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One of the most surprising aspects of running my own business is the degree to which my own psychology affects my day-to-day effectiveness and productivity. As is the case with most business owners, I’m of course obsessed with honing my mission, planning out my growth strategies, and developing the best ways to market my services. However, the things that truly keep me up at night relate more to my own self-doubts about the trajectory of my business, the career choices I’ve made, and my own professional potential.
Five years into founding my own career consultancy, I’ve now reached a point where I feel reasonably confident about my ability to run a sustainable business. However, that doesn’t mean I don’t wonder whether I’m on the right track. Here are five of the doubts that nag me the most.
1. Am I Progressing Fast Enough?
I launched my business about five years ago, first as a side-gig while I was working as a marketer in the corporate world, and eventually as my full-time job. I decided to give myself one year of runway to see if I could earn a reasonable amount of income.
While I’m happy to say I cleared that hurdle, and my work has continued to expand each subsequent year, I still can’t help but wonder if my business is growing fast enough. Part of this is probably driven by unhealthy comparison to “best-in-class” benchmarks rather than the average business owner’s journey.
These days, I try to remind myself that growth, no matter how small or large, is still growth. Instead of unhealthy comparison to others, I also try to set personal, realistic goals each year and ensure I celebrate achieving those goals instead of falling to the trap of constantly moving the goalposts farther, which can be rather demotivating.
2. Am I Credible Enough?
When you leave the comforts of a corporate job behind, you also leave behind the instant credibility you have when working for a well-established brand or business. That association has a funny way of instilling you with a certain degree of confidence in any professional situation, whether giving a big talk, networking with others, or reaching out to potential business partners.
These days, in exchange for the autonomy, independence, and freedom I enjoy having as a business owner, I often feel like have a slightly steeper hill to climb when convincing others of my value or credibility. I sometimes catch myself wondering if people take me as seriously because I no longer have that handy corporate association.
This hurdle is certainly not insurmountable. If anything, I feel like I’ve developed much more confidence in pitching myself. What I’ve found most helpful is to invest time getting clear on my own professional narrative and talking points, then rehearsing that pitch again and again so I can believe in my own story, and in turn, convince others to believe in it too.
3. Did I Leave My Last Job Too Soon?
Figuring out the right moment to leave one job behind is difficult. Whenever I’ve changed jobs, I’ve always felt like I was giving up on potential opportunities coming up around the corner if I had just stayed put. I’ve always had good reasons for moving on in my career, but that doesn’t completely erase the somewhat haunting feeling I sometimes get that I left too soon.
For example, I sometimes wonder if I should have stuck things out just a bit longer in the corporate world to land that next impressive title. Or if I should have ridden the wave of my marketing career to land in some hot startup while was immersed in my industry. Perhaps those incremental opportunities could have served me well as an independent business owner, both in terms of professional experience or perceived credibility.
To this day, I can’t really say I am 100% confident I left my last corporate job at the absolute best time. What I can say is that I left when I felt the situation was optimal enough and when the timing was right enough, which helps me feel at peace with my decisions.
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One of the most surprising aspects of running my own business is the degree to which my own psychology affects my day-to-day effectiveness and productivity. As is the case with most business owners, I’m of course obsessed with honing my mission, planning out my growth strategies, and developing the best ways to market my services. However, the things that truly keep me up at night relate more to my own self-doubts about the trajectory of my business, the career choices I’ve made, and my own professional potential.
Five years into founding my own career consultancy, I’ve now reached a point where I feel reasonably confident about my ability to run a sustainable business. However, that doesn’t mean I don’t wonder whether I’m on the right track. Here are five of the doubts that nag me the most.
1. Am I Progressing Fast Enough?
I launched my business about five years ago, first as a side-gig while I was working as a marketer in the corporate world, and eventually as my full-time job. I decided to give myself one year of runway to see if I could earn a reasonable amount of income.
While I’m happy to say I cleared that hurdle, and my work has continued to expand each subsequent year, I still can’t help but wonder if my business is growing fast enough. Part of this is probably driven by unhealthy comparison to “best-in-class” benchmarks rather than the average business owner’s journey.
These days, I try to remind myself that growth, no matter how small or large, is still growth. Instead of unhealthy comparison to others, I also try to set personal, realistic goals each year and ensure I celebrate achieving those goals instead of falling to the trap of constantly moving the goalposts farther, which can be rather demotivating.
2. Am I Credible Enough?
When you leave the comforts of a corporate job behind, you also leave behind the instant credibility you have when working for a well-established brand or business. That association has a funny way of instilling you with a certain degree of confidence in any professional situation, whether giving a big talk, networking with others, or reaching out to potential business partners.
These days, in exchange for the autonomy, independence, and freedom I enjoy having as a business owner, I often feel like have a slightly steeper hill to climb when convincing others of my value or credibility. I sometimes catch myself wondering if people take me as seriously because I no longer have that handy corporate association.
This hurdle is certainly not insurmountable. If anything, I feel like I’ve developed much more confidence in pitching myself. What I’ve found most helpful is to invest time getting clear on my own professional narrative and talking points, then rehearsing that pitch again and again so I can believe in my own story, and in turn, convince others to believe in it too.
3. Did I Leave My Last Job Too Soon?
Figuring out the right moment to leave one job behind is difficult. Whenever I’ve changed jobs, I’ve always felt like I was giving up on potential opportunities coming up around the corner if I had just stayed put. I’ve always had good reasons for moving on in my career, but that doesn’t completely erase the somewhat haunting feeling I sometimes get that I left too soon.
For example, I sometimes wonder if I should have stuck things out just a bit longer in the corporate world to land that next impressive title. Or if I should have ridden the wave of my marketing career to land in some hot startup while was immersed in my industry. Perhaps those incremental opportunities could have served me well as an independent business owner, both in terms of professional experience or perceived credibility.
To this day, I can’t really say I am 100% confident I left my last corporate job at the absolute best time. What I can say is that I left when I felt the situation was optimal enough and when the timing was right enough, which helps me feel at peace with my decisions.
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