She was scared that she’d do something wrong.
That no-one would play with her. That she would be told off. Or left by herself. That she wouldn’t like lunch. That someone would laugh at her.
I let her get it all off her chest until she’d got all of her worries out of her little head and into the open, because when they are exposed in the open we can deal with them. We talked about the fact that her new teacher was lovely.
She’d already had a trial day so she knew everyone in her class and a couple of little girls took her under their wing and looked after her so she won’t be left by herself.
We talked about the fact that it didn’t matter if she did something wrong because it’s her first proper day at the new school and there is no way she would know how to do everything on her first day.
We talked about the fact that there is a choice for lunch so even if she doesn’t like it, there is always another option that she’s bound to like.
We talked about what she would do if someone laughed at her, and she decided that they were probably a bit horrible so she would just go away and find someone nice.
She squeezed in a few last minute worries about being late (not going to happen, we were getting up super early and mummy was on the case) and that was it.
She was all out of worries and she had a plan for all of them.
We had a little cuddle and said how exciting it is to make new friends and learn new things and how she would need to be a little bit brave but she would have a lovely day, and that was that.
So, with all her worries taken care of, she went to sleep, happy and worry-free. Phew.
What I didn’t tell her was that I had all the same worries and the chat was as much for my benefit as for hers. I had the added worry of being a new school mum which is always a bit weird until you know the ropes.
And it got me thinking about you. I bet you worry some of the time.
Maybe you worry about putting up your prices, or even just telling people your prices in the first place?
Maybe you worry that you’re not good enough, that you feel like you’re faking it and you’re going to be found it?
Maybe you feel that you can’t cope, you worry about failing and you worry about succeeding. Let’s face it, there is no shortage of things to worry about if you put your mind to it.
Maybe you worry that people won’t buy from you, won’t like you or will laugh at you?
Maybe you worry that you won’t like being a business owner or that you’ll make loads of stupid mistakes.
Does this sound familiar?
So, let’s have a chat.
You are great at what you do, really! You might not be the most confident business owner but you’re really brave because you’re giving it a try when most people would take the easy option and get a job.
You might make mistakes but it won’t be the end of the world and at least you’ll learn what not to do in the process.
You might have people walk away when you tell them your prices but if you target the right people, your ideal customers, you’ll have a few of the right people who really value you and will stick around, will buy and will keep coming back.
You might have people who are horrible to you but you can choose to take it to heart or you can choose to walk away and find someone nicer.
There are worse things than being a beginner.
There are worse things than making mistakes. There are worse things than having ‘bad fit’ people walk away. So, rest easy you amazing business owner, you and keep doing what you’re doing. You might feel like you’re the new girl at school sometimes but at least you’re being brave, giving it a go and trying your best and that attitude is going to take you a long way. Here’s to your brilliant business success.
PS: Chloe is now 14 and taller than me but I remember those days like they were yesterday!
