Earlier this year, I was invited to take part in a big project, or at least big by my standards, as it was extremely dear to me, and I was able to use my creativity and make money, and the added bonus was I did not have to do much financially. It was a really sweet deal, but unfortunately, I had other things going on personally that seemed to continuously prevent me from showing up 100%. So when I was dropped from the project, I was hurt and really questioning my work and career.
While I don’t know for certain, I think I was also experiencing burnout at this time, so it was a rough time, and I had to do a lot of self-work to move past it, pull myself together, and get back on the horse. Oddly, I noticed that things seem different this time around. While I was literally broken for some time, this new me is more creative and self-assured. “She” recalls that it takes risks to continue moving forward and she’s doing so strategically. I realized being kicked off the project was actually a blessing and I learned three things in the process.
- Just do it.
Learn to follow your first mind. Initially, I was upset with myself because I had all kinds of ideas, but I was too afraid to share them with my partner. They seemed so small, but in actuality, I realize those creative ideas were the things she wanted, or she may have wanted. I gathered that from our last conversation, but I also realized it, even more, when I got another client with a gig similar to the previous one. The other problem was the ideas came to me too late. So the ideas came late, and I was too afraid to share them. Looking back, I realize I slept on myself.
- Go hard from the start.
With the next client, I again considered some of those ideas, but this time around I began to act on them. I was not totally sure I would include these things in the package, but I began to prepare for them just in case. When it came time for me to submit my post-event delivery, I had so many deliverables that I had packaged together, I over exceeded the client’s expectations. Now imagine if I had started thinking outside the box and allowing my creativity to guide me earlier, I would have had more. Hence, I could possibly create an upgraded package in the future or at least continue on with the same actions, which is now a process, so with the next similar gig, I already know the majority of what I can offer.
- Starting over is a wiser do-over.
While I was deeply hurt and even broken by this situation, because I am one of those who feels like a total failure when someone is unhappy with something I’ve done, the situation allowed me to build myself up stronger and come back more strategic. I feel much more confident about my work and my value. Though I failed, I learned from the experience, and it taught me things and situations to be mindful of how to look further ahead, and plan accordingly, as well as I learned of ways to better protect myself and my interest in the future.
Yes, I must admit, in the beginning, I thought being disassociated was the end of the world. This project was something that was dear to me and though a lot of work, I enjoyed working on it, pulling and stretching my team and myself and seeing just what we can do. Yet, the time I had to step back actually allowed me to rest, reflect, and recuperate, while looking over areas where we did well and deeply evaluating areas where we needed improvement, and plotting and planning.
I needed to fail so that I could pause long enough to see where I really needed to tweak and restructure things. SwagHer is now in its ninth year and many of our practices and routines are not documented. Before I usually stayed in work mode and couldn’t really see my business in full, because I was working in my business and not on it. Now I remember to be looking ahead while also moving forward.
