Why Being Inconsistent in Business and Life is Okay
Consistency is often seen as the most crucial part of running a business - but that's not how humans work…
How many times, while trying to figure out how to run your creative business, have you been told that above all else - be consistent? Show up consistently - on Instagram, your blog, newsletters. Reply to emails and DM’s within the hour. Don’t talk about something you can’t deliver. The list goes on.
And how many times have you found that that one week you posted every day was great (but stressful) - and you can’t keep up that momentum? Often, if the marketing gods are to be believed, we should be showing up for our business come rain or shine, good times or bad. It’s EXHAUSTING to do and exhausting to think about.
Inconsistency doesn’t mean not caring
FFS don’t we all have enough going on in our lives without being guilted into believing that the reason our business isn’t where we want it to be is because we don’t care enough to be consistent? I’m sure somewhere in the depths of all the courses I’ve done and people I’ve listened to over the years, I’ve absorbed the belief that my business is all about other people: when potential clients want to read a newsletter from me or how often they see me pop up on Instagram. Who my ideal client is, where they shop, what they wear/watch/read? I’m just throwing this out there - but the answers to that probably change all the time - they certainly do for me.*
Now ~ of course ~ I want to connect and talk to people (it’s the reason I’m a coach, after all) but I also don’t want to work with people who would lose trust in me as a human because I’m off living my ~ human ~ life. In fact, by showing up day after day, week after week, I’d be doing my potential clients and community a disservice. I’d be modelling a type of ‘behaviour’ that I wouldn’t expect from anyone else. If I showed up on the days I felt unwell or exhausted, the days when things in my personal life are tougher than usual or the days I show up out of fear and not excitement - wouldn’t that be saying your feelings, emotions and circumstances don’t matter? That you and your work only matters if it meets someone else’s expectations?
Hustle culture is cancelled
Urgh, is there a more dated term now than ‘hustle culture’? This idea that sacrificing yourself at the altar of your business is the only way to show that you care is shite. Anyone I know who runs their own business does so because they want to make the most of their life. Life being the important word here. That’s not to say having a purpose that manifests in how you do business or work with people is not an important part of it. However, it’s still only a part of your life: maybe a big part, maybe less so, but the fact of the matter is, family, friendships, experiences, adventures, home, hobbies ~ everything else ~ deserve more than just a look-in. Making space and slowing down to focus on the full wheel of what life has to offer is one of the most important things you can do to feel fulfilled and well, not resentful of your business. Of course though, take into consideration when making a business work is a necessity and not a choice, where showing up consistently reflects in how consistently you make money that is needed. But where there is some flexibility, allow yourself to consciously choose what consistent looks like to you.
Cyclical living doesn’t mean consistent living
Over my years of learning and living a slower pace of life, I’ve come to understand more and more about how cyclical we are. Whether it’s our menstrual cycle or how we feel at different times of the day/week/month/year - the key understanding is guess what? WE CHANGE ALL THE TIME! Our energy ebbs and flows, we have amazing ideas we can’t or don’t follow through on, we get distracted, hungry, tired, angry. Our internet stops working, laptop breaks or money runs out. It’s fairly impossible to stay consistent when you’re up against ever changing hormones, lunar cycles and other people’s whims.
So don’t :)
I know that I want to run a business that aligns with the rest of my life - the unplanned, the unaccounted for, the unexpected, the spontaneous. Because they’re the best bits really, aren’t they?
*right now the answers are primarily: pyjamas ~ anything set in a small beautiful American town (Virgin River, Sweet Magnolias, Gilmore Girls) ~ easy fiction, because my brain can’t handle anymore non-fiction right now.