Hey everyone,
This month marks the three-year birthday of my business in the UK.
Coincidentally, this month is when I found myself in the office of a new accountant, having a conversation about cash projections for the next two to three years, the needs of our growing business, and handling employees and pensions.
Suddenly, when I wasn’t looking, my business grew up. In three years, we’ve gone from me, the solo freelancer, to a company with two directors and half a dozen contractors. I ran a business as a freelancer for over fifteen years, but this feels different. I’ve never had to worry about payroll and corporate taxes before.
It feels like a new world. I’m learning so much.
And I’m making so many mistakes.
That’s the important thing to remember and I have to remind myself of it often: Every time I’ve upleveled, I’ve made mistakes. A lot of mistakes.
When I read other people’s stories, when I hear the tales of success from other writers, it always feels like they knew what they were doing. They hired the right people, they made the right decisions, they knew how to handle the massive ups and downs, they had a good support network, they didn’t change their minds, and they certainly didn’t regret any missteps.
Sometimes, it makes me wonder if I’m the only person getting it wrong. (I suspect I’m the only one talking about it.)
Because I never get it right the first time, especially with people.
The first literary agent I had didn’t work out.
The first accountant? Nope.
The first two virtual assistants bailed during very busy and stressful times in my business.
The first editor I hired submitted work three days late as she posted about her travels on Facebook.
Each time I have hired someone and it hasn’t worked out, it has felt like a massive drain of resources and a complete waste of time and money, money that I didn’t have and could barely afford. But each time, I have come out of it with lessons learned that have allowed me now to find my dream team.
My agent is a rockstar and I couldn’t ask for more.
My virtual assistants are so efficient, they check up on me to make sure I’m on track with what I said I was going to do.
My accountant is an immigrant to the UK who understands not only the ambition and goals of a first-generation transplant but the unique roadblocks I face as a foreigner running a British business.
My graphic designer turns around work within days, if not hours.
And my editor, my wonderful editor who helped me shape the story and bring out the best aspects of my fiction, is someone I consider a friend, a confidant, and a trusted voice of sanity when I find myself in over my head.
These are people who go over and above what I’ve asked them to do and really shine because they care. Not just about me, but about their own passions. I have learned, over time, that when you hire people based on their passion for the work that they do, you never have to follow up about deadlines or worry that the work won’t be up to scratch. The standards are always a lot higher when you hire people with passion because they demand those standards of themselves, not for you, but for their own creative satisfaction.
I came to this knowledge and this realization slowly and with a lot of mistakes made. There was a lot of learning involved in letting go, giving up control, and trusting.
Yet, had I not made those mistakes, I wouldn’t now be where I am. I understand now that I would have made those mistakes regardless, whether I started three years ago or ten years ago. The mistakes will be made, time will be wasted, and lessons will be learned. That’s just a fact. So why not start now, make the mistakes now, waste the time now, and learn the lessons now, so that they’re all out of the way and you can get to your dreams faster?
All of us want to get to our goals quickly, me included. But I understand now that the surest way to get to your goals faster is to fail faster, learn the lessons quickly, and keep making progress despite the setbacks.
Because if you don’t? All you’re doing is delaying the inevitable. All you’re doing is pushing those mistakes, those learnings, and those lessons farther into the future.
I have a great team now because I learned from hiring a not-so-great one.
I can write fiction easily now because I continued to push when it was incredibly difficult.
I can write a few pitches and bring in work easily now because I practiced sending them even when they were having no results.
When the things I was doing were not working, I kept doing them anyway.
That, I believe, made all the difference.
Cheers,
Natasha