BUILDING YOUR SUCCESS STORY ON BORROWED 'LAND' + BUSINESSES YOU CAN'T CONTROL
Man, blogging has been my life lately ... I feel like there are so many thoughts that pass through my mind daily and most of them are inspired by the fact that SMP might be shutting down ... it's not so much that a blog is shutting down ... that is going to happen more and more, I believe ... but more than anything:
IT'S THE FEAR THAT THE NEWS OF A BLOG THAT SIZE SHUTTING DOWN HAS CREATED IN THE CREATIVE INDUSTRY
I see mixed feelings all over the internet ... some people couldn't give two sh*ts about Style Me Pretty shutting down while other people are freaking out because they are so dependent on that blog and the 'link love' shown to their company ... and it brings up something very important to discuss:
ARE YOUR BUSINESS SUCCESSES DEPENDENT ON BORROWED SPACES?
In the 'olden days' (haha) when I started my business I had only a few things I could depend on to be successful:
Myself
My relationships and networking
My website / blog
That's it! Sure, I could advertise in the yellow pages... go ahead, laugh all you want ... or in a magazine (which at that time I couldn't afford) ... but there wasn't a 'fast track' to making it happen ... I didn't have to use a space I didn't own or control to become successful.
THAT SAME THING ISN'T TRUE TODAY
Today it's almost just automatic that business owners 'attach themselves' to a platform they have zero control over to boost their success ... and what boggles my mind is how quickly it becomes 'ignored' to everyone that we DON'T OWN THAT SPACE NOR CAN WE CONTROL WHAT THEY DECIDE TO DO WITH IT ... 'they' being the owners of spaces like: Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Google, wedding blogs, Etsy, etc, etc, etc ...
Let's go over the things you CAN CONTROL one more time:
YOURSELF, YOUR RELATIONSHIPS OR HOW OFTEN YOU NETWORK, AND YOUR WEBSITE / BLOG
You can control ^^ all of that ... and beyond that, your time, energy, and efforts spent elsewhere need to be taken with a grain of salt ... in other words, if you start seeing ALL OF YOUR BUSINESS come from one place ... welp, I'd start putting in a little effort elsewhere.
DON'T PUT ALL YOUR EGGS IN ONE BASKET!
Sure ... putting all your eggs in one basket makes it much easier to manage ... your time can be spent focused on that 'one thing' and you don't have to feel like a crazy person who is handling multiple avenues for success ... but what are people who put all their eggs in the SMP basket learning now?? Oof ... they are panicking!
Look, all roads you put out there to attract attention lead to 2 things:
They lead to you
They lead to your website / blog
Ok, ok, Heather ... we see where you're going with this ... you're a website designer and you are trying to make us see why we need to hire you. HIRE ANYBODY!! Truly. But don't let the things you can control become 'last priority' because of the buzz you receive from 'land' you don't own.
Advertising is great ... it leads to your website ... Pinterest is great ... they lead to your website ... Google is great ... it leads to your website ... I wrote a post about when you notice advertising isn't helping you that might be worth a read!
I'M NOT SAYING DON'T USE BORROWED LAND TO GROW YOUR CROPS ... JUST BE CAREFUL
Back in the days when Pinterest was cool and they hadn't changed their algorithm, us 'blog editors' were living 'the life' ... traffic was flowing like crazy from Pinterest and we (at that time I was running my wedding blog Style Unveiled) were feeling like nothing could touch us ... and then one day: CRASH(!!!!!!!!!!) Pinterest rewrote their algorithm and all that beautiful traffic came to a screeching halt.
I'VE GOT LOTS MORE ...
Facebook did it ... Google did it ... Instagram did it ... I've heard rumors that Etsy has recently doe it ... Style Me Pretty is going away (we think ...) ... every single 'place' I haven't owned and was receiving boosted business from has 'done it' ... and what's happening is that people are freaking out ... but if you always take it back to the 3 things you can control and tend to those first and foremost ... then these 'changes' on the platforms we use as a boost won't hurt as much ... it will sting a little ... change always does ... but if your foundation is strong (foundation being the 3 things you CAN CONTROL) then the changes will rock you, but you won't come crashing to the ground.
XO~ Heather
