Yesterday I realized I hadn’t texted my mom all week. I asked how her week was going, she asked about mine, and I told her. On Wednesday I was a guest on a podcast and met someone for coffee. On Thursday I went to a meeting of a local consultants group, and Friday is my WordPress meetup. She wrote back, “You are right. You would have never have been able to do all this important stuff if you were working. I am so proud of you.”
She was answering something I told her before I left my job. I couldn’t find new clients if I never had time to get out and meet people.
I’m working on the little wins.
I wrote back, “I hope that all of this work gets me busier.” My mom told me she was proud of me, and instead of saying thank you, I answered with the work. I have a hard time celebrating little wins, and I’m working on it.
I thought I’d be hustling.
I started working for myself full-time on September 8, thirty days ago. Going in, I thought I’d be hustling a lot more than I have been, and I’m not sure yet whether it’s good that I haven’t. It’s 7 PM on a Friday as I write this, and instead of sitting at my computer, I’m about to go downstairs and hang out with my boyfriend. The work I have left can wait until tomorrow. It’s the weekend, and that’s okay.
When I had a full-time job, Friday night was for work. I had to get one task done Friday night so I could get the next one done on Saturday, and the next one after that on Sunday. Side work filled every hour the job didn’t. Now I can take time for something that isn’t work, and that’s a different feeling.
An up-and-down week.
This week went by in a blur. On Monday I got a couple of no-thank-yous and one of what Matt Ziemke, the treasurer of the Madison Area Business Consultants, calls a miserable maybe. On Tuesday I got a couple of yeses. Then came the rest of the week I’d listed for my mom: the podcast, the coffee, the consultants meeting, and the WordPress meetup.
Fuel or crutch.
At Thursday’s meeting we watched Dr. Jamaal Eubanks give a talk called “Fuel or Crutch,” about the mental preparation it takes to win as an entrepreneur. I’ve been asking myself that question about my own week ever since.
The no-thank-yous and the miserable maybe were a crutch at first. They made me feel like I needed to change my billing strategy. Then I realized the better change was in how I introduce my services, so that price doesn’t come first. Nobody’s going to buy something when they don’t know what it is. If you give someone a number before they understand what it buys, they say the number is too high and walk away, and that’s not how you sell anything. So the miserable maybe turned into fuel, and a reminder that there’s a different way to answer when someone asks for a number.
My mom was right about the week. I couldn’t have fit a podcast, a coffee, and two meetings around a full-time job. I still don’t know whether any of it will get me busier. It’s 7 on a Friday, though, and the work can wait until tomorrow. Going downstairs to hang out with my boyfriend is the win I’m letting myself have.
