Hey there, Sweet Friends, today on the blog I wanted to share with you some changes to the “Create With Cynthia” Website and tell you a little story about the Rewards I’m having in my Business.
#TrueStory
Have you noticed my NEW “About Page?” You can check it out here. Since I left the Woods and moved back to town I had to clean up the page to reflect what’s happening in my life today. I no longer live out in the Woods, you can read about the move here.
Starting a Business and A Story About Rewards!
I think it’s safe to say, All New Business Struggle and most don’t succeed. Rewards are seldom and I experience that….every day.
I’ve heard that 80% of Business Owners just quit. It’s not about failing, it’s really about giving up. So today, I’m grateful for those that read my blog posts and watch my videos because it’s encouragement to not give up.
I’m going deep here Sweet Friends, I’m just telling like it is.
I’m really grateful for you!
I think my “Don’t Quit! attitude, comes from my Dad and his hard work at PG and E for 30 years.
My “Don’t Quit” attitude also comes from the success I had in Cubicle Nation. Have you read the book “Escape From Cubicle Nation.” I actually prefer the audio book here.
If you read my about page, I explain that I spent over 20 years in the Corporate World as a Human Resources Recruiter for companies like Kaiser Permanente, Stanford Health Care and University of California, San Francisco.
You see, about 14 months ago I left Cubicle Nation to start my own business, “Create With Cynthia” to become the Thriving Entrepreneur. I finally escaped Cubicle Nation, to work on my Website and my You Tube Channel full time in June of 2018. That was my dream!
Each day, day after day, I work on my little old website “Create With Cynthia.” I do projects, I make videos, I write blog posts, I reach out to Brands to collaborate, I decorate my store space in Redwood City and I ensure the shelves are stocked with my favorite products. Unfortunately though at this stage in the game it’s not a huge reward. I’m not the “Thriving Entrepreneur” yet! Honestly, I dream that one day the rewards will come and I’ll be the “Thriving Entrepreneur”, but for today I’m just not there.
Success = monetization in my mind. Success = earning my Cubicle Nation salary.
Sweet Friends…one year into this business and I’m not successful, yet!
Today, I wanted to share a few stories about my Rewards in Business. Today, I want to say THANK YOU to you, my followers.
I usually save the stories for my videos…
Like the Dating Stories and the Ice Cream Stories and the Furniture Makeover Stories and the stories about Fear. Have you seen those stories on You Tube? If not, please subscribe to my channel and check it out here. You can even leave a comment and let me know that you watched the video.
This story, “The Story About My Business #TrueStory,” started on a normal day a couple of weeks ago. It was the first of August 2019 and I was feeling “fairly normal” as I was sitting at my desk. I was working on my social media marketing strategy through Tailwind and and I was getting ready for TreasureFest. I was thinking about what I should and shouldn’t take to the festival.
All of a sudden I got a comment on my blog post, The Craft workshops in Redwood City blog post, if you missed it you can read it here.
It was a nice little comment and it made me feel happy and inspired to be doing what I’m doing.
Honestly, I jumped out of my chair and started Clapping and High Fiving the Wall. You see, comments don’t come very often, because I don’t have alot of followers.
#TrueStory!
So, I sat back down and continued to work on my social media strategy. I use Tailwind which is a Pinterest and Instagram Scheduler, Analytics and Marketing Tool and it saves me alot of time. If you’re interested in trying it out, you can click herhttps://www.tailwindapp.com/i/cynthianessel.
It was almost lunchtime and the pups wanted to go out on a walk and so I rallied them up with their harnesses and leashes and off we went. And as I was walking my phone beeped and I got a message from a gal that she really liked my Feature Wall Video.
Wow….. I thought, two rewards in one day. Lucky me!
Back to the house and it was time to finally head over to the Store and load up the van for TreasureFest. I was planning to take some of my favorite furniture makeovers, like the Secretary Desk and the Bar stools and a bunch of other stuff.
