What Does It Mean To Be Successful?

Goals and plans have been on my mind a lot lately. Maybe it's a bit of the nesting feeling setting in after the wedding or possibly that I feel Shelly and I are on to a different phase with the business after (quietly) passing our first year mark in business. But you can't have goals and make plans without defining what the endpoint is or what it means to succeed with your endeavor.

Just today I was reading this guest post on PoppyTalk, "Too Much Success" by Rena Tom wherein she asks both if you can be too successful and how you define success.

It's that last phrase that's key to me. What does success mean? For some it's making your dream a reality no matter the cost, for others it's financial independence, and for still more it's a sense of happiness and contentment not matter what they find themselves doing. All of that begs the question does success and happiness in your personal life hinge on success in your work life? Are the goals different or one in the same?

I ask you to think about all this because way too often our definitions of success get co-opted by what others tell us it means to have made it. If you like your day job, then your handmade business doesn't need to support you to be successful. If you get named as the go to authority in your niche industry you might decide that's enough. You might also decide that work/life balance is more important than anything and if you can't have balance running a handmade business you're willing to walk away from the business.

These definitions, or needs one might say, will most likely change every few years. What seemed an ok level of existence when you were on your own in your 20's will probably feel uncomfortable in your 30's or as a married couple. I have found that I define comfort in terms of my income differently than I did just 5 years ago, but I'm also willing to struggle longer because I'm surer of where I want to go and have more confidence that I can get there. For me success is more about balance and whether I like what I'm doing rather than an amount in my bank account or how many people know who I am.

So as you hit walls and go through struggles as a creative person trying to do something on your own I ask you to remember what it means to you to have found success, what are you doing it all for? And don't forget to find the little successes everyday. Making a client smile, meeting a new potential partner, depositing a check, no matter the amount, into your business account. Isn't it all of these little things that keep us doing it?