You may or may not know this, but one of my goals for 2017 is to figure out YouTube. I know at least 20 of you know this, because that’s how many subscribers I have, WOO HOO!!!! Double digits!!!!! I mean, I don’t want to brag, but . . .
I understand that 20 is a laughable number. As is 3 – the number of videos I currently have published. I also know that there’s an ocean of learning between me and this new goal. A year ago, I stood up at the Craftsy Instructor Summit and asked, “What if you’re just some bonehead with a iPhone?”
Yeah. That’s a quote.
So I could be embarrassed by my tiny baby YouTube Channel. I could be cowed and daunted by everything I don’t yet know. I could be (and kind of am) intimidated by people who are waaaaaaay ahead of me on this. I could quit before I really get going, because WHAT A JOKE and I MIGHT FAIL ANYWAY and WHAT IF NOBODY CARES?
What if? What if, what if, what it?????
But I’m not cringing at my little accomplishment. I’m smiling. It’s a start. And I’ve been here before.
I can remember sheepishly starting a Facebook group, then a page, called, “The Funky Little Chair.” I can remember having less than 10 people and hoping they didn’t all unfollow overnight. I can remember when 10 became 100 and 100 became 1,000.
I can remember my first tentative steps into the industry, my first tentative steps toward teaching, toward self-employment, toward opening a shop.
I can remember my first few clients, and kind of not wanting to call them back with quotes, because I was scared out of my mind at the idea of promising professional results. Who did I think I was, anyway????????
The point is, every time I’ve started, I’ve started small. I’ve started without all the answers. I’ve started with fear (no. . . terror) of the unknown. In the end, there was nothing to do but start anyway.
I don’t know why you’re reading this: Maybe you’re a professional upholsterer. Maybe you’d like to be. Maybe you stumbled on my blog or Facebook for some other reason entirely.
Whoever you are, I want to say this: Everything starts small. Every big deal out there began as someone’s tiny little idea. So if you need someone to say it, here you go:
Start.
Just start. Do your research, write yourself some affirmations, go get the business mentoring, WHATEVER. Stop waiting for your perfect moment, stop expecting to have all the pieces in place. Nothing is big or perfect right out of the gates, but hey! Come out of the gates anyway.
If you need a cheerleader, I’ll go get my pompoms.
Good luck. Stop thinking that the people who came before you were smarter or braver or magically wired for success. Chances are, one day, they simply made the decision to start small.
“The miracle isn’t that I finished: The miracle is that I had the courage to start.” John Bingham, The Penguin Runner, Patron Saint of the Back of the Pack