Note aside: the Secretary Desk was such a favorite of mine that it was hiding in the backroom of my store space for the past 6 months. I REALLY didn’t want to sell it. Of course, it sold on the first day of TreasureFest.
As I was walking out of the house, my phone did a beep that sounded like a cash register.
I had never heard that beep before.
I kind of ignored it at first, trying to stay on task and focused, as I was walking to the Van.
When I got to the Van, I looked at my phone and noticed, it was Etsy and a woman from Texas had purchased my Floral Dresser.
I was shocked to say the least, because not only did she have to pay for the dresser, but she had to pay to ship it from California to Texas.
Sweet Friends, that is when the tears started flowing, I started crying. There were no high-fives or jumping up and down, there were only tears of joy and thoughts of encouragement.
#TrueStory!
You see, most days are not normal. Most days I have anxiety and worry. I feel beaten, insecure and crazy for following my dreams. Most days, I question my decision to leave Cubicle Nation and the “Committee In My Head” tells me to go back to Cubicle Nation where the money was pretty dang awesome.
Most businesses in their first year are challenging and I understand that, there aren’t many rewards. I am following my dream and I’m not giving up. But a comment on my blog post or on a video (one which I’ve spent 8 hours on)….really means ALOT.
And selling a furniture makeover that I really wanted to keep for myself to someone out of state is a HUGE reward. Rewards in my Business come from you, my followers these days. And that’s what keeps me going….and that’s the end of my story.
But Sweet Friends, the story will continue, because I’m not giving up on my business. Money is important but it ain’t everything. Today, I want to show my boys that hard work and following your dreams can equate to financial success.
You see, I love having a website and writing stories on the blog or making videos for You Tube. I love finding old Vintage Furniture that someone has thrown away, and turning it into a piece of art. I love leading Craft Workshop and inspiring others to create beautiful things.
My goal is to collaborate with Brands, to showcase their products. My goal is to monetize on You Tube so that I can pay for my boys to go to College. I’m only at 300-ish subscribers so I have a long way to go, but i’m not giving up.
So, as you can seen, business has been, well… I guess i’ll just say, “Business has been Challenging and Not So Rewarding (Monetarily speaking)!” This past week was unusual, I was rewarded by you, my followers and I’m so grateful because it was the boost I needed to keep motivated.
I try and look for and focus on the small successes in my business. I try and ignore The Committee.
What keeps me going is……YOU… your comments, your follows and your likes on my social media channels.
#TrueStory
What also keeps me going is, the “Self-Help Books” (Darren Hardy calls them “Instructional Guides’) which fill my head with positive encouragement and flush out the negativity from “The Committee!” We all have some form of “The Committee”, and what we have to do is figure out how to deal with it.
I read and listen to my favorite self help books every day, like Brene Brown, Darren Hardy, Tara Brach, Amy Howard and I have a ton more that I can link below. That’s what keeps me motivated and I’m not giving up!!!
The dream was to earn an income as an Influencer/Blogger. Not just to have a website, but to earn money, similar to how I did in Cubicle Nation. And of course my dream is that others are encouraged by me and want to follow me.
This job feels big, really big, it sounds big. And when I see others at conferences it looks big. Just like last month at Haven conference.
Honestly speaking it is big and with not much reward (yet!). So for someone to comment on my blog post or comment on my video is really worth a High Five and TEARS!
My Dad taught me to not give up, and as Walt Disney said, “All Our Dreams Can Come True, If We Have The Courage To Pursue Them.”
#TrueStory
Make it a great day!
Cynthia
Note aside: Many of the links on this blog are affiliate links. CreateWithCynthia.com receives a small commission when certain items are purchased, but the price is the same for you. CreateWithCynthia.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
Darren Hard, “The Compound Effect”
Tara Brach, “Radical Self Acceptance”
Tara Brach, “True Refuge, Finding Peace and Freedom in Your Own Awakening Heart”