Hi ,
I'm writing to you from the protection of my bug tent in my backyard, feeling a storm breeze in. It was sunny when I came out, but alas, it doesn't feel like I'll be out here long. Bug season in the forest is relentless, just as the weather is getting nicer and we want to spend more time outside, we get
swarmed. There's probably a metaphor in there somewhere...
But today I wanted to ponder with you the idea of experimenting in our businesses. I was talking to a friend who finds my view on experiments liberating because she always thought there was one right way to do business. You just follow the steps. She wanted to know where I developed the view
that business is an experiment.
It got me thinking about what it would mean if there truly was just a right way to do business. Wouldn't that mean if your business failed, it was a personal reflection on you? Wouldn't that mean you did something wrong? It couldn't be the system, right? That doesn't sit right with me, just like so many
of these one-size-fits-all business/coaching/life programs don't sit well with me. They put the blame on the client or the business owner if something doesn't work.
But the truth is (and you probably know by now I don't usually talk about "truths" in this space) that concept is an absolute lie. Businesses fail all the time for all sorts of reasons;
there is no cookie-cutter business or strategy out there, no matter what people say. I know this because I have worked with dozens and dozens of people who were sold cookie cutter businesses, and they had to work their tails off and get creative to make them work.
Which brings me to my philosophy: business is an
experiment.
If you think about experiments, they have an educated guess (a hypothesis), they test the hypothesis, and see what happens. They measure results, and adapt accordingly. Sometimes it's the scientist who put together a bad experiment, but there are loads of factors at play. It's the scientists job to do the experiment, and being
right is the desired outcome but not always a reality. A failed experiment is not a personal failing of the scientist and doesn't (or at least shouldn't) lead to all sorts of shame and self-criticism. It's part of the process.
If business is an experiment, we can take it a little more lightly. We can play. We can test things out and see
what happens. We can make smarter investments and not get scammed by people promising to have the answer (because they just experimented to get to that answer). When something doesn't work, we can look at it objectively instead of blaming ourselves.
What would you do differently in your business if you treated it like an
experiment?
What safeguards would you have to have in place to protect yourself if the experiment doesn't work?
I've experimented with loads of things in my business:
- I did nearly 70 gift (free) coaching sessions over two years to see what would happen
- I've written 74 articles and loads of other emails to see what would happen
- I've (for the most part) avoided social media to see if I could run a business without
it
- I've written copy, changed my offers, lowered my prices, and started a group to see what would happen
Truly everything I do is an experiment. I have a way I hope it will work out, but often it doesn't. In the process I learn more about myself and
my clients and my business. I learn what I like and don't like. I learn what I can stick to (and what I can't). Sometimes I try things for too long, sometimes I don't try them for long enough.
And yes, sometimes I feel like a failure.
Other times, I'm wildly proud of myself.
Most recently, I've been thrilled with the launch of The Happy Squirrel Collective. I spent years learning from clients and listening to colleagues to discover that business owners with ADHD really resonate with my work. When I launched, it was so powerful that people I don't know told other people I don't know about it. That's never happened in my business before.
And
this spirit of experimentation is the core of the community. People with ADHD have been told their whole lives the "right" way to do something, and they've learned to distrust their own intuition. They feel failure stronger than many people because they've been told over and over they aren't doing things right. But really, for them to thrive, they need to find their own way. And believe me, they WILL thrive because they're brilliant, brave, and badass when they're let
loose.
So I'm leaning into this. I encourage you to question the "right" way to do things and experiment with YOUR way. Play. See what happens. Make adjustments. Try again.
It might mean you
need a safety net. You might need another job. You might need to lower your expenses. You might need to prepare for a huge influx of work. Find a way to do safe experiments so you can really see what's what.
But please, let me know what you're experimenting with! I want to share your stories of success and failure and normalize the process of trusting yourself through it
all.
You've got this,
Stephanie Wasylyk
Your Solid Oak Tree
(and in case you're wondering, I got rained out just as I was almost done proofreading this!)