The Business Pep Talk You Didn't Ask For (But Probably Need)

Encouragement for Catholic creatives and entrepreneurs who feel worn out.

I opened Thy Olive Tree in 2019. It’s been a lot of ups and downs ever since. Some days I feel like I know exactly what I’m doing. Other days I feel like I’m not even qualified to turn on my computer. But here I am.

On those bad days when I feel like burning it all to the ground, I have to completely shift my mindset and remind myself of a few things.

I’m sharing this with you to file away when you’ve had a day and need a pep talk. Maybe that day is today. Oh how wonderful God works!

Here are a few things I tell myself when I’m down:

Most people don’t even try it

If you have an idea and have freakin’ launched it, CONGRATS. I don’t care if you had to shut it down. If it “failed.” If you lost money trying. You actually did something. You took the risk. You put yourself out there. And you followed God’s call.

Most online businesses fail

It’s a sobering fact. Within 4 months of launching, about 90% of e-commerce brands will fail (Forbes). Yikes. I’m not quite sure what defines a failure, but I assume not making enough money to keep the doors open? Based on this, I’d say breaking even would be a pretty high achievement 😂

So on days when I feel like I’m no where near my financial goals, I pat myself on the back because my store is still open and sustainable.

I could have gone back to school and spent thousands of dollars on a business degree

Here’s the interesting thing. I don’t know about you, but I feel like there is a certain level of guilt attached to running a business that is not wildly profitable. Like, ALL THOSE HOURS sucked into it amount to a glorified hobby? In my case, this is a self-inflicted mindset, but I feel deeply for anyone who is getting negative comments externally.

What if I had decided to go back to school and get a degree in business? I feel like the general sentiment would be, “Wow, congrats! You are furthering your education.” And yet, I’d also be thousands of dollars in debt without nearly as much intellectual property to show for it (will get to that in a second). Please don’t get me wrong. I’m not knocking a college education or anyone’s decision to go back to school. There are good reasons for doing this, too.

Rather, I wish I had had this mindset when I started business: That entering business without any business training and learning ALL THE THINGS that go into it, might take just as long as getting a business degree.

It’s like I’ve been in my own self-made business school

Here’s another way of looking at it:

I could have gone to business school and spent thousands of dollars and years attaining a degree.

Instead I launched the business (as messy as it was), ended up making a little money in the process, learned a ton, AND got to create a ton of intellectual property that I genuinely wanted to create. I wasn’t constrained by the limits of a classroom or group project.

When I think of it in those terms, I feel much better. Like of course the first 2 years didn’t make any profit. I was “getting all my prerequisites out of the way.” The third year was like your first college job that helped pay for your textbooks. The fourth year was the senior internship where you got paid a small stipend for working 40 hours/week. And the 5th year is the fellowship? I dunno, I might still be an intern 😂

But I’m above water and I have intellectual property.

I have intellectual property!

Why do I keep saying this, and what is it? Intellectual property, or IP, is the original work you create that you legally own, such as books, paintings, products, designs, and more. Maybe it didn’t make money on day one, but it could on day 500 or 1,000. You could even take a year or two off and come back when you have more time for marketing. This is such a wonderful asset to have!

Oh the skills I have obtained

Sometimes I get down on myself because maybe it’s not business school or the business I should be doing. Maybe I should have been working a different job or chosen to be a full time stay at home mom. And yet I have to remind myself, continuing to work in my old field (my masters is in public health) would have kept me stuck in my old field. If my dream is to run my own creative company, I need to build the skills to do that.

As for the full time stay at home mom thing, this post is not a debate on what is right or wrong. Truly all that matters is doing God’s will.

I personally feel God’s pull to work and I also know I’ll want to re-enter the workforce when all my kids are in school. Ideally this is working for myself and giving my family flexibility. But if all this really does go down in flames, I’ve gained so many new skills and work connections that I’m confident I could transition into the Catholic / creative workforce when the time comes. I’m keeping my resume brushed up, albeit a little unconventionally.

The money that didn’t go to a paycheck went straight to professional development

I’ve been able to pay for expensive courses, design tools, business coaching, conference attendance, and other professional development that has been unbelievably valuable. I sometimes forget that this matters, too. When it is earmarked as a business expense, it directly reduces monetary profit. But, professional development is a different type of profit.

The spiritual fulfillment is what really matters

Being in Catholic business is often way more than the money. I stop and look at the reviews and positive feedback I’ve gotten and that often keeps me going. There is also nothing like being in business WITH God. This has certainly taught me many lessons about including God in my work.

Social media is for happy posts

Seriously, if every business owner posted about their failures, social media would be such a beautiful place. But in reality, you are only going to see the good stuff there. The businesses that have so many orders to ship they need to call the post office for help. The businesses that appeal to the Instagram gods (JK, you all know I am so far from polytheism). And good for them, seriously! That is the dream! But I have to remind myself that is an anomaly. Remember the 10% of businesses that succeed? And of those only a fraction REALLY succeed.

Pivoting is ok

Pivoting is a part of being creative and flexible. I’ve learned you can’t get too attached to an original idea because it will likely change a million times.

The course software turns out to be too cumbersome.

The email platform is too expensive.

The product flops.

So you repurpose your IP.

Or close your community and start a Substack. 🙋‍♀️

Or leave Instagram for good.

Or maybe you do have to shut your business down. I’ll bet that business was a stepping stone for your next big idea, which will be even better.

I hope this post resonated with you and a few of the mindset shifts were helpful. Below I have a couple questions to get you reflecting on your own business journey.

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Questions for you:

• What new skills have you learned from being in business?

• What IP have you created?

• What stage of “business school” are you in?

• What kinds of spiritual fulfillment have you encountered?

• Where might you need to pivot?

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