Hello Everyone,
This is round two of the most important lessons that I have learned (or am still learning while starting Campo). Entrepreneurs and business owners of course this is for you, but really I have found that this is relevant for life in general.
Here we go.
As I mentioned in the first post of this series one of the biggest obstacles is realizing how much you really don’t know. This of course leads to questioning experience and ability, imposter syndrome and all of those fun things. I have been through all of this many time over – honestly I still do, but that’s why one of the best lessons I have learned is:
#1: Trust Your Gut
I’m not talking blind trust or trust without facts, research, or other information. I am saying AFTER you’ve done your homework, have a good feel for everything and need to make decisions – trust your gut. I believe that all of us have certain kinds of instincts: different ways to sense people, intention, situation, etc. Mine, for example, is my stomach (i.e. gut) I feel it physically if something isn’t quite right. I know when someone is trustworthy or not relatively quickly after meeting them. A time I didn’t follow my gut was with a marketing agency. They were meant to help me market the Kickstarter. I talked to them, it sounded AMAZING! … Probably too good to be true… but I went forward, ignoring my instincts. They took my money and influenced exactly ZERO DOLLARS of sales for my Kickstarter. Zero. A trained monkey could have done better. Lesson learned in listening to my instincts. Story ends well though, with the help of family, friends, and an amazing group of interns we did a $15,000 Kickstarter. Take that!! Marketing Agency Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named.
#2: Things Are Not Going to Work Perfectly
This ties into my marketing agency bumble above. Excellent! Anyway, Number Two: Things are NOT going to work perfectly. I will add on to say things will not work anywhere in the vicinity of perfectly. I work with four suppliers in Peru, whose primary language is not my own, and we talk and work in product design, measurements, labor cost, work procedures, international shipping, customs, quality assurance, contracts, etc. etc. etc. There is a LOT that can go wrong and it most definitely will. Rolling with it and working to do better next time is the best thing that can happen.
Recently, there was a massive miscommunication with one of the suppliers. We were not on the same page and the wrong products started to be woven. NOT GOOD! It took me a lot of meditation and a kick boxing class to have the calmness to look back at what went wrong and work with our partner to fix it and move forward. I am confident we won’t make the same mistake twice, which is really the best to hope for!
I hope you find these interesting, helpful, or even amusing. If anything it was helpful for me to write it all down and further engrain these two ideas into my brain.
Here at Campo, professional and personal development are pillars of the company. I love to work with our amazing team of interns as well as the teams in Peru on how we can grow and develop. Continue to expect these types of blog posts and as well as Motivation Mondays on our social media!
Thanks All and Bye for Now!
Katie