started my blogging journey.
When you learn how to ask questions and listen well, you find out what resonates with your audience. Keep an open mind, experiment, and let new opportunities surprise you.
Becoming my own boss has been harder than I imagined
I was crap at managing myself.
I can empathize with others, but accepting my own weaknesses?
No way.
I constantly fought with myself. I thought I was weak, unproductive and slow. A hopeless decision maker.
But over time, I’ve learned to accept my weaknesses and to go with the flow.
Build your business your way
The dominant business voices may seem to come from super-productive extroverts who know exactly what they’re doing.
Don’t let their dominance fool you.
You don’t have to be like them.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re introverted or highly sensitive, whether you feel quickly overwhelmed or whether hairy goals scare you, whether you haven’t found a passion yet.
You can find your own path. One step at a time.
So follow your curiosity.
Hop into the basket of that hot air balloon and see where the wind takes you.
Float across landscapes. Enjoy the views. And find a surprisingly delightful spot to land.
PS This post was inspired by questions, comments and conversations with various people. A recent email conversation with Kathy Keats nudged me to finally write this. Thank you all for your inspiration and encouragement.
Recommended reading on building your business:
Are these 5 common beliefs sabotaging your online marketing?
How to suck the spirit out of your solo-biz
How to write a business manifesto (for a tiny biz)
Wow!! I just didnt want this piece to come to an end .. lovely content Henneke
Thank you 🙂
Wow…just wow…finally someone put into words what I am EXACTLY feeling right now in my business. As a copywriter, I haven’t found my niche and go back and forth like a ship on what market to pitch to. I forgot all about the most important part for me…FUN!
Thank you for being transparent and writing this post! I appreciate you, Henneke!
Thank you so much for your lovely comment, Griffin.
Defining a niche isn’t easy – I think following your curiosity helps and seeing it as a trial-and-error process. You’ll stumbling across a niche you’ll love unexpectedly 🙂
Happy writing!
I am just finishing up your snack able writing course, I’m so glad I found you! This piece has undoubtedly helped many already including me. You are the bomb dot com Henneke.
Hi Lisa, Nice to meet you 🙂
Thank you for your lovely comment. I appreciate it!
Henneke:
All I can say is it’s a good thing I didn’t read this before I hit publish on my last post! My piece on this same info pales in comparison:(
But, obviously I was participating in the same interview as you, that’s for sure!! And it inspired us both to write about it:))
We are a group of insubordinate souls, aren’t we? lol
I feel the same as you in that success is not about the almighty dollar, overall.
Best to you and thank you for your ever-inspiring words and hard work. Sue-Ann
Hey Sue-Ann, we just approached our articles in a different way. Different doesn’t mean better. 🙂
I’m grateful for all your support. Keep rocking!
Hi Henneke,
Thank you for writing and sharing this post.
I am so over the ‘gurus’ shouting from the pulpit of their own ‘success’. It is refreshing to read encouragement to create and grow a head AND heart business. Success is important of course (whatever that means to each of us). But flowing towards that which resonates with you and your real customers, now that is priceless.
I love and appreciate the tone of your words – not so much giving permission (not needed nor given) but more like a genuine and heartfelt ‘what are you waiting for?’
Smooth.
Cheers! for this 🙂
Hi Nicole
We don’t need permission to create a business around our own needs, do we? 🙂
Interesting that you mention success. I was thinking about success recently. When I thought of how to draw success, I initially thought about the symbols of success like money, expensive clothing, a big car, lots of social media followers. But when I asked myself: what does success mean to me, it’s much more intangible – inspiring people to express their ideas makes me happy; and feeling content is more important than a big car 🙂
It was an important reminder to me to do what I value not what I think other people value.
Permission is definitely not needed in the slightest!! 🙂
Appreciating the reminders about the crafting your own meaning of success based on values that are true to you. Here’s to staying the course…
“Live the life you love. Love the life you live.” ~ Bob Marley
Yes, here’s to staying the course (it’s often harder than it appears!).
