Little Miss images are currently circulating Instagram.
On Sunday, realising this trend, I felt impatient to create one and excited to post it. Ready for some feedback or uplifting response (through the form of likes, comments, messages, a laugh, even, as I found it particularly witty to make).
I sieved through Instagram to find the best characters; cropped and created each image to replicate the same format, including removing old text and applying new words in my brand font; uploaded them onto Later; after a few edits here and there, the carousel went live (we made it). Probably took me an hour tops - the whole time, excited. Genuinely thinking at least one person would say ‘I’m the second one!' (I am).
Failure is never in the picture, quite literally, and yet factors out of my control tend to determine the reality. In all of that time, from idea to publication, nothing happened. One like after 11 minutes. 11 likes, including my personal account, after 24 hours.
This, I realised, is the perfect analogy of running a business.
My approach - much like in life - is always optimistic, convinced this time something good will come out of it. Optimistic to the point of reading an email that explicitly says no, ‘we are sorry to inform you…’ and still then - I may feel angry, lose a bit of faith in the system - next time is my time. Take Dragons’ Den. I have gone through their application process twice - submitted two business plans, questionnaires, pitch videos and due diligence - just as many times I’ve been turned down. I haven’t thought about applying to the 2023 series but am equally confident that I could get through and, if I did stand in front of the dragons, would win their investment.
This is how most days go. Think of an idea, put in the time and take the risk; hope for the best but usually feel disappointed by the results - ok is good but never what I want - and I try not to regret my choices and thus beat myself up (usually fail here). The cycle continues. It applies to anything from social media - like wanting to go viral - to attracting new customers, like Waitrose. Although the boldest move I’ve ever made with them is emailing weekly and proclaiming they have the power to change Nut Blend’s life!
Take your finger off the big red risk button; if you don’t try you don’t know - and the guilt for not trying, I assure you, is worse than the guilt of doing something that doesn’t go to plan. I didn’t know the Little Miss post would fail but I do know I would have kicked myself for never posting it. Plus, if you drop off Instagram for a day you screw up the algorithm and then may as well delete the app. Stop pestering buyers and they will eventually, with a bit of Dutch luck, launch your competitor.
Optimism is my greatest superpower and chance of survival. Time believed to be well-spent can allude to nothing - and even be argued to be a financial and efficient waste - and yet it has to be done. Because if there is a God of business - I want to be the chosen one.
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