Small Business: Patience As A Business Builder

Don’t follow your passion; follow your effort.

-Mark Cuban

There are few things greater than having a passion for something and putting your all into it everyday. When you finally find that one thing you want to build towards, you want to share with others. But often times the things you want most take time, which takes patience. Over the past year I've been working towards building my personal styling business. I love helping women shape their wardrobes to their personal, unique style which is a key part of building their confidence. I wish I could do it every single day. However, I'm still building my clientele which takes time, and so much patience.

It's easy to get burnt out when you work for hours on your marketing, writing content and perfecting your services without seeing physical manifestation of your hard work. Obviously when running a business, financial revenue is the end goal but you know you don't want the dollar signs to cloud the reason why you started the business in the first place. You had a calling, a social conscience, a motivation to jump in. 

You hear quotes like "Rome wasn't built in a day" but they don't apply because you've been working at it now for months. Your passion remains but your patience for what you want begins to dwindle. Your inner voice starts telling you maybe it's you, maybe someone else can do it but you cant. Maybe you should give up. Maybe you'll fail. 

You try to push the voices out, only to push them to the back of your mind. You do what so many others tend to do and that's becoming your own worst enemy. After all, you get the front row seat to your failures. Rarely is your inner girl boss louder than your inner mean girl. If that resonates with you, here is a great post behind the various reasons we get in our own way (here). 

In an era of instant gratification, the idea of waiting is unacceptable. Patience is a hard practice and under appreciated but usually all great things take time and as my dad likes to say, grit. Here are a few scriptures for anyone running their own small business:

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
- Thessalonians 5:16-18

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace
- 1 Peter 4:10

Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.
- Proverbs 12:1

Recently I had a beautiful happy hour hosted by Miss Abby Miller and Swoozies at Coohills in Denver! These are some of my favorite lady entrepreneurs that know a thing or two about building a business and fighting through the ups and downs. Each of them bring something unique to the table and you can certainly see how Swoozies brought the cutest decor to THIS table! They gifted each of us with monogrammed hats, tumblers and beach bags. So sweet! Do you have a baby shower coming up, planning a wedding or just need a sweet gift in general? You can either shop in their store in Denver or online! 

To follow the beautiful girls you see in these photos, their Instagram handles are all listed below. 

From left to right: @polishedavenue, @the_novice_native, @denver.darling, @withlovelilyrose, @hannah_moon, @myboringcloset, @semisweettooth, @MallorySauer, @Emmawlker, @darlingbedaring

Photography By Corey Anthony

xoxo Hannah