Reflections from 2 years in business.
At the beginning of June I ticked over 2 years in business…
I was knee deep in the launch for the School of Content Wizardry at the time…
But I know it’s important to reflect on and celebrate these moments in business…
So in today’s episode I want to share with you some of my reflections from 2 years in business including:
- My best decisions.
- My biggest lessons.
- What I’m most proud of.
- What I’m most looking forward to.
Before I share these business reflections with you…
I want to start by saying that I still look back and laugh at myself about how prepared I “thought” I was, diving into running my business full time.
And I think this is such an important thing to realise – that no matter how well prepared you think you are…
Or how long you wait until you’re ready…
Or until the perfect moment for you to take action…
Sometimes it’s just better to take the leap…no matter how scary it is…and figure it out as you go! Because no amount of planning or perfecting everything can adequately prepare you.
And this goes for starting your business or investing in yourself or doing things in your business that scare the shit out of you…
So if you’re waiting until you’re ready…or until it’s the perfect time…take this as a sign to just fucking do it.
Now here we go – my reflections from 2 years in business.
Let’s begin with…
My best decisions
Starting my business has completely changed my life.
I get to work with amazing humans, create magical content and I get to do that without leaving my house, and alongside Ned.
Even on the shittest of shit days – that’s all I ever wanted.
It hasn’t been easy but I look at everything I’ve done and continue to do because of my business and it still blows my mind.
I remember when I graduated uni I was so unsure and so uncertain.
I was worried about:
- What I was going to do
- How I was going to use my degree
- What kind of job I was going to get
So instead…I created my own job and turned it into everything I wanted and more.
And now I can’t even imagine going back to a “normal” job.
A continual investment in learning
It’s no secret my view of the importance of investing in yourself and your business.
I will ALWAYS continue to invest in personal development. I invested in myself from Day 1 and I can’t see that ever changing.
It’s good for me AND for my business #doublewinning
When I was doing the research into starting my business (yes I did research!)…pretty much every single person I spoke to said the same thing – they wish they’d invested in a business coach when they first started…so that’s what I did.
And I’m so grateful to still be working with the magical Ellie Swift to this day. She’s believed in me from Day 1 and I fucking love her.
I also invest in other areas of my business too. I’m always looking for opportunities to expand my magic spellbook.
Special shout out to Miish Grixti for being my copy coach for the last 12 months – she has helped me take my skills to the next level. If you get a chance to learn from her – do it.
My view is that you’ll never wake up one day and know everything or have everything figured out. I simply think about how much content creation (especially social media) has changed in the past 2 years so that’s why it’s so important to continue to learn and evolve.
Starting the How I Do Content Podcast
I never had start a podcast on my vision board. I sometimes still have to pinch myself that I have a podcast.
And that it got to #1 on the marketing charts in Australia.
To see the names of people you look up to…alongside you in the charts AND to be able to interview some of my favourite humans – it makes me so happy.
So thank you for allowing me to do this…
For listening…
For taking me on walks with your dog…
For sharing your key takeaways from the episodes….
And for leaving reviews…
It honestly means so much to me – so thank you.
Now onto…
My biggest lessons
I use the word lessons because I believe that in business there are no failures, there are only lessons.
When something doesn’t work out how you anticipated or hoped, allow yourself the space to reflect and identify what went wrong and how you can improve going forward.
Now is not the time to burn it to the ground…
You’re now one step closer to where you want to be.
There isn’t any problem or obstacle that you can’t work out if you take the time to listen, to learn and to adapt.
There isn’t any problem or obstacle that you can’t work out if you take the time to listen, to learn and to adapt.
And that’s one of the best things about running your own business – your ability to change things if they don’t go to plan or you don’t enjoy doing them.
NO is a complete sentence
And saying no doesn’t make you a bad person.
As an eternal people pleaser I often find it hard to say no, but sometimes you just need to say NO! This is very much a work in progress for me – but the more I flex that muscle, the easier it becomes to use it.
Saying no helps to create boundaries and set expectations.
When I was new in my business I was scared to say no because it felt like I was turning away opportunities or letting people down, but I soon realised that by saying no, I was actually saying yes to opportunities that were more aligned to what I wanted.
Remember that you are allowed to say no and you don’t have to justify your decision to anyone (other than yourself).
If it’s not a HELL YES it’s a NO from me.
You didn’t start your business to work yourself to the brink of burnout
I’m going to share a story I’ve never shared before.
At the end of 2020 after I’d created over a month’s worth of content for multiple clients in the space of a couple of weeks…whilst running the School of Content Wizardry…
I crashed hard.
I couldn’t get out of bed – I’d pushed myself to the point of no return.
Up until then I’d been racing alongside exhaustion trying to keep my nose in front and keep going with the end of the year in sight.
But when I got there I was fucked.
I hadn’t made myself a priority but now I was being forced to. Things had to change.
