In a world of Pinterest perfect craft rooms and Instagram rustic chic collections, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by perfection. Every time “that girl” shows up in your newsfeed, it makes you question ever even purchasing your machine.

I get it.

Doubt follows you around like a shadow. Always right there, ready to chime in whenever an opportunity arises. (And it seems to find lots of opportunities sometimes.) But while doubt will always be ready and willing to participate in your journey… if you want to grow your business… this is one thing you must let go of.

As I’m typing this out, I considered what the word “doubt” is. Is it an emotion? Just a state of mind? Or is it something more? Doubt arises when you aren’t sure about the end result. I decided that doubt is a thought process. It looks at the road ahead and decides to take every bad turn as the only option available. While doubt is not in itself an emotion… it does typically bring friends like anxiety and sadness along for the ride. Now, we know there’s no way to be successful if we let anxiety run things. So the good news is that since doubt is a THOUGHT process. We just need to CHANGE our thinking!

I know this can be hard. But before you throw in the towel, first recall the quote, “don’t think of how many things that could go wrong, think of how many things that can go right!” This quote is a perfect example of a change of thought process… while talking about changing a thought process! It’s a conscious decision to STOP the negative thoughts and redirect them. As soon as we see our minds turn doubtful, stop, and redirect focus where there is positivity and promise!

Now fear is another annoyance that likes to show its ugly face. Fear doesn’t lurk like doubt. Fear jumps out in front of you and says “the sky is falling!!!! The world is over!!!!” with even some pretty small scenarios. But typically fear is wrapped around things that are the most important to us. In a business setting, fear usually wraps itself around money. It says that there’s no way you will be successful and it will just be money lost and then, of course, the world will end.

Here’s what I have to say about the truth that doubt and fear have. It’s true that your products may not be perfect. It’s true that your pictures may look like your 6 year old took them on selfie mode. And it’s true that you may find out this wasn’t meant for you. All of those doubts and fears… are reasonable. But. I’m about to debunk them and hopefully it helps you start the journey of changing your thinking.

Doubt: “no one will buy from me because my items aren’t good enough”

DEBUNKED: We all have to start somewhere right? I’m pretty sure when your child brought you their first piece of “artwork” you didn’t tell them that they need to color inside the lines only and snub your nose. You said “it’s beautiful!!! Thank you so much!!” Right? Now, I’m not saying you can make your customers a noodle necklace and expect a $500 check. But what I am saying is that you are starting out. You are learning. Your customer base is small right now. You’re not mass producing to a million people. You’re making Granny Grace a hand towel. Granny Grace has a heart of gold and is going to love that hand towel and keep it on display throughout the year. This is the support you have when you’re starting your business. Granny Grace customers will evolve into Neighbor Rose customers who will talk about you to their friend Grapevine Gloria, and so on and so forth. So in that process… you get PRACTICE and your skill will evolve and refine. There is a reason that they say “grow” your own business. And not “jump in and fight for life with your own business.” Our skill, our customers, our own knowledge, and ultimately our business will all grow together! That’s the beauty of this thing, it grows!

Fear: What if I can’t figure this out, or I hate it, or I decide it’s not for me and I just lose money I invested in these machines and supplies?

DEBUNKED: Sell them. Get your money (or most of it) back. If you buy a machine and supplies for say $1000, then decide it’s not for you, and sell them for $800… sure you lost $200 but that $200 gave you an answer to something you would always have wondered about if you didn’t give it a try. Taking a risk for something your passionate about, is never a bad choice. If you don’t take that risk… you will always wonder about the what ifs.

Doubt: I’ll never be as successful as “that girl”

DEBUNKED: Why not? Because your only customer so far is Grandma Grace? Get out of here with that. I bet you “that girl” has worked her booty off to be where she is. I bet you she encountered more trial and error runs than you can imagine. I bet you she is STILL fighting doubt on the regular. But you know what… I also bet her first customer was Grandma Grace, too. If you’re willing to invest emotionally, psychically, and monetarily, into your business… there are no limits for you. Limits come because we allow doubt to create them. This can be everything you dream of and more!

Fear: Oh my gosh I’m going to mess everything up and waste so much money! I have no idea where to start!!

DEBUNKED: If you have ever gone to college or taken a training course… what did you have to do? Pay tuition, right? Well since we don’t have college for crafting, the “mess up cost” is our tuition and training! With anything made by hand… there is no way to learn, without doing. Say that a few times more. There is no way to learn, without doing. JUMP IN! Take the mess ups as your first class in “mirroring HTV 101” and learn and grow. Look, there’s that “grow” word again!

We get caught up thinking that we have to be PERFECT from the start and that there’s no room for mistakes, because our world will end if we make too many.

But let me tell you a secret. Behind “that girl’s” perfect, clean, crisp and clear pictures and seemingly waterfalls of money… are toddlers running around covered in peanut butter and with no pants, laundry piles, bills to pay, and a moldy cucumber in the veggie drawer of the fridge. Oh yeah… and hard work, mind numbing tasks, sleepless nights, and more tears than anyone would be willing to admit. She worked for it. “That girl” made it happen because she was persistent and did not let fear dictate her next move.

We get wrapped up in the “perfect” things we see and then we allow fear and doubt take that as a signal to attack us at every turn. But the idea of “perfect” is NOT a reality. “Perfect” may look pretty from the outside looking in. But there’s a whole different story behind that Instagram feed that we won’t ever see. As long as we change our thought process, calm our fears with reason, and acknowledge that we aren’t seeing the full mess behind every “perfect” picture… there will be no stopping our growth!

As the year comes to an end, what are you going to let go of before we enter 2017? Fear? Doubt? I don’t know what it is for you… but for me… I’m letting go of perfect.