smallbusiness – The Great Kaysby

Month End Mania

This one goes out to all of my biz owner friends in the audience!

How often to you get to month end and think, “How did we get here? How’s it __________? Where did the month go? I’m so behind!!!” More often than not, this has been me in the last twelve years that I have taken my direct sales business more seriously (because let’s be real, there are still moments when I don’t work as diligently as I should). Also, I say twelve years because those first eight years were kind of a crapshoot. We’ve all been there too, right? Yet there are still months when I find myself wanting to scream and shout on the last day of the month, “Who needs skin care? Who needs makeup? GO TO MY WEBSITE NOW!” Luckily for all of those in my immediate circle, I have gotten a lot better about not making desperate last minute social media posts to finish goals that I have allowed myself to procrastinate on achieving. Again, I’m honest and fully recognize that I have to say better and not perfect.

That said, two things have made the difference for me. First and foremost, I consistently remind myself of what I can and cannot control. In both businesses – our direct sales and our publishing – I cannot control the number of people who actually make a purchase. I cannot control the number of people who follow our socials, click on our website links, watch our YouTube channel, etc. Remember your granny saying that you can lead the horse to water, but you can’t make it drink? Turns out that is true in a WIDE array of areas. When you accept that there are things you cannot control, you can obtain peace. So what can I control? I can control the number of people that I contact, the number of appointments that I hold, the amount of content we post on socials and YouTube, etc. I can control how much networking I do, and I can control how much time I invest in working towards goals. I can also look up to mentors when I need help, motivation, etc. The second thing that has made a difference for me is learning that I don’t have to win every prize. This was a REALLY hard realization for my reward driven personality. However, I found that when I tried to win EVERYTHING, I would be so distracted that I would not win ANYTHING! Learning to narrow my focus to what I really want to achieve has mad a big difference!

Thanks to what I’ve learned, even though I’m not quite at my March goal, I’m not freaking out. I am proud of what I have accomplished, and I am using what I have learned to propel me into April.

Biz owner friends, who is with me?

XOXO,

The Great Kaysby

Well…We Already Did…

Come up with a crazy business idea.

So maybe our business idea isn’t crazy. After all, we, aka Letters & Lore, currently publish books through Amazon KDP. Our idea was simple: we wanted to make our dreams of being published authors come true. Instead of waiting around and hoping without action, we leapt in head first. Currently, we have lined notebooks, a fictional Christmas novella, books for kids, a business planner, journals, and devotionals. This year we plan to add a full length historical fiction novel AND put content on Audible. The last one feels a little crazy, but only because I have not yet done the research to find out how it works. For the last two years, completing work that matches our dreams has felt right and not crazy.

Crazy would be wanting to attach whales to icebergs in order to start an ice distribution business. Thank you Dr Heidegger’s Experiment.

Crazy would be wanting to sell ice over the internet in the early 00s using your daughter’s wedding fund. Thank you Jack Geller.

What is your biz idea be it crazy or not?

XOXO,

The Great Kaysby

What’s In a Name?

What brands do you associate with?

If you would have asked me this question as a teenager, I probably would have made a comment about how brands don’t matter. Now as an adult, there are a lot of areas where I would still agree with this. However, as I have become more knowledgeable about issues that matter to me, my stance on brands has changed a bit. I will openly share with people who ask about brands/companies that I no longer support because of their social responsibility, environmental issues, etc. I also share that I fully realize that the companies do not feel a dent in their profits from my choice to not use them, but I feel that my peaceful protest (channeling Thoreau, Ghandi, and King) provides me with a clean heart. Is it a perfect plan? No. Especially given a world where it is hard to truly know what a brand stands for as available information can have inconsistencies. I also do my best to not judge those who are willing to spend their dollars with brands that I do not utilize.

So what do I utilize? I like Letters & Lore! letterslore.com I’ve worked with them on a few publications. I also love #mymklife and the brand that I am creating with thegreatkaysby on Instagram. For our homeschooling (though our values do not 100% align), I love Sonlight and Abeka. In this case, I use what doesn’t align with our beliefs as a learning opportunity. For craft/art supplies, I go to Michael’s. Whenever possible I prefer to support local brands/businesses.

What is your brand stance?

XOXO,

The Great Kaysby