Our first year in business is as exciting as it is nerve-wracking

There are so many lessons to learn, mistakes to be made, and so many decisions along the way that it can all feel a little overwhelming at times. There are many sleepless nights, leaps into the unknown, and doubts and fears along the way as we start out on this journey of creative entrepreneurship, and one of the biggest lessons I've learned so far is the power of experimenting and evolving as we go.

When we first start out, we cast our net pretty wide

Although we may feel like we have a 'niche', when we're just getting started we're usually building a brand that appeals to a wider demographic as we just haven't had enough experience yet to truly know who we're for and how best we can serve them. It's all a huge learning curve, and although at first you may wish that you could just speed up the business-puberty stage, there are some pretty awesome lessons along the way if you stay open to them.

As we learn more, we start to narrow in

When I first started my coaching business I positioned myself a blog coach. My ideal client wasn't very specific (although back then I thought it was), and I took the opportunity for the first few months to just really learn as much as possible and work with a wide and varied clientele so that I could really then discover where and who I can serve best. Now I know that my creative expertise belongs in being a content coach and a creative mentor, but without all of the experimenting and evolution in my business so far I wouldn't have been able to find the clarity, focus, and direction that I have now.

We should never be afraid to evolve along the way

Staying open to change is scary. I recently refocused my coaching services (you can check out the changes here) and actually retired one of my bestselling coaching engagements because my business intuition was telling me that now was the right time to take a step into a new direction. What I learned throughout this process is that changing and evolving with our business will always feel like a risk. When we're shifting from where we've been to where we want to be going, we're opening ourselves up to new failures and new fears that we haven't had to face yet. But if we let that fear hold us back from taking those brave and bold steps forward, our business will just become stagnant and ineffective.

We have to do the work first before we can find the clarity that we crave

Today's post is here to encourage you to give yourself permission to experiment and evolve along the way. It's okay to not have all the answers straight away, but the magic happens when you listen to your intuition, pay attention to the lessons you've learned so far, and when you're brave and bold enough to keep on taking those leaps into the unknown.

To finish...

Don't worry about having all of the answers straight away. But don't stand still either - every time you learn something, and every time you have an opportunity to evolve, grow, and move forward, don't let it pass you by. The only way I've been able to move forward in my business is by experimenting and then evolving every step of the way - and it's exactly how I see my clients thrive and move forward too. The clarity, focus, and direction will come, but only when you show up and do the work that it takes to discover it.

What's been the biggest evolution in your creative journey so far?

Why Your First Year In Business Is The Time To Experiment & Evolve