Overcome overwhelm as a small business owner.

Hey guys! So I do A LOT of commissioned work along with my own pieces at Restored Bluegrass. Well around Christmas and January I hit a boom and got so many custom jobs! It was AWESOME! Until I started running out of room and time to work on my own pieces. So I started to quote new customers a later date to to pick up their pieces than I actually anticipated to give me a buffer. And it was so great when I finished up my last commission and I had a Full two weeks before I even had to THINK about starting a new contract! And then it happened. I got a message asking for a quote and wanting things done ASAP. Like now. So of course, wanting to expand my business and not let a customer down I thought “sure, I can squeeze that project in.” So things were going smoothly until, of course, my moms illness. Long story short, I spent 20 hours at the hospital, 2 sleeping, and 2 trying to work on that project to get it done in time. Normally, as stated in my contracts, there’s leeway in the completion estimate but I really wanted to get them done when promised and my client really needed them.

As creative entrepreneurs we have to be so careful about burning the candle from both ends! I knew I needed a breather but still delved in. With the stress of my moms Illness, the never ending duties of being a mom and wife combined with the stress of a last minute job I was seriously ready to throw on the towel.

So I want to stress the message of listening to your internal voice and knowing it’s OK to say no sometimes. Listen to your body, take a break when needed. Because if you don’t eventually your work will suffer along with you! I was worried that saying no could hurt my business or reputation, but being behind on a deadline or worse yet, doing rushed sub par work could have hurt it even worse. I still feel insanely behind on so many things…and don’t even ask me about how my house is looking (I had to sacrifice time somewhere) but I learned a valuable lesson. I hope everyone is having a safe holiday weekend! Until next time 😘