Thank you, Nicole!
I love the wisdom in your post, Henneke. I tried and then walked away from an expensive hyped up business coaching course because it was all about formula’s and templates and no heart. Before then, and since, I was and now again do, just as you describe. Focus on the next step in front of me. Always with an eye on what is good for my clients, my business and my heart.
“what is good for my clients, my business and my heart”
That sums it up beautifully, Fiona.
Most courses are promoted in such a pushy way that I feel real resistance to doing them. Your comment confirms to me that it’s probably good to follow my gut instinct and not sign up if it doesn’t feel right.
Thank you for adding your thoughts!
Henneke, this post really speaks to where I am today — stuck. As a mature person, I am trying desperately not to lose my goal of starting a blog. I’ve read so many approaches on what and how that I may have gotten lost in neverland. Your approach, however, brings me back to a reality that I needed to be reminded — that to build a successful business means finding and charting a path (step by step) that works specifically for me — one that may not follow the clamor of dominant voices around me. Great nuggets in this post! Truly inspirational and on point! Thank you.
Thank you so much for commenting, Patricia.
I think one of the things that’s sabotaging many of us (me included) is feeling that we do not know enough. So we listen to another podcast, join another newsletter, take another course. It’s a great way to getting overwhelmed and stuck.
We’ll never know everything so we have to learn to be comfortable with not-knowing and asking ourselves whether we know enough to take a first step.
Good luck with starting your blog. Let me know if you have any specific questions?
Loved this post, Henneke. It really resonated with me. Thank you.
I’m glad to hear that, Eric! Thank you for stopping by to let me know 🙂
Dear Henneke, your post touched my heart. You encourage us to be ourselves and to go on, but it’s not so easy in a digital world where there are a lot of people who seem strong, having no problem and knowing what to do.
There’s a point that makes me nervous. I often think that if you start a new business, you have to attend a lot of courses, to read a lot of book, to graduate in a university… at the same time or in few months.
Reading your post I have not known if you attended courses, studied at the university, read 200 books in few months, studied and worked 130 Hours a week (like in American movies…). Or if you studied by yourself, step by step, day by day without stressing your mind.
And how did you learned English so well? 🙂
I’ve lived in the UK since early 2002, so that has helped a lot to improve my English 🙂
I haven’t taken a lot of courses. I did courses on guest blogging, creating e-courses, writing/promoting Kindle books, and drawing cartoons. When I started, I received a lot of advice by being a member of the Third Tribe forums (now called Authority from Rainmaker).
Before setting up my own business, I had already a decent understanding of search engine optimization and I have a background in traditional marketing.
I’ve learned a lot by doing. I feel taking a lot of courses might make life only more confusing (different courses will have different blueprints that might contradict each other). There’s still a lot I don’t know, but I can’t do a lot more than what I’m doing already; and my business doesn’t seem to suffer if I don’t know anything about, for instance, Pay Per Click, online PR, Facebook, Instagram. I focus my attention on a small number of activities to stop feeling overwhelmed (and I try to ignore all online course sellers who try to make me feel stupid and are promising me magic solutions 😉 )
Hi Henneke,
I think it does help to know your destination when starting out, because it gives you focus. But, I also think you’re right ab out not necessarily knowing fully where you want to be. And letting your clients give you the answer for what path you want to follow.
And I also think you hit on an important point: satisfaction and comfort in business is often better for us than the best way to make loads of money.
Build your business your way – a helpful mantra.
Cheers!
– Tom
Yes, it helps a lot when you know your destination. However, not knowing the exact destination doesn’t need to lead to analysis paralysis. I found it quite hard to know precisely where I was heading.
And yes, we all want to make a decent living, but we also want to enjoy our work 🙂
I always appreciate it when you’re stopping by, Tom!
Wauw Henneke, jij kan schrijven. Indrukwekkend.
Thank you, Anouk!
