Last week I attended a lunch and learn event about scaling sales and marketing in a startup. It was a great event. AND as per the usual, one of the most common mantras I heard was “Trust your gut.” Every time I go with what’s logical and reasonable but doesn’t feel right, I seem to regret it.
When my business coach suggests I try something WAAAY out of my comfort zone – if it doesn’t feel right in my gut, we talk about it. Sometimes that uneasy-ness is calmed after I have more information, sometimes we decide it’s not the right fit and move on to the next idea.
When I’m networking with someone 1:1 and realize that their core business values don’t mesh with mine, that’s okay, but we probably won’t become major referral partners for one another.
When you settle for content or design work because you don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings because they’re the expert? Ugh, I’ve wasted a good chunk of money “trusting” someone.
Why is it that sometimes we don’t trust our gut?
This week my gut is telling me that the big blog post I should have gotten out last week isn’t working at all and needs to be scraped for parts (hoping it’ll get me one or two totally different posts).
My gut is also telling me that I need to set very clear timelines with clients because it seems everyone wants something done this week.
My gut is telling me I need to get a damn blog post out because I can’t ignore it two weeks in a row just because I’M BUSY!
And my gut is telling me that I’m not the only business owner that struggles with all of this. It’s one of the hardest parts of being a small business owner. Knowing when to say yes, when to say no and when to push “it” to next week.
I agree wholeheartedly about trusting your gut. I think of it as my inner guidance system, and over the years that I’ve be tuning in to it, it’s become second nature to follow it. At first, I would sometimes go against it and end up regretting that choice. Now it’s almost impossible to ignore or go against. And I’m glad. Thanks for the article, Elizabeth.