Cheers to 3 years of Babe Crafted!
Our very first member event featuring many of our Founding Members! // Photo by The Dashing Ginger // Location: Industrious Tampa
Happy Friday, babe! How was your week? I hope it was super smashing great! As of this Friday, 6/5, we are officially 3 years old.
In some ways I find it hard to believe the following 3 things:
I’ve been working from home for 3 years
I’m an entrepreneur and created my own job and company
Over 170 women have been part of our memberships and we currently have members in 8 states
I’d love to share some of my obstacles and successes with you. Let’s dive in! My experience with entrepreneurship has been really surreal and also really humbling. With my successes have come my doubts and fears, too. Here are a few challenges and successes I’ve had since launching my business in June of 2017.
Challenges:
Me teaching about video for Instagram— I’m so passionate about helping entrepreneurs be the face of their brand // Photo by Amber Romero of A. Creative Co. // Location: Brave Haus
1 // Difficulty setting boundaries
I went to a therapy session with Laura Jasen of Sage & Sunshine Therapy (a member since Feb. of 2018!) to talk about some anxiety and negative feelings I was having when I was nearly 1 year into my business.
My business was soooo personal to me, which was good because it meant I cared a lot about my members and always went above & beyond. But not having boundaries was really hard because it meant if I experienced rejection, it felt like they were rejecting ME and not that Babe Crafted just wasn’t the right fit for them.
October of 2018 was really challenging because I lost 5 members that month. I was still working a part-time job to pay my personal bills, and losing a handful of members at the same time (due to reasons that were unrelated to Babe Crafted) felt like my business was crumbling around me.
My therapy session helped realize that the problem wasn’t with my business, it was how I related to my business. Since there I’ve been able to not take things as personally and know that success is not linear and perfect— it’s bumpy, but all progress is worth celebrating.
Our very first member, Heather Saunders of Ameriprise Financial getting settled in at our 2020 Vision Board Workshop // Photo by Ashlee Hamon Photography // Location: Industrious Tampa
2 // Challenges overcoming FOMO
There is so much pressure on entrepreneurs to do all the things and to do them at the same time. Even though I know that’s impossible, I give into the pressure sometimes and let it get the best of me.
I’ve practiced staying in my lane (A LOT) and focusing on my goals and priorities and not letting what I see other incredible entrepreneurs doing affect how I feel about my own journey.
Things I’ve had to work on staying in my own lane include how to price my offerings, types of products I should or should not offer, if I should get on new platforms like Tik Tok, what type of niche I should establish, and so much more. It’s natural to check out what other women are creating, but unfortunately it’s also natural to play the comparison game and start wondering if I’m doing the right things and taking part in the right opportunities.
But at the end of the day, I’ve learned you gotta do you, boo.
Kristen and I serving up member merch at our 2020 Vision Board Workshop // Photo by Ashlee Hamon Photography // Location: Industrious Tampa
3 // Realizing I couldn’t handle everything on my own
Speaking of doing all the things and on your own, this is something I have struggled with. My kryptonite is asking for help. I prefer to do things myself but I also have a fear of rejection and a fear of not knowing what to ask for. So instead of asking imperfectly, I oftentimes don’t ask.
But after learning about Virtual Assistants, I have since worked with two wonderful women, including the Kristen of Vow + Vast who is my current V.A. Instead of feeling bad about my weaknesses, like asking for help and overbooking myself, I now defer to her for help in managing my calendar, workload, & projects.
I thought relying on someone else would make me feel small, but it actually makes me feel more confident & supported.
Successes:
Celebrating successes at our Flower Crown Workshop in 2018 // Photo by The Dashing Ginger // Location: Florist Fire Design House
1 // Building trust with my members
One of the most incredible parts of being a membership facilitator is building relationships with my members. I always emphasize that I appreciate feedback of all kinds, and I have had some really nice moments of positive feedback and critical feedback over the past 3 years. I cherish them both equally and here’s why.
It’s not easy to tell someone that you think they can do better. In my past life as Communications Manager for Datz Restaurant Group, one of my duties was responding to online reviews. The thing about reviews is that people have a hard time with confrontation, so sometimes they’ll share feedback in a way that feels less vulnerable, like on Yelp.
But what I learned from responding to reviews is that negative or critical feedback means that there’s an opportunity to make the situation better. That opportunity might feel painful at first, but growth is messy and sometimes painful.
And at the end of the day, having a relationship with my members where they feel comfortable letting me know how I/we are really doing, is a gift. Because most feedback never gets said aloud or on Yelp.
Sharing support, ideas, and resources at our Deep Dive Workshop in 2018 // Photo by Jess Fredericks Photography // Location: The Paper Seahorse
2 // Growing Babe Crafted into a national membership
When I first launched our membership in 2018, I dreamt of having members all of the world. The chance to connect women entrepreneurs in Stockholm and London with women in Tampa, St. Pete, Atlanta, and more was really exciting. And I’m so pumped to say that we have incredible members in 8 states!
Including the fabulous Nikita Williams in Georgia, Sonya Highfield in Massachusetts, Erika Bjork in Michigan, Faye Postma in Arizona, Cherry Thomas in Santa Barbra, Tammy Lensing in Arkansas, and Ashley Monk in Arizona.
Cheers to being able to support and be part of women’s lives in Tampa Bay and beyond.
Taking a walk in London’s Crouch End in 2019 // Photo by Alice Boagey
3 // Being able to spend a month abroad in 2019
If you’ve known me for 5 minutes, you knew how much I love London. I studied abroad in college for a semester and fell completely in love with that city, so a huge part of starting my own business was the chance to be location independent and be able to spend time in England.
I’m so grateful to be able to say that I fulfilled a dream in August of 2019 by spending 4 weeks living and working remotely in London. I got to make new friends. I worked on projects like narrowing down my options for a new membership portal (we switched to Kajabi!). I was able to spend every day exploring, riding the tube, eating scones from Gail’s, and could go to Borough Market anytime I wanted to.
I look forward to being able to do it again in 2021 (hopefully COVID will be under control and not be harming people any longer).
Thanks for hearing me out and taking a peek at some of my lesson & successes. I would love to know if you identified with any of them in the comments. Also, what’s something you’d super proud of in your journey?
I would love to celebrate with you. xx -Gina
