Going Solo With Your Tribe - Support Small Business

Written for The Future Strategy Club

Interview - China Jordan FSC

You don’t have to be on your own if you’re working for yourself. You don’t need to feel like you are the only one carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders, and you don’t need to employ a whole bunch of staff to make it feel less daunting. All you need are your people. Here's how my friends and family support small business.

Coming from someone who never envisaged becoming an entrepreneur, there were times when I felt completely overwhelmed by all the roles a business owner needed to undertake. I would often feel like the role was too big for me, or my ideas weren’t good enough, or I just couldn’t do this! I never wanted to have a business, I never wanted to do the accounts, or make a website or think about forward planning, it just didn’t feel like a natural transition for me. I felt like I was going against my skill set as an artist and I would very quickly sink.

Friends

friends

friends

family

family

The trouble was, I was also following my passion and it was a calling I couldn’t fight against. You always see messages of following your unique path and do what you love. Well, my journey took me by complete surprise. Without realising it, my tribe became the foundations of ArtistAnd. They believed in me more than myself and helped to show me the route to making the company work.

Realising your people have your back and that they believe in you is undeniably priceless. They are your feedback, your sounding board, usually your first customers, and they can see things in a different light. They help generate ideas (free of charge), they help motivate you and inspire you and they pick you up when you feel like you can’t do this anymore. When you question if you need to get a full-time job, all you need to do is share your worries, look at your scenario objectively and get an outsider’s perspective from the people who love you most. Your tribe are incredibly invaluable and make you feel held and confident.

Climbing Kilimanjaro 2018

My tribe have always pushed me to be the best version of myself. Whenever I’ve doubted myself or my ideas, I would share them with my friends and family and always get the feedback I didn’t expect, or the questions asked that helped me to consider different scenarios. They also offered me opportunities to trial services, get a foot in the door, and help spread the word of the business.

If you truly have a passion and a skill, it becomes infectious, and your nearest and dearest would love nothing more than to share that with you and be involved however they can. And if you truly love what you do, you will want to share that with them too. If you have a small vision and have even an ounce of a feeling that you want to turn it into a reality, start talking about it. Start sharing it and see what happens. Trust your tribe because you will never be on this journey alone.

ArtistAnd Retreat