Facing Fears

No matter what we do in life sooner or later we have to face our fears, whether that's in our own personal lives or in business. The past few years have had me facing a few hard times where I've doubted both my ability as a pyrographer and business owner as well as who I am in general whilst dealing with breast cancer. On the outside I faced it mainly with a smile on my face and having a joke or two about it all whilst at times all I wanted to do was curl up in bed and not deal with anything or anyone. I was one of the lucky one's who was caught early and the tumour removed with no problems and it hadn't spread to my lymph nodes either so after a course of radiotherapy I'm now cancer free. I have to take medication for atleast 10 years to hopefully keep the cancer reoccuring but I'd rather deal with that than the alternative. I also had the most amazing support thanks to family and friends as well as some great small businesses via the MHHSBD family. As well as all this support I have to say that the NHS were also amazing. I know it's far from perfect these days but throughout my journey I can honestly say I have nothing but praise for them. If they didn't have these routine examinations, whether it's for a mammogram or smear, I can only say please go for these appointments cos I had no signs at all when I went for my mammogram and this is how it was found that I had a tumour. 

So with regards to facing fears I would say that has to be my biggest personal fear but all worked out fine in the end and I got to ring that bell at the end of my radiotherapy :) 

From a business point of view I guess my fear is that people don't actually like what I make. I know plenty of crafters are their own worst enemies when it comes to criticising their work so I know I'm not on my own with this fear. Another is pushing myself out of my comfort zone with what I make and looking at other ways to get myself out there. At the beginning of the year I decided to have a go at getting noticed by Theo Paphitis and his Small Business Sunday event he has on Twitter and to my surprise I actually got chosen as one of the small businesses. Unfortunately it was too close to this years event in Birmingham to be able to go but hopefully I will be in a position to go to next years one and collect my certificate in person from the man himself. I was absolutely buzzing to be picked but the self doubt and feeling like an imposter crept in especially when seeing some of the other winning businesses and how well they seem to be doing. I'm aware I'm basically starting all over again after taking time out whilst going through my cancer treatment but on the other side is that I've been doing pyro since 2014 and don't seem to be getting anywhere. 

I've wanted to do a collaboration with someone for a very long time but apart from not knowing what kind of collab I wanted to do, I also never had the bottle to approach anyone either. Again the fear of failure and rejection held me back but this week I put my big girls pants on and approached someone with a propsal to see if they would be up for some kind of collab. Thankfully they didn't laugh at me or tell me to go away so I see that as a win. They've promised to look at what I make and have a think about it and get back to me which made my day cos atleast it wasn't a flat no. It may be that they decide that I'm not what they're wanting but I'm chuffed with myself that I actually took that step to reach out to someone and ask if they would even consider it and faced my fear of rejection.

For anyone else out there who has thought about reaching out to other businesses or even celebs, don't let that fear hold you back. Yes you might get told "thanks but not thanks" but it's better than just sitting there wondering. This is where the anonymity via social media can be a big help as being told no via a DM is a lot easier to deal with than someone saying NO to your face. 🤷

There's nothing wrong with being fearful of things but try not to let that fear hold you back. In saying that, if there is anyone out there looking for a pyrographer to collab with you just give me a shout 😀