Henneke, for someone who is stuck, this post is like a giant glass of water on a hot dehydrating day.
My favourite line “Heck, I wasn’t even sure whether I wanted to cycle or travel by hot air balloon.” 🙂
Did you enjoy the slice of lime in your glass of water? 😉
Thank you for your lovely comment, Gay. Finding the right path can be hard!
Hi Henneke,
I think we took the same course for Guest Posting since your picture is there in the hall of stars.
I worked in fitness training for years. At one time I had a gym but then went to personal training. I learned that not everything is for everybody.
What works great for this person does not get it done for that person. There wasn’t any one size fits all.
I am new to this business, 14 months, but it seems to me the same thing applies here. Each of us has to find our own way. Sure many of us use the same tactics, follow the same advice and stick to a similar blue print, but implementation and timing differs.
In fact, in my 14 month opinion, it’s the differences in the work that decides if we succeed or not. Let’s face it just about every subject that concerns our businesses has been covered and covered some more.
If I can learn how to take that same information and present it in a unique appealing manner that is jaw dropping :-)I may be on to something.
Or perhaps I do not have enough experience yet and have no idea what I am talking about. We will see.
Barry
“At one time I had a gym but then went to personal training. I learned that not everything is for everybody.”
This is such a great analogy. With fitness, we all have different experiences, different bodies, and different personal preferences, so you’d take that into account with your training plan. With building a business it’s exactly the same: we have different skills, experiences, and preferences. So, we’ll adapt and have to choose what works for us.
And I agree with you that it’s our unique voice / positioning / values that make us stand out and attract a specific audience.
Good to see you again!
Pitch perfect, Henneke — and just what I needed right now (how do you always manage to do that? 😉 ) Many thanks
– Anne
It’s telepathy, Anne 😉
Thank you Henneke for actually writing this.
Something you said really stood out to me. “Instead of changing my marketing tactics to attract the “right” audience, I changed my ideal reader profile. Because I enjoyed working with freelancers and small-biz owners.”
That’s key and something to really pay attention to. Because even if we do create an ideal profile, if another one appears that’s just as good and that you’re interested in, by all means change it.
Once again you share something that’s truly inspiring and awesome. Thanks a million for this and hope you have an unbelievably great rest of the week.
– Andrew
Yes, it’s interesting how that happens, isn’t it?
When I started out, I would have thought that I couldn’t have written for freelancers and small-biz owners because I didn’t think I knew them well enough. But somehow I still attracted them and the more I learned from & about them, the more I realized they were a much better fit for my business than marketers at small businesses.
Thank you for stopping by, Andrew. I’m glad you found this inspiring!
This post came at just the right time for me, Henneke! I’m in the middle of changing my Ideal Reader now instead of retargeting the people I originally thought I wanted. In my marketing job, I’d normally do differently but my gut feeling’s the opposite way. Thanks for confirming what I already knew and helping me be comfortable with uncertainty!
I’ve found the same thing – I approach decisions completely different in my own business compared to my old marketing job. Following my gut feeling now works quite well.
Thank you for stopping by to leave a comment, Daisy. I appreciate it!
As always Henneke, you have managed to show a different path and show us there are other ways to do things. Your post is inspiring, because yes – it is a struggle when the game plan doesn’t go as you hoped. But there are often suggestions of what will work in the small successes. Keep up the good work!
That’s a great point – look at the small successes and see what you can learn from them.
Thank you for adding your thoughts, Chris. I appreciate it. And it’s good to see you again!
I’m am once again thrilled to read your post. As everyone has stated, you are so down to earth and brutally honest, it’s refreshing. I just keep thinking, what do I want to do, how do I want to do it, am I good enough to do that, etc. This post helped nudge me towards just getting started, figure it out along the way. Thank you again, Henneke. Keep doing what you are doing, it’s an honor to have found your blog.
