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I start the Pinterest rabbit hole.

Fascinating post title and pretty pin image? I’m so there.

I click, read, and repin. Then, I check out the related posts. That’s how the content curation train rides, yo.

Then I click to the homepage, to see if the author has a full-on arsenal of content that interests me. I’m into New Moon rituals right now, mmkay?

I look at the homepage. Then I cringe.

Her logo is about the size of my thumb. I can’t even read her tagline.

I keep scrolling. Her links at the bottom of her page are covered up.

I cringe, I cry, I die a little inside.

Then I make an assholelery pivot.

FACT: I preach authentic content creation but barely remember to blog myself. I don’t have an email list. I don’t have a lead magnet. I don’t have a YouTube channel.

One of my clients writes heart-wrenching, amazing emails and Instagram stories…but they’re laden with grammar typos.

Another is afraid to show up on video, but posts beautiful photography of her home and her business space.

It’s so easy now to post shame at everyone, for everything, and marketing is not alone in that. I understand why it’s so easy to just not do anything, when you know you won’t be able to do it perfectly.

But that author I just read about? I still signed up to receive her emails. I liked her on Facebook. I re-pinned her articles.

Does her shitty logo make me vomit in my mouth? Yes. But when you show up powerfully in your space and DO THE WORK ANYWAYS, it doesn’t matter. Authenticity and originality can overcome imperfection.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to post this blog. Without an image. Without SEO best practices in place. Because I want to show up now, before the inspiration fades.

I’ve been in business for over a year now, and I still have struggles with being seen. Blogging is so comfortable for me because I am a writer at heart. Showing up, on camera, without a script? No makeup? Real clothes? No thanks.

I mentioned this challenge at the last Mamas Making Waves monthly meetup here in GR, and out of that came a challenge. Every day for a week, I would record a video on Instagram. I posted the first one during the meeting, fueled by some liquid courage.

I was terrified of what would happen when I posted the video.

But know what? I DIDN’T DIE.

I then forced myself to do another. And another. And while I didn’t quite make it to every day (because, boyfriend time, and because, life), it got infinitely easier the more I practiced.

Now, I actually think I might do more videos than I post blog posts. Because I can make a video in exactly one minute. While I have a list of blog ideas that are a mile long, the time it takes to actually write them, provide links, optimize for SEO, etc is quite cumbersome right now.

What does this mean for you as an entrepreneur? A couple of things:

1. Follow me on Instagram, obvs
2. You can use the Clipomatic app to add captions to your posts. I’ve found I enjoy videos and engage with them much more personally if I can read them rather than try to hear them amongst traffic, noisy kids, etc.
3. You can then use the Cutstory app to chop your video into chunks that are appropriate for Instagram stories.

While I’ll never fully stop blogging, I think I’ve been bit by the video bug permanently! If you’re suffering from fears about being seen, give it a try! I’ve been known to provide vodka to people when necessary…

This month on Mamas Making Waves, our theme is Align with the Seasons. We approached this from several aspects:

• The literal, physical happenings in the earth. It’s winter right now. I’m on Snow Day 14 with my kids. More than a few client meetings have been cancelled.
• The seasons of life we are in. Do you have small children at home? Are you an empty nester?
• The seasons of our businesses: how long have you been in operation? Are you launching any large initiatives, or is it the slow season?

This winter has been a very hard, not truly joyful one in CYJ headquarters. I broke my right big toe when I fell down the stairs, and what I thought was a simple dislocation required surgery, weeks of being off my feet, and not being able to drive. This put a great deal of my workload on hold, as I could not physically meet with clients or hold meetings.

I try to put a positive spin on the situation, because it did require me to ask for a lot of help. It was also a sign that I needed to slow way down and create more margin in my life.

Plus, my kids were home with me at least 12 of their 14 snow days. We got to spend a lot of time playing games, baking cookies, and binging TV shows.

But towards the end of February, I was DYING. I was tired of being cooped up, and my bank account dwindled.

Two things that helped me:

1. I realized that this was a season of my life and my business. I’m a new entrepreneur, and this sucked that I could not continue the good momentum of building my business. But I’m still new at this. I need to allow myself the grace to figure things out.
2. I discovered the joy of actually living seasonally. I created a Pinterest board dedicated to winter, and found myself approaching it with less angst because there truly are joyful things about it. Making soup! Knitting! Crafting paper snowflakes!

It was futile to be upset that I wasn’t experiencing a harvest when NOTHING in my life or outside was in a season to produce fruit. I had to hold on and enjoy the period of retreat and hibernation.

But guess what? Today, it’s sunny and above freezing. Daylight savings time is approaching. My foot is healed. I’m ready to take on what the new season holds for my life in my business.