Pushing yourself to the brink of burnout does you no favours.
YES being your own boss does require a dedicated person…
A resilient person…
Someone willing to make sacrifices…
BUT there has to be balance.
Make time for yourself now – while you can always make more money, you can never get back time.
YOU need to believe in yourself
Yes YOU.
Nobody else but you can do this – and I know it’s hard and it feels uncomfortable.
This is actually a new lesson for me – it came up during my last launch. My business coach said to me…
“I know you believe that your program (The School of Content Wizardry) is amazing…but do you Tahryn believe that YOU are amazing too?
Because your program is amazing because of YOU. Not because of what you’ve included in it…but because of YOU.
And until YOU believe that…how can you expect anyone else to believe that too?”
I was like DAMN….but she has a point. You can often be the biggest roadblock to what you want.
You can self-sabotage yourself…
Or hold yourself back…
Because you’re scared of failing or putting yourself out there or of being judged… But what if you embodied the truth of owning your value…
And what makes you magic…
And show up with no apologies for who YOU are.
Give it a try and let me know how you go.
I know that I can do anything – But I have to believe in myself
What I’m most proud of
It’s been a fulfilling 2 years and lots of things spring to mind but the key things for me are…
Building a standout brand
One that leads to people sending me dog and Harry Potter memes – and saying “this made me think of you.”
I’ve really developed my authentic voice and message and I did that by staying true to who I am. I quickly discovered that to truly connect with my community and to stand out in a sea of content, I needed to share the real Tahryn.
Because the difference between your content and everyone else’s content is YOU!
Because the difference between your content and everyone else’s content is YOU!
Why would you want to try and blend into all the same sameness out there?!
By sharing the real Tahryn I’ve assembled a community of like-minded legends who’ve become my friends and my cheerleaders in business.
Because once you step into your power and own who you’re meant to be you’ll attract like minded people into your orbit.
I’m extremely grateful for everyone in my community who cheers me on, who shares my content and who sends me photos of their dog (or cat).
It’s not lost on me the fact that I can show up and talk about dogs and Harry Potter most days and I have people who love me for it.
Taking action even when it’s scary
I have a lot of people say to me “I wish I could do that” or “I’m too scared of fucking up or failing”…
And here’s the thing…
Most of the times when I do something in my business, whether it’s…
- Going full time in my business
- Launching the School of Content Wizardry
- Launching this podcast
I’m still shitting myself…
BUT I still take action.
Because I know that if I want to get to where I want to go – I’ve got to move towards it. I can’t sit in fear or wish I could be anyone else.
I take small steps towards my goals every day – even when I’m scared shitless. I didn’t wave a wand and 2 years later here I am – no one does.
Stop looking at what other people are doing and focus on you and your goals. Break it down into really simple and actionable steps. Keep putting one foot in front of the other and before you know it, you’ll look back and be so proud of how far you’ve come.
Just like I am.
So what does the future hold for myself and Ned?
What I’m looking forward to
I recently made the decision to stop offering “done-for-you” content creation for clients on a retainer basis. So this has meant ending client relationships with people that I love working with and who I consider to be friends…
And this also means letting go of consistent monthly income in this capacity.
So I’m tweaking the business model a little bit which is equally exciting and terrifying but I feel like it’s the right decision for me. There were some tears shed – but here we are.
This doesn’t mean I won’t be offering any done-for-you content creation – and if you want a little Tahryn & Ned magic I have my new ‘Book My Magic’ service available. This is where I dedicate 5.5 hours of focused time on your content or copy projects of choice.
My area of expertise is sales pages, email sequences, launch content and repurposing. So if you wanna find out more about that – please send me a DM over on Instagram – spots are extremely limited.
I’m also working on a launch-related program right now and getting everything I know about launching out of my head and into a step by step process for you to confidently launch your magic into the world.
So my focus for the most part will be on creating tools and programs that empower you to share your authentic voice, create your own magic content and get max impact out of every creation.
I really believe that if I can create magic in my business – you can too.
I really believe that if I can create magic in my business – you can too.
So I’m always up for sharing my processes and frameworks and the steps I take to be where I am today. If there’s something you’d like me to share more on – please DM on Insta and let me know. I’m happy to share everything I know with you.
What a magical 2 years in business!
So there you have it – some of my reflections from 2 years in business.
Full disclosure this episode was hard for me to record because talking about myself in this way feels uncomfortable for me.
But I hope that by sharing openly and honestly it’ll help you wherever you are on your business journey right now. Take the time to reflect on how far you’ve come.
You are fucking magic – don’t forget that.
Thank you for listening.
If you loved this episode I’d be so grateful if you hit subscribe and left me a 5 star review.
This helps me spread a little magic and get this podcast out into the ears of more wizards just like you.
Until next time – say hi to your dog for me.
Want More?
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