I’ve felt the same, Donna. Too many questions and no clear answers. One trick I used to fool myself into getting started is to approach everything as a trial or experiment. For instance: let’s see whether I can get a guest post published, and once that has happened I can decide what to do next. It’s amazing how action can build courage and create moment.
Thank you for your lovely comment, Donna!
Thanks a ton, Henneke.
Though each line is super-relevant, I loved this the best: “Focus on the next step.”
This post is a keeper.
It reminded me of my favorite Gibran quote: “Work is love made visible.”
Thanks, Henneke, for being so you. 🙂
That’s a beautiful quote. Thank you for sharing, Rohi. I appreciate it!
I definitely think “focusing on the next step” is really good advice, especially for people just starting out. It’s easy to feel lost.
Yep, and that first step often feels like the most difficult step to take because that’s when we’re most overwhelmed and that’s when taking action feels scariest. But taking the wrong step doesn’t matter as much as we think. Getting started (anywhere!) is more important.
Thank you for stopping by, Wyatt!
I so much appreciate our conversation and this post. You’ve inspired me to embrace the uncertainty, but also to be more aware of the uncertainty in others and to be empathetic to it. (And ironically, the dominant business voices are often no more certain than the rest of us.) 😉 All we have control of is the next step. And we don’t need to judge it as right or wrong. Any step is a good step. Thanks for being such a gift.
In my experience, a lot of my stress is caused by trying to control things I can’t control. Once you let go and accept that uncertainty exists, life becomes a lot more relaxed (and perhaps more interesting, too?)
Thank YOU for inspiring this post.
Excellent post and very timely for me. I’m a planner by nature but, mainly just a road map with mile markers. Not a lot of detail. I do need to know that I’m heading north but, not to concerned with where I’m going to end up. So more about enjoying the journey of developing and running a business and not having to to know the exact day to day details.
Yes, so true – enjoying the journey is so important. This took me a while to understand. I thought it was about reaching goals. But when you can enjoy the journey, those goals become less important.
Thank you for adding your thoughts, Manch.
This is quite inspirational Henneke,
Running a solo business where you have to make all the decisions is never easy at all. Like you, I also tinkered around for about 2 and half years after I created my blog. Always wondering what to do next.
I’ve realized that staying focused is one thing most internet entrepreneurs often find very daunting. There’s always something new and shiny that’ll pull your attention.
As I’m typing this now, I’m very confused. Have lots of ideas flowing through my mind but don’t know which to attack first.
I’m thinking of either publishing on kindle which has been on my to-do list for long now, starting a super authority site on a different niche outside internet marketing or promoting my blog and services to attract more clients.
These and more are what I’m thinking about right now and to be honest, I’m yet to decide on what to do next. However, this post really helped.
But not withstanding all these, I’m still happy I’m here.
This is lovely as always Henneke, thanks for sharing 🙂
When I’m confronted with too many ideas, I try to think what’s most important in my business right now. For instance, do I need to grow traffic or improve conversions to my email list or do I need to a better product offer?
Once I know what the main aim right now is, I can usually put aside a lot of the ideas for later. Then I choose which idea to pick based on what appeals most to me (what feels good) and what is most likely to help me reach my goal (what makes business sense).
Thank you for stopping by again, Theodore!
Henneke, I love the advice about following your curiosity. That seems to be cropping up a lot in my life. And now you too! I think its a wonderful way to let your heart (and eventually your mind) show you the way. Thanks so much.
I prefer the idea of following my curiosity compared to following my passion. I can figure out what makes me curious, but what I’m passionate about feels more difficult. Now I have a better idea of what my passions are, but a few years ago when starting my business, I didn’t have a clue.
This is why your blog so resonates with me, Henneke ~ Build your business your way – exactly! It probably has more to do with my stubbornness and hating to be told what to do that I do not respond well to you must do it this way advice.
