fbpx

BLOGS BY JANE TAYLOR | BUSINESS ADVICE |

There’s a lot to be said for positive mental attitude.

You’ve probably already experienced this in your lifetime, where you feel negative and then in turn negative things start happening to you.  This is actually down to you!  If you don’t think positive, nothing positive will happen.

This state of mind is something I’ve always believed in, but at times, (obviously I am not superwoman) I cannot be positive 100% of the time.  There were various periods in my baking business where I lost my mojo!! Now I know you will all have experienced this!  You can’t be bothered, customers are a pain in your butt, all sorts of things can cause this.  But in turn you’ll find all of sudden you have no orders coming in.. blah blah blah. I used to ring Fran @rockpoolcreative and say ‘Im not busy at all, don’t know what’s happening?’  Fran used to say ‘I do’.. so did I deep down.  I was bringing it on myself.

I clearly needed a break to recoup and get my passion back.  It always does, just every now and then you need down time and time for you.

I usually only need a week, just to recharge and gather my thoughts, get my hair and nails done and all is well in the world again.  Because if you’re anything like me I get bored very quickly.  I noticed this a lot with me when I had my cake studio over in Smarden.. I loved the space, but I’m a home bird, I love being in my home, I love being on my own.. with my things around me and just to be able to pop out for a break, stroke the dog and make myself some lunch, get dinner started and all that jazz.  I noticed when I was over there for the 2 years I never really had the massive buzz that I always had before.  I was quite meh about everything.  

We had decided to revamp my old cake room as it had become our laundry room when I was at the cake studio and I said to hubby it really needs a paint and freshen up.  So, I had a massive clear out and spruced it up.  Literally a week later we were looking at the finances and with lockdown and all that came with it, it wasn’t financially viable anymore.  Lee wanted me to keep it for a bit longer to see if things changed and the world started to get back to some normality and I just said ‘’Nope! I’m not feeling it over there’ He was quite concerned I think about how I would feel telling people I had let it go, and wanted to save face.  I couldn’t give two hoots what people thought to be honest with you.  I used to be like that years ago and in my younger years but as you get older things like that just don’t bother me.  

So, clearly me freshening up the laundry room wasn’t just that was it? I had obviously cosmically ordered it to happen.  Not consciously.  Within 10 days I was back home and moved in… I was very lucky my landlords found someone to take my unit within a week so the changeover was very fast.. win win!!  

I am not kidding you, the second I was home and working again in my cake room everything started coming back to me… the drive, the buzz, the ideas, the passion!! it made me really emotional and I’m actually quite emotional typing this now.  Fran and I spoke about and we both said it was meant to be and it was.  Within days the orders were flooding in, my brain was going 90 to the dozen with new flower design ideas.  Ideas for the businesses I run etc etc I can honestly say I’ve never been happier.  I am home.

Now the point I am trying to make to you all is, your state of mind determines what happens with your business.  If you’re Meh, your business will be meh.. what you give off will come back and bite you on the butt!  So be positive, say to yourself ‘ I am successful, my business is successful’. This is otherwise known as cosmic ordering! 

Always come from a good place, go out of your way for customers, be professional with your customers, but firm with your rules and T&C’s then they won’t take the Mickey out of you. You in turn won’t get annoyed and everything stays rosey.  

Businesses do have ups and downs, quite periods etc doesn’t mean you’re not doing well, or your followers don’t like what they see!  Sometimes it is just funds, or time of year.  November is always a terrible month for me! But now I’m prepared for it.  Take your quiet periods to learn new flowers and come up with new ideas.  Don’t rest on your laurels, change things up.  I’ve adapted my business so many times and that is fine.  

Also, stop looking at what everyone else is doing, concentrate on your own business.  Doesn’t matter if Vera down the road is fully booked all year round!  Chances are she’s charging ridiculously cheap prices and running herself ragged.  Not your problem! It can take sometime to build up your business mine wasn’t overnight.. Yes I had orders straight away but not full time.  A lot of you are just starting out and want to be busy 7 days a week from the off, this isn’t reality.  Businesses take time to take off.  Put in the leg work and put your business head on, don’t take it as a personal attack if a customer complains or makes some comments.  There are always THOSE sort of people in this world.  Ignore, ignore and ignore even more.  Run your business with your head not your heart.  If you keep getting customers saying the same thing to you over and over, then maybe see that as a sign to rethink what it is you’re doing.  This used to happen to me all the time.. even last year with my Taylor Made Cake Courses website! Everyday we would get 100’s of people emailing for my Buttercream recipe!  It was always there but people clearly couldn’t find it! So we changed it.. 

So, be positive, be professional, be kind and you will reap the rewards.

Love Jane x

Subscribe To My Newsletter

Join my mailing list to receive the latest news and updates from me AND recieve a FREE sunflower tutorial voucher! 

You have Successfully Subscribed!