One month down and February was a month when I had a sudden realisation, more of that later.
As I said in January’s post as of the 1st February I was going full steam ahead with my side hustle.
The Good Cook’s Cupboard (TGCC) – this will be a food subscription box to educate people about food and cook as well as expand their cupboard with fabulous ingredients to create a good cook’s cupboard! The name is in honour of my parents who for many years ran a deli in Somerset called The Good Cooks Cupboard, it really was an amazing shop, a food emporium of the highest degree, however, it was the mid 90’s and shopping in delis wasn’t really a thing so I know that it was a struggle for my parents and eventually they gave up the business and went into paid employment.
My business will epitomise everything I stand for sharing food and knowledge! And I have so many ideas of what it will be and become in the future, however, I know I need to start slowly and not run before I can walk. This business is very different to Firecracker which is one of the reasons I’ve procrastinated so much with it! Firecracker I am in my comfort zone, I’ve run it for over 12 years and generally it is based all around the things I’m good at, whereas, TGCC will require me to learn things and do things differently and this scares me as it brings back memories of being told I’m not good enough, won’t be successful, blah blah blah!
Firecracker will continue as it is as I have no intentions of letting it go as I still have so much love for what I do in this business and still get the opportunity to positively impact people’s lives, the only time I will stop doing this is when I stop having that positive impact!
So the first thing I committed to was to post on social media daily, I managed 27 days out of 29 which I was really pleased about as consistency is the one thing I struggle with but I know that if I want this business to be a success I need to show up consistently. I’ve asked a very good friend who is also a coach to be my accountability coach and help keep me on track.
As I mentioned in January I took on an extra module at uni, this was offered to me as overtime as it was outside my normal working remit, the sudden realisation I had near the end of February that I make a lot of decisions from a place of fear. When I am offered extra work at the uni, I usually say “yes” before my brain has even had a chance to process it as I’ve conditioned myself to say yes as it means more money in the bank. Being on my own means I am solely responsible for running a house and all the other expenses that come from being an adult!
In the past, I have had financial hardship. Over the last 5 or so years I have managed to get myself into a much more stable position financially, with the work at the uni helping me to do this so when they offer me more I take it without thinking as it seems easy, however, on reflection I do this at the detriment of other things like my new business and start to resent the work, I will do it to the best of my abilities but find it hard to motivate myself to do it.
Anyway, talking it through with my coach, I’ve made some promises to myself that when I am asked to do extra work, I think before I say yes and together we have worked out some criteria to work with to make a decision which aligns with some of my long-term goals and dreams. This might sound like common sense but when you have been in a cycle of lack it is really quite challenging to break out of this cycle.
I know this will take an enormous effort to do as I’m so used to doing things a certain way but know that if I break this cycle of lack then my life will be different!
Lincolnshiregirl 