I am in such a different place in my life. I may have taken some of that advice 20 years ago (okay, maybe not). 😉 We each have to find our own path. I’ll let you know when I get there. 🙂
Ah, yes, I’m stubborn and rebellious, too. My former boss would have said recalcitrant and insubordinate 😉
I’m always happy to see your name pop up, Cathy. Here’s to the quiet rebels!
😉
I, too, find this to be a delightful, motivating, and big-sigh-of-relief-inducing article. For years now I’ve been delaying really throwing myself fully into my business because I just have not been able to figure out precisely where I’m going. I love this reminder that all I have to worry about is whatever feels like the next step. Thank you!
I love your expression “big-sigh-of-relief-inducing!”
For some of us, it doesn’t seem to be possible to figure out beforehand where we’re going. So instead of trying to find our compass, it’s better to take a step and figure things out along the way. Taking the wrong step is better than doing nothing. 🙂
This was just what I needed to read. Thank you for sharing it. I too am finally learning to embrace my quirks as a freelancer, instead of trying to fit into a mold that wasn’t made for me.
When I stopped trying to fit in, I started to enjoy running my business a lot more.
I’m glad you found this useful, Cindy. Thank you for stopping by to comment.
Thank you, this is good and v helpful.
Great!
I. Love. This.
Thank you, Henneke. This is exactly what I needed to read today.
I have been thinking about writing a blog and building a business for the last couple of years and haven’t moved forward with it — the amount of advice out there can be paralyzing. Lately, there’s been this niggling in my gut telling me to follow my heart and take a step that feels good.
So, after following your blog for about a month, I bought a couple of your books about a week ago. I’ve been working through your blogging book and have loved every step. Out of all of the advice out there, your down-to-earth, easy-to-digest, and fun teaching style has me movin’ on my blog.
Thank you again for sharing your knowledge and experience.
Go for it, Liz!
Let me know if you have any specific questions about starting your blog? I’m happy to help.
Thank you for your lovely comment.
Another outstanding post, Henneke. I am one of those people who does a pretty good job of setting forth the steps for other people to take in moving ahead. As for my own development of business …. sheeeesh! People always tell me they assume that I am printing money (ahem!).
Your words are the common sense guidelines that most of us just can’t see along the way. You have great insight and a fine way of getting your point across. Thanks again for a great post!
I also was pretty good at planning when I was in my corporate job, but when I started my own business it was completely different!
I appreciate your comment, Bill. Thank you for stopping by again.
Thanks, Henneke! I’ve always built ships while I sail them. I never start out with a set plan. Inspired by others’ plans, absolutely, but I can never follow them. Your post helps me relax a bit that my creative style can be employed as a new solopreneur, too. I get so worried about the “I don’t know what I don’t know’s,” and even when I learn still feel like I don’t know what I’m doing. But one step at a time as it’s presented to me and as I have time and energy for it, sounds as though can work, too. Big sigh of relief. now, on to the next step…
“I’ve always built ships while I sail them.”
I love that idea! I do the same.
Thank you for stopping by, Lisa. I appreciate your comment.
Henneke – thank you for this wonderfully inspiring article. It came along just in time for me because although I am a copywriter, I am also an artist and want to build that business. But I’ve felt overwhelmed by the planning and advice from the dominant extroverts. It is such a relief to just focus on the next step I feel guided to do and let things unfold. It’s perfect for a introverted, highly sensitive like me who feels easily overwhelmed.
I find it amazing when people know exactly what they want to do and can map out their journey. I admire that. It just hasn’t worked for me. I need a general sense of direction and then take it tiny step by tiny step. And along the way the initial direction might totally change because new ideas or unexpected opportunities turn up.
Thank you for your lovely comment, Patti.
This is the most sensitive articles I have read in a long time. Well done Henneke! When it is true that we can be inspired by what others have done, to pay attention to what we feel is crucial. Thank you for this blog entry.
Monique
Know yourself, shine your light and be stress free.
MoniqueChabot.info – and the “.com” is on the rebuilding phase.
