"You Either Want To Work Hard Or You Don't"

Last week I read a thread in a silversmithing Facebook group that I’m in. The person was asking for tips on how to sell more pieces but made it very clear they did not want to “create content.” I was surprised that so many of the responders included that they also didn’t want to be “content creators.”

They all wanted to make more sales though.

But how can sales be made if there’s no marketing? The answer is they can’t.

“YOU EITHER WANT TO WORK HARD OR YOU DON’T”

I will never forget an experience I had 20 years ago before I started jewelry making. Right before actually.

I had just finished 4 years of college. My plan was to go to the University of Arizona to study Latin American politics and be fluent in Spanish and Portuguese. I was very driven and set to graduate Summa Cum Laude. But a life event turned it all around. I not only lost all of my ambition to go to Arizona, I risked not receiving my degree altogether.

I still had to write my thesis to graduate and present it to a panel of professors, but I just couldn’t get myself to do it. They graciously gave me one year to complete and submit.

In my mind, though, I didn’t care anymore. I had lost the drive to work hard. I decided I just wasn’t going to do it. I would just ski and tend bar to tourists until I figured my life out.

After 9 months of this, another life event happened—a ski accident followed by surgery, a derailed ski season and no work for two months. I had nothing else to do except watch tv in our crazy tiny apartment.

One day post surgery I hobbled over with a friend to the deck of a local bar overlooking Elk Ave. It was a sunny spring afternoon and not many tourists were around.

But there was one man out there on the deck. He was from a southern state, tall, happy and gingery. He was a businessman and I just remember how grateful he was for his life and his family and for being able to bring them to Crested Butte on vacation.

He attributed it all to hard work.

I didn’t tell him about my thesis and I don’t remember what else we spoke about. I just remember his gratitude and the one thing he said to me that I will never forget:

It was almost like he was there at that exact moment just to tell me this one thing.

I don’t know what it was about this sentence, but it sunk deep into my mind. It affected me so much that I went home, found an office to rent, limped over there and up the stairs, set up my computer and started writing my thesis.

I presented it to the panel one month before my time was up. I got an A, of course! I graduated Magna Cum Laude—not number one but I’ll take 2nd place.

That night I cried with joy and so much pride at what I had accomplished. I did it!

Not loo long after this, I made my first necklace and sold it off my neck at work, which began my business journey.

The point I’m making here is that if you aren’t willing to put the work in, whether it’s creating content or anything else, how will you move forward?

If you aren’t willing to market—what is mistakenly called “content creation”—how will you sell?

Business and life take action. They take consistency for forward motion, small action step by small action step until one day all of those small steps create the bigger picture—create the success.

And guess what? You don’t have to be a content creator. All you have to do is SHARE—share your work and your message.

Yes you can write long form messaging if you want to and feel so inspired. But you don’t have to right away. The simplest and most effective way to get your jewelry in front of people is to post it on your personal profile and ask ONE question like: “What do you think of my new design?”

This is a great way to see what people think of your work and also grab the comments to use as quotes in other posts or a website. People will tell you what they think. They will also ask you how they can buy it.

Then you can make more friends just like the ones that love your designs. This part takes learning about marketing, and learning and implementing take time and energy—otherwise known as work.

Business success does not happen overnight. I didn’t happen that way for me. I worked hard. I put the time in to LEARN about business, marketing, branding, cash flow, sales, wealth building and all the rest. I learned from the best in the entire world because that’s all I would settle for. That’s all I was available for.

I still work with these mentors today and I’ve become a mentor myself.

We're there other life events that shifted me off course…Yes. Sometimes I even had to put my business aside for a time, but I always picked it back up and kept going.

Are you wiling to do the same? Are you willing to put the hard work in or are you like one of the FB responders that wants the success without the hard work?

Decide which one you will be because if you aren’t, then you have a hobby not a business. And that’s ok.

If you don’t know where to start or what to learn first, find someone who has gone before you and accomplished the very same thing you desire to accomplish. They have the path already laid out and often in step by step instructions.

Find out what your blocks are that keep you stuck so you can bust through them. Often it's not the fact alone, like not wanting to create content, but what’s underneath it—generally a fear of failing or not desiring to be seen.

These can be removed.

I’m here to help.

Here’s to working hard,

xx Meaghan

Take a look at this newsletter, “Human Potential & The Strive For Greatness” to learn how to remove fear and accomplish your life and business goals.