When I was in college I had two main professors in my upper-core classes. One of them was, for lack of a better word, ‘a character’, as I’m sure most art school professors are. He pushed me to think more creatively and step into my own abilities. I remember having a discussion with him where I was expressing a desire to do something, but sharing a fear that I didn’t think I was allowed to do it. In that discussion he taught me a phrase that I, a former good girl, had never heard before.
He said, it’s better to ask forgiveness than to ask permission.
To be honest, I think that might’ve been the most groundbreaking lesson I learned in college. Well, besides the fact that you should never drink wine that only costs you a penny, but I digress.
Anyway, I want you to have that moment, too. It’s time to recognize that you can do things any way you want. The rules that you think exist don’t actually exist—especially when it comes to creating your own online business.
Let’s apply that idea to today’s topic, your Vision. When I got started with my design business I was like… well shit. I don’t have a HUGE VISION. I don't want to change the world or cure cancer or anything. I just want to get paid to work from home in my pajamas. And I felt BAD because so many people online had these amazing stories of overcoming hardships and struggles and wanting to give back and help their community or the world.
Now of course, no shade to people that have that vision. That’s amazing and incredible and I am so grateful for the positive impact you are making.
But… not all of us have that big picture vision quite yet. Not all of us want to change the world… or at least haven’t realized it yet. Some of us just like sleeping in and not having to commute to work, you know? This post is for those people. The one who feel badly that they don’t have a grand message to impart on the world.
I want to tell you something: It’s okay. It’s totally fine. You are so, so, so fine my friend. Do not let this idea that you have to have some sort of bigger impact purpose hold you back from doing the thing you really need to do: Show up. Start. Create. Be a business owner.
If you’re fretting over not feeling important enough or impactful enough, the problem isn’t your lack of vision. It’s your lack of taking action and starting. The other stuff? The big deal stuff? That’ll sort itself out. But for now: You just gotta get to getting my friend.
Starting and running a business is a huge journey in learning and understanding yourself. It’s a self-development journey. You’ll find your stories and beliefs and ways of existing in the world thrown into pandemonium along the way. And that’s exciting! That sort of personal upleveling will reflect in your business and things will grow and evolve and become better and better too. But none of that can happen if you are fixated on ‘figuring everything out’ before actually starting.
As you go down the path of entrepreneurship and begin to better understand yourself and your beliefs and feelings, it’s inevitable that things will start to shift for you. And I don’t mean that you’ll suddenly care about world issues. What I mean is, you’ll start to see themes and parallels pop up in your life and interests. You’ll dive into new interesting ways of existing and being. And some of these transformative steps may influence where you want your business (or life) to go.
But it would be nearly impossible right now for you to sit down and just figure this shit out without experiencing things.
Give yourself grace and permission to NOT have it all figured out right now and move forward despite feeling like you’re not ready. Because here’s the big spoiler alert that everyone manages to leave off of their sales pages and Instagram captions…
Nobody has it figured out.
Nobody knows what they are doing either.
They’re figuring it out, just the same as you.
They might be a few steps ahead of you in their journey, but they’re still figuring things out as they go. That is OKAY. That is wonderful. That is fine. It’s more important to learn how to accept where you are and enjoy the journey, than to just find the end point. Oh, and, just to point out: I don’t think there is an endpoint anyway.
I have a memory of learning how to swim—which if you’re from Florida you learn how to swim as, like, an infant. In the memory I’m swimming towards my dad. Every time I get close, he steps back just a bit. I remember being SO frustrated with him, because I knew what he was doing. I just wanted to GET to him.
There’s, like, a huge life lesson in that (that I’m pretty sure my dad didn’t intend, haha). When you get to where you think you are going, I guarantee something else will pop up and you’ll be on the path again. If you want to be an entrepreneur, you are not built for complacency, friend.
In my own experience, it took nearly 3.5 years to find my current vision. Even now, I can accept that it will probably change, grow, and evolve as I continue. I have a much better picture of who I am and who I want to be in this world and the impact and legacy I want to leave now, at 28, then I did at 24.
At the same time I am fully aware that I am ONLY 28. I have so much to learn and so much growing to do still. So, I’m open to what comes—while still being excited about where I am currently going. That’s what I want for you, too. I want you to feel excited about the journey and the path and the growth and know that things can and will change. But if you’re focusing on being the best version of yourself, those changes will always be good ones and for the good of those around you.
So you can stop holding yourself back from action because ”what you want isn’t enough”. You’ve gotten this far for a reason, you have these seeds planted for a reason. I believe that we develop dreams and ideas because we are fully capable of creating them and bringing them to reality—and you have no idea what that journey will look like. You have no idea what you’ll learn or discover about yourself and your impact. So you can go ahead and get started and watch what unfolds.
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Cheers to that!
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