It’s interesting that you use the word “sensitive.” For a long time, I’ve seen my sensitivity as a weakness. In my corporate life, I was told to toughen up. But since I’ve learned to accept that that’s how I am, I can see the positive side of being sensitive, too.
Thank you for stopping by, Monique. I appreciate it.
It was the same for me too. It became not only counterproductive but highly (self) destructive seen this as weakness. However, when this sensitivity was used in accordance with who I am, it became very powerful. The most interesting is that I was getting, in my life and coaching business, with no pity for the ego while expressing more compassion and love for my clients/people. In a great position to express love. What a GIFT! Congratulation Henneke!
“I thought I was weak, unproductive and slow. A hopeless decision maker.”
You pegged me, and I finally know why I constantly come here, first, why I cannot wait for Tuesdays, even though I know I’ll have a tutoring student in a couple of hours (in another language than my own!) I have seen your beginnings and your struggle (although it’s not so very noticeable, but I’ve had my microscope on you! Ha!) I have noticed, yes, changes in direction, and the changes have always answered some of my deepest questions, and even loudest complaints.
Of course, there is also the awe at the drawings and the amazing skill at English. (I tutor in English and you amaze me!) I’ve spent so much money on those big names, but I found my happy place with a simple lady from somewhere else, who gets it.
“Do the Next Thing” has, for a very long time, been my life motto, even my survival credo, and I did not even realize that when I’m online, I do not follow it.
NO MORE.
Always a revelation when I come here. Thanks so much.
You must have indeed been watching me with your microscope! 🙂
Sometimes I’m hardly aware I’m slowly changing direction. It’s not always a conscious decision. It just happens. I try something different and it sticks.
I appreciate all your support and encouragement during this long journey, Katharine. Thank you.
I LOVE this. We are absolutely bombarded with those voices, those prescriptive formulas. It doesn’t have to be that way. Thank you for being a (funny, real) voice of reason.
Thank you so much, Candice. More and more I find myself ignoring those voices, formulas and blueprints. It’s too noisy and overwhelming for me 🙂
Love this post Henneke! And I agree that freelance copywriting is more lucrative but it is less fulfilling than pursuing other writing projects, in my cases, that is. 🙂 And it’s a breath of fresh air that someone said they’d prefer writing more than promoting more.
Thank you, Joy. And great to see you again!
To be clear, I don’t think we can abandon content promotion completely – we still need to use some tactics to attract an audience, but again I’ve chosen the tactics that suit me most, like guest blogging, creating SlideShare presentations, and writing detailed posts on specific topics for SEO.
This is one of the best posts on starting your own business I have ever read. Thanks for being our there and for giving people a huge injection of motivation.
Wow. That’s a big compliment. Thank you, Jacek.
Btw, I love drawing too, and I was wondering what is your process of digitalising your drawings. I mean, do you first draw, then scan ? Or do you you a graphic tablet? Ever thought of writing a post about it? 🙂
Have a great day!
I’m drawing the old-fashioned way. First, I sketch with a pencil, then I use nib & ink, lastly colored pencils. And then use a simple scanner to create the digital image. I use Pixlr.com to add the border and the text.
I’ve co-written a guest post for Copyblogger about it: http://www.copyblogger.com/simple-captivating-drawings/
A-ha! I’ve been wondering how to do it, thanks a lot.
Thank you Henneke for a glimpse into what it takes to become a successful entrepreneur. I know that for myself, I continually struggle with trying to create a game plan when in actuality, I don’t know what I don’t know.
Your advice of taking it one step at a time is something that resonates for me since I believe that ‘beginning with the end in mind’ is actually causing me more problems.
Also I’ve slowly been learning to honor my heart as well as my mind. Your advice is helping me to do more heart-listening.
Thank you, I really appreciate all your great advice.
Game plans might work for some people, but not for everyone. In my experience, game plans can be hugely demotivating when they don’t work.
And as you rightly point out, if you don’t know what the final goal should be, how can you create your game plan?