keep your "why"

You know that feeling when you are going through something hard and you keep thinking to yourself, "I am the only one going through this." I promise you, you aren't alone.

In my naivety starting this business, I believed I would figure everything out so quickly. How hard could printing T-shirts really be? I was so wrong. I cannot express how exhausting working a full day, going to school, and then coming home after dark to print an order of custom tees in our garage was. Especially when something would break or need a fix that wouldn't come for 24-48 hours.

I remember the tears and feeling like I was the only one experiencing things going wrong no matter how hard I was working. Looking back, I can recall two things that helped me keep going.

1. Keeping my vision for my future. I knew I wanted to be a full-time entrepreneur & that I also wanted a family. I also knew that I wanted these things to intertwine somehow. I had to be patient with my learning process & gracious with myself in each failure.

2. I had to be willing to learn & self-educate. I had to take the time to listen to the podcasts, watch the youtube videos and overcome any fear or insecurity standing in my way to make phone calls to suppliers to ask all the simple questions that weren't that simple to me.

I hope that wherever you are right now, you stop and remind yourself that you are completely capable to achieve whatever hard thing lies ahead & that you are not the only one. May you be gentle with yourself in this process & brave in moving forward.