Why is it so hard to run a business at times ?

Do you sometimes feel alone in your business journey ?

Do you feel the weight of the hustle on random days ?

Me too babe.

I am the first assigned female at birth person in my family who is running their own business as a creative.

I am the first artist who “made it”.

But before “making it”, there were years of failing. Trying. Low wage jobs. Moving cities, moving countries, false hopes, pointless diplomas, unemployment.

I was pulled aside by my uncle the day before I moved to London. He asked me if I was planning on finding a decent job, as photography was only a dream that clearly wasn’t working.

Running a business involves a lot of re-parenting yourself. Most of the people I work with are also the pioneers in their own family. Sometimes, like mine, they don’t really understand jobs outside of the ones you learn when you learn a new language. (you know, “doctor”, “teacher”, “chef”) …

The voices in our head we hear when we hit a rough patch are not always ours. When our brain calls for safety (”maybe I should get a PAYE job”) to protect us from the discomfort of a low season, it uses doubts that were planted there by many years of worried family members who secretly don’t really believe that your little business is gonna survive.

Sometimes you need to regulate your own emotions, discipline yourself and be the supportive parent you needed to have.

You got this far.

You have proof of the transformation you bring to people.

You have proof you are changing lives.

Shit is going to come at you and your business because that’s what life does. If your first instinct is to believe your parents when they say “maybe get a real job”, think again. Reparent.