The Highs and Lows of Doing Work That Matters

Every success. Every client you sign on. Every successful project you complete. Every check you put in the bank. Every award you win. Every milestone you achieve. Matters immensely.

Every failure. Every stumble. Every time you know you could have done better. Every time the client decides unicorns and awkward ethnically-diverse stock photos WOULD make their website look better. Matters immensely.

As an entrepreneur, it’s natural an inevitable to put an incredible amount of stock into everything you do. When I worked a “traditional” nine to five – I never felt how I do now about my work – my successes and my failures. And honestly, at times, I’m envious of how I used to be able to detach emotionally from the daily grind.

There have been more tears than I’d care to admit. Wondering where I went wrong. Wondering what I could have done better. Worrying and doubting.

But for every tear has been a smile, a laugh, a celebratory happy hour with colleagues and friends. A client who has described working together as “life changing”. 

This line of work, my friends, will tear you down and test your will. But it will also make you feel more validated, more alive, more in control, than you ever thought possible.

It’s a roller-coaster. A journey in which everything must be taken in stride. The highest of the highs and the lowest of the lows. Some you’ll be prepared for, and some, no matter how hard you try, you’ll never see coming.

Successful entrepreneurs understand that the highs and lows cannot be avoided. They put their hands up and stay buckled in. They endure. And they enjoy the ride.