Take Care of Yourself to Find Etsy Success

One of the best things that you can do to experience Etsy success is to be reenergized … not only for your brand, but for your own mental health as well.  I don’t care who you are, we all need a little time off, a good dose of pampering, and quite time in order to keep up momentum and reenergize your store, heart, mind, & body. Today’s post are a few things that help me to stay focused and help me keep my motivation and momentum on the upswing!

Put Yourself First

We all have different coping mechanisms. Life, no matter how hard you try, will often get in the way of the best made plans. So how do you deal with the ups and downs of life?  More importantly, how do you deal with the ups and downs of running your own business? There are many things that you can do, but the most important is to take care of YOURSELF!

This post on the Oh My Handmade blog really resonated with me, mostly because I had taken some strong steps toward this ultimate goal at the beginning of this year; I strongly encourage you go and read it now. It talks about how all artists need to take care of their most precious tools … if you have spent $200 on a piece of equipment for your business, you WILL take care of it because of the monetary value.  But what about your most precious tool: yourself? YOU are irreplaceable. It’s time to take care of yourself.  It’s time to take a good look at how YOU see yourself.

Take Some Time Off

I know you’re probably wondering what this article has to do with my Build Your Brand series … but trust me when I say that the most important thing you can do is to take care of yourself. Your brand will not be a success without it’s creator.  Recently this year, I made a covenant with my husband … turn off my computer by 7pm. While this most certainly does NOT happen everyday, it happens 5 days a week.  I also made a covenant with him to not turn on my computer on Sundays.

Sounds funny right?  For me this works. Why? Because if I don’t force myself to take time off, I never will.  There’s always one more thing to get done on my to-do list. You have to enjoy life. You have to take time to “smell the roses.” You will never do that if you are so glued to your website, blog, or Etsy that you never unplug and get offline.  Likewise, where is your time to create? If you are always working on ads, how are you ever going to get things done?  I had to make some very hard decisions this year, including leaving two Etsy teams I dearly loved and was highly devoted to. Why; because there was simply too much to do and I had to cut myself some slack, for my sanity, my business, and my health.

What have I learned? I have learned that taking care of myself gives me more energy, better focus, and allows me to be successful.  I didn’t realize that so many things were bogging me down, until I took them away. By placing new boundaries not only have I boosted my confidence in myself and my business, but I have seen new opportunities, challenges, and places to grow placed right in my midst. But if I hadn’t made those tough decisions, it never would have happened.

What’s Holding You Back?

So I ask you today … what’s holding you back from success? Is it that you’re stuck on social media all day? Perhaps it’s not having any quiet time to work? Maybe you don’t have a “space” to work in? Whatever is holding you back from your success, there is a solution. The question that you need to ask yourself is whether or not you are ready and willing to take those steps to achieve health, happiness, and less stress while still being successful.

Here’s What I Gained:

This list will not resonate with everyone, but by making some very small changes here’s what I claimed back for myself:

• Quiet evenings spent with my husband.
• Time to actually read a book, enjoy my Kindle, and a cup of tea!
• More creative energy in my studio than I have ever had before.
• Less stress and better focus to get my work done.
• A “To-Do” list that gets 90-100% completed each and every day.

I would like to personally encourage each of you to take care of yourself first … if you can do this, you will find success on Etsy, your blog, websites, social media and so much more.

Comment below & let me know what you need the strength to let go of and reclaim your life.

Thanks for joining me today. Join me next week to Build Your Brand on Etsy & experience success.