While I am absolutely for growth and living more in alignment with my values and seasons, I am not putting that pressure on myself to suddenly and completely change. Forbes reports most people give up on their resolutions by mid-January.
In 2025, let’s not take on the pressure and then just burn out. Let’s not compare our journeys to someone else’s highlights and curated reels. Let’s not feel the pressure of the “new year new me” vibe.
Instead, Let’s talk about real and manageable growth with goals aligned to you, including your season of life and your values.
Do you ever just sense something is missing in your business?
It can feel overwhelming or like you are missing something that everyone else seems to know and be able to do. It’s the tension of where you are now compared to where you want to be and trying to find that one thing to connect the two pieces.
Maybe you’ve searched for the perfect course or video, the networking event that will just hit, or the web designer that will perfect your brand. Maybe you’ve screenshot a zillion ideas for later (or is that just me?) and then you hope and pray and wish that one of these things will be THE thing that shifts everything.
I get it. I’ve been there and am tempted to be there again right now especially with all the “this is my year posts.”
Here’s the truth: We are not missing some magical ONE thing.
When I’ve found myself searching for that perfect piece that magically makes everything better, I’ve felt overwhelmed, distracted, and I never applied all of the information I found. I devoured the info but struggled to let myself apply it messily and not worry about perfection. I was disappointed because the advice did not feel aligned to me or my life and it just did not fit with my brand and business.
I ended up right back where I started – feeling like something is missing, feeling frustrated again, and at a stand still for taking action.
So…what is it that’s missing?
What I have found again and again is that it is ME. Or in your case, YOU.
We all avoid doing what we need to do because it’s uncomfortable to get real about where we are in life and business but here is the truth: YOU are the most valuable part of your business. It is not a technique, a new brand logo, the perfect Instagram bio, on point branding, or a sleek website (those things have their place don’t get me wrong).
So often we let doubt creep in and deter us. You might be self sabotaging yourself by the stories you let live in your head rent free. You might be making excuses and using a busy life as the reason you cannot see movement in your goals.
“I cannot invest in myself. That feels selfish”
“I am just too busy to do that.”
“It won’t work for me.”
“It feels gross to self promote.”
“It is just beneath me to do that. People should come to me.”
“I don’t want to be icky and salesy.”
“I just can’t be as good as other people.”
“People will judge me.”
I have definitely told myself all of these and more. So how do we move out of the negativity?
By investing in ourselves.
Your business needs you to be the creative director, CEO, and decision maker. That’s a lot of roles, responsibilities and skills required in just one person. It’s why investing in YOU is the BEST investment you can make.
Investing in my own development and skills has remained consistent for me over the last 10 years in my business and through the many pivots my entrepreneurship journey has taken. My first big camera investment has been since sold on ebay but I’m still here, wiser and with so much personal growth because I learned to invest in myself.
While I have invested in courses, the most important investment I’ve made over the last 10 years is mentorship! Personalized 1:1 or group coaching has made a huge difference (Shout out to my current mentor Maddie! Her group coaching is for brand photographers and you can use my code ROX100 and we each get $100 off!) You value what you pay for and when you are held accountable by your investment and others who want you to win it matters.
Mentors are usually someone ahead of you – maybe in your direct line of business or maybe in a skill set – and often provide accountability when it comes to goal-setting and timelines. They provide honest, challenging, and more unbiased feedback than what we get from friends and family. And, that feedback comes through their own earned and lived experience. I value mentors for all those reasons and because there are things I cannot see because I am just too close to my own business.
In other seasons, mentors have actually helped me know what was NOT aligned to me. I once had a male mentor tell me an image was “not good enough and should not be on your website.” I thought it through and pushed back because I saw the value in the image. I knew it spoke to women. The feedback forced me to really think about why I loved that image and stood my ground. I also sold that image for publication a few months later for four figures which only reinforced the value and my ability to know my brand.
Investing in yourself changes your posture towards improvement because you are choosing YOU. The more you show up and put in real work to grow, the more you will grow in confidence. Investing in ourselves should always be a non-negotiable in building a business you love.
This image spoke to me about the community of women where I lived in Zanzibar and I knew it should be on my website. I learned to trust myself more.
Confidence and growth are exactly what I want for you.
That’s why I open up a few mentorship spots every year where I partner with female entrepreneurs to help them grow professionally and launch, develop or build their business. I partnered with Erin, who wanted to launch her photography business. Together, we created a roadmap that cut out the “stress and consistent failure that most entrepreneurs experience in hard lessons in their first five years of business.”
If you’re curious what mentorship involves and how it can help you, add me to your calendar for a free discovery call! I’m always happy to hear where you’re at and where you want to be. I’m also happy to share more of my experience and how I may be able to help your business grow.
Whether it’s with me or a different mentor, I hope that you’ll join me in investing in ourselves in 2025.
Cheering you on, Roxanne
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