I came across this post from Mother Tongue magazine recently. The quote is:
“I simply don’t think that putting every bit of energy I have into parenting — at the expense of my career, marriage and social life — will be the different between Layla becoming homeless or the president. But too many women are made to believe that every tiny decision they make — from pacifiers to flash cards — will have a lasting impact on their child. It’s a recipe for madness. It also reveals an overblown sense of self-importance.”
— Jessica Valenti
As a mother, the words really spoke to my experience. There’s much mainstream rhetoric about motherhood that is problematic, and I don’t identify with. That’s no surprise since I’ve come to take pride in my outlier status. Part of being an older parent and a seasoned business owner is knowing that if I’m feeling something, likely there are lots of others’ feeling it too. In other words, I’m not as special as I think! Feeling like an outsider isn’t necessarily the truth. That’s why I try to voice my opinions, even when they seem to go against whatever the mainstream is doing.
How we care for the gentle beings in our lives like children or pets show us the way for our to treat running our companies.
When I re-posted the quote on my socials, a trusted artist-friend, Kathryn Bondy, replied with her regular brilliance: “I feel like by swapping out a few words this could apply to people who run their own businesses!” Kathryn runs the exquisite paper flower business and art practice Golden Age Botanicals. Run don’t walk and give her a follow! Since Kathryn dropped that truth on me, it’s hung around, as ideas do. Almost everywhere I looked, I kept seeing parallels between caring for a living being and owning a business. Here are a few of those parallels:
1.
Kids, pets and clients can sense when you’re trying too hard. If you’re speaking in a singsong voice that doesn’t come naturally to you, it is off-putting, no matter the context. It’s not about what you’re saying, rather the tone of what you’re saying that creates trust with your audience. The same goes for your business. If you’re putting on a persona that seems to work for other people but isn’t quite right for you, it shows! For me, it means that I certainly experiment with new ways of expressing myself and my business. Ultimately, if it doesn’t feel good in my gut, I don’t do it.
2.
If your kid, pet or client doesn’t like something you’re making, they simply won’t consume it. Have you ever tried to make a small child a new meal? No matter how you sell it, they probably won’t eat it. Same goes for creating services for clients. If the service or product doesn’t fulfill their needs in a direct way, they simply won’t commission the service or buy the product. Of course, there is an entire industry called marketing that specializes in figuring out ways to sell specific services and products to customers. I believe people have freedom of choice and if you’re not meeting a need or solving a problem, folks will vote with their feet. It’s harsh! But so is having your delicious and nutritious snack rejected by spitting it out on the table by a little one.
3.
When presenting something new, repetition is important to get your audience on board. Kids and pets are creatures of habit. And guess what? WE ALL ARE. If there’s a new service or idea that I want my audience to get excited about, sometimes it takes numerous times to introduce it until my clients want to commission me for it. Why do you think so much of advertising is about volume of repitition? The same goes for brand identities. There’s a reason why brand invest so much time and money in locking down their brand’s look & feel. The consistency breeds trust and recognition. That way, when your company introduces a new idea to potential clients, the time it takes to bring your clients on board is lower and lower.
4.
Collaborative leadership is the best way forward in business and in family life. When I’m introducing a new concept to my child, I explain why we’re doing it. From there, we talk together and figure out ways to make the new idea work for both of us. When you hire my company, Spinner Design, you will get a lot of one-on-one attention from me. Much of what I do is listen to you, my clients, to understand exactly what they want to achieve with their business. From there, we work together with our clients to create a strategy that will suit their specific business needs best. There are no cookie cutter approaches here. We tailor everything we do in collaboration with you! For instance, sometimes a client knows they need help with their brand identity but don’t really know where to start. Perhaps some of your brand identity has already been created but your company has grown since then. Maybe there are parts of what’s been created in the past that is nostalgic and meaningful for you. In these instances, we will work with you to dig deep and figure out what you want your customers to feel when they consume your brand identity. From there, we work with you to decide the best way to move forward in terms of crafting your specific brand identity.
5.
A company or business has their own personality and timeline, just like kids or pets. Have you ever tried to convince a kid or pet to do something before they are ready for it? There is a fine dance between helping the being you care for try new things and forcing them to do something that is extremely frightening to them. With my own business, I find that timing is everything. When I try to push ahead with an idea or a service before it’s ready, ultimately, I end up feeling unsafe. And guess what? The idea doesn’t flourish the way it should. Versus when I go slower and allow the new idea or practise space to evolve and breathe, the process of getting that idea out into the world feels much easier to me. Moving at a slower more relaxed pace is challenging because it forces me to be in tune with the energy of my business. And to be truthful about what the business needs. As compared to what I think it needs.
The similarities between raising kids or pets and cultivating a business depends on your personal values. For me, as a business owner and parent, I find the parallels to be both fascinating and comforting.
— Jen Spinner, founder at Spinner Design
