What are you waiting for? Do I sound like Jennifer Love Hewitt in I Know What You Did Last Summer? I want to talk about a problem that many entrepreneurs face, especially when we first start our businesses. Stop Waiting for Permission in Business!
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How Early Stages Shape Our Cognitive Patterns
I have fallen victim to this quite a few times in my business. Therefore, I want to bring it out into the open so we can look at it, stare it in the face, and then say, bye, Felicia.
I think that this idea of waiting for permission all started when we were in school. The reason I say that is because school taught us that we can’t do anything without permission. For example, going to the bathroom, passing a class, moving on to the next subject. Because of this, we have this feeling, this NEED to always get permission to do something before we do it.
This then shows up in our business because it’s stuck in our subconscious minds as something that we must do before we do something.
Stop Waiting for Permission in Business Like I Did
Let me tell you how this has shown up for me in my business.
Before I started selling handmade party decorations on Etsy, I remember that I had created some party decorations for their children’s birthday party. At the party, people were always telling me that I should sell my stuff. However, I would say, “I don’t know if it’s good enough”, or “I’m not sure it’s professional enough.” And I think I was waiting for someone to invalidate my feelings and say, “No Lindsay, you have officially made some great items and therefore, you are now able to sell on Etsy.” I was waiting for the King of the internet, the guru of Etsy, the party decoration oracle to tell me that it was okay to get started. And guess what… that never happened.
Later, when I switched to selling printables, I remember feeling that very same way. I felt like even though I had made files for people in the past, there was a little voice in my head was telling me that I wasn’t ready. Again, I was waiting for permission from someone who would say, “You are good enough. You are worthy enough. I dub thee capable of selling printables on Etsy.”
I Continued to Wait for Permission in Business
Most recently, when I was considering teaching a course on how to make and sell printables, I felt the same way again. I said to myself, “Who am I to be doing this?” I looked at my competitors in the space and thought that they knew so much more than I did. And because I clearly didn’t know enough, maybe I needed to take more classes on how to sell printables. Even though I had sold over 10 thousand printables on Etsy myself! I still felt like I needed to wait for someone to tell me I was qualified enough. See, again, I was waiting for that permission from someone else. And we do this time and time again because we’ve been trained to think this way.
Something Leads to Something
We think, if ONLY I had more training, education or experience, then I could do this thing. But actually, the funny thing is that in our own lives, that hasn’t been how we’ve learned to do most of anything. When we first started walking, we didn’t wait for more education or training. We just had to DO it. And then we got better and better. And this leads to the idea that action creates clarity, or that something leads to something. You see, we don’t often know what our ideas are going to turn into until we take action on an idea.
No One is Coming to Give you Permission
The truth is, no one is going to give you permission. That is the message of this article today. And you’re probably waiting for permission because no one else around you is doing what you’re doing. No one has your vision. Therefore, you might have naysayers. You might have people telling you that it’s not a good idea. And that’s because they don’t have your vision or your idea. There’s a book out called Worthy by Jaime Kern Lima that says, “You’re not crazy, you’re just the first.” You can feel like a crazy person when you have this idea, yet no one around you is supporting you. They just don’t get it. And that’s because you’re the first. So don’t wait for that permission because it’s never going to come.
When we bypass the permission, and we go straight into action, amazing things can happen. Again, something always leads to something. So I want you to take this encouragement today and take action on something that you’re excited about starting in your business. Take action on something that scares you because, as I always love to quote, everything you want is on the other side of fear.
I love to help you celebrate life through printables and personal development! But above all, I’d love to connect with you. Reach out to me on Instagram, and let’s chat.
xoxo, Lindsay
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