5 Steps To Avoid Overwhelm Marketing Your Creative Business

Welcome to She's Crafted to Thrive. I'm your host Nikita Williams, and this show is for all the ladies who are making and creating things that they love. You will hear conversations about the real everyday struggles of juggling life and business while trying to maintain passion and harmony. As women, we have the skill of getting things done, but sometimes we get in our own way. It's here where you'll see that you're not alone. You'll discover that success does not mean perfection. Fear and negative Thoughts and challenges are all a part of the journey.

And on this podcast, you'll find the inspiration and tools you need to have a life and business that thrives. On this episode of She's Crafted to Thrive, guys, I thought I would talk about the topic of overwhelm. I know for myself in my own personal business, I can deal with that. And also in my life, actually, I deal with overwhelm, I feel like, more so in my my life as far as it comes to dealing with endometriosis and all of my other chronic issues that I have going on, because it can be very overwhelming. And I know we hear that word a lot in the world of entrepreneurship and how to avoid it and what does it mean, but I'm a big believer of looking at the definition of words because I think we use them so, so much in social media and online and marketing as a gimmick. To get people to purchase something or something out of fear, because my background is digital marketing. So it's just one of those trigger words that I feel that we see a lot. But what does it really mean to feel overwhelmed? And the definition of overwhelm means to overpower or to overcome. It means to cover or bury beneath a mass of something. It means to be submerged or to feel like there's a load or a heat of something being pressed upon you to be overthrown. Now, when I read that definition, I was like, whoa, that's heavy. Like, no pun intended, that's a very heavy definition of what it means to feel overwhelmed or to be overwhelmed. And can that happen to us in our life and business, especially when it comes to marketing our business online? And definitely, definitely yes. I know you can say yes with me on this because there are so many factors that go through our head. And one of those big factors, I believe, is just the comparing game and also feeling like there's so much new stuff coming out, so many things to do that we'll just never get it done. And so you almost become paralyzed at not even doing anything. So I wanted to talk to you guys about some steps that I think that will help you in your business and that I have personally found that have helped me in my business and also dealing with my chronic illness. I know you guys are like, why are you always talking about your chronic illness? Because it's my life. It's a part of my life. Um, it's a huge part of my life. And, um, case in point with this podcast episode myself, it's been really hard for me this week to try to get this episode out because I have been in so much pain and I have felt completely overwhelmed and I have just taken each day by day and slept on it and thought about it and did some prayer and study and all those kind of things just so that I could let the overwhelm go away. And these are kind of the steps that I've used over the course of my life. Um, really, endometriosis overall in general has taught me how to kind of cope with overwhelm, and I applied those type of things in my business as well. So here they are. These are the 5 steps that I believe can help you avoid overwhelm in your business. So the first one is to take care of yourself, take time to refresh yourself. And this is so important because it's the fuel you need to serve. I have a planner out there that talks about how to serve without Authenticity and to connect with people online for real. And there's 3 things in there that I talk about— connect, give, and serve. And I feel like we can't do any of those things if we don't take time to refresh ourselves. Now, what do I mean by that? That could just mean that you are creating daily rituals. You have things on the calendar with yourself and your family to kind of just take time to refresh yourself so that you feel enjoyed, you feel fit, you feel fulfilled. So that's step number 1. Number 2, choose your tribe wisely. So I mean, choose your friends, choose the people that are around you, and especially if you're working online, a lot of us are in different membership groups, a lot of us are on Facebook groups and things like that, but make sure you choose them wisely because they could be a reason of feeling overwhelmed. Now, why do I say that? Well, some groups I have found for myself personally can feel extremely competitive, almost to the point where you feel like you have to be doing all the things in order to get anything accomplished. And it's really just kind of like the spirit of the air in there. It's kind of just like what's being said, how things are being done. It feels— it's just really competitive, and I think you guys know what I mean when I'm talking about this. But when I'm talking about choosing your tribe and your relationships wisely, I mean, choose people that you know that will be of comfort to you, that will not make you feel like you need to run the race, that you are just trying to run the race just to win at the highest level. Find someone that's going to be cheering you on when you make that one little step forward. Or if you fall and make a mistake, that they're there to help pick you up and help you to see, okay, this is a mistake, but we can move forward. We have these great things. You want positive people in your life professionally and in your friend circle, right? Those things will really help you feel comforted and help you not to feel overwhelmed because you can share your burdens, you can share your struggles with them, and they will be there to be positive. For and with you. Number 3: Know your gifts and don't compare. Now, why do I say this? Um, I feel that— I know that— I shouldn't say I feel— I know that we're all created with a gift or many gifts. We all have something that we are really good at doing. For example, um, my husband says that I am like can pick up on things like crazy about people. It's like annoying factor to him and to me at times, but, um, that's just not his deal. Like, he's not— that's not his— that's not his personality. I'll pick up something really quick. I love people watching. I love just— I'm a people person, guys. I think you guys know that. I just love interaction with people, and I'm very observant, and I feel that like that is a gift. I really do feel like that's a gift. Of mine, and, um, but my husband, he's not that— that's not his thing. He's observant about some things, but not all things in general. So what if he were to focus on that being like not his thing? What if he was to focus on like, man, I need to work on that, I need to be extra, I need to be just like Nikita Williams Williams. What happens? Well, here's what happens when you focus on someone else's gift. You lose out on sharing your own. You stop sharing your own. You stop cultivating your own gift in order to serve others with it. And so I find that if we just, one, start to understand that we do have gifts and identify what they are, that will help us not to compare ourselves. There's nothing wrong with looking at someone who has a different set of gifts than us and admiring them and using that as inspiration. To try to incorporate some of those things in our life or in our business. But it really doesn't make sense to focus on why we aren't doing it the way they are, because we are not them. It makes no sense to do that. And it's just like serving from an empty well when you are trying to serve someone from someone else's gift. It just doesn't work. So know your gifts and don't compare yourself to other people. I know that's really hard to do on social media and when we're marketing our businesses online because it just is. Um, there's so many wonderful things and cool things people are doing, but guys, that's them. You have a special way of saying something or doing something or quirky things about you. Um, they're yours. And those are the things that people will be attracted to most is when they sincerely come from you and your gifts. Under the section on my notes, I have used these gifts to show up consistently in your way. Now, why do I say that? Because a lot of us hear all the time, and I know you guys hear it all the time from coaches and gurus to show up consistently, show up consistently, and they give you steps on exactly what to do to show up consistently. And sometimes we can get completely overwhelmed with feeling like I have to do it exactly like how someone is showing me how to do it. And, um, that's overwhelming. It doesn't always work for you that way. Find a way to be consistent your way. Find a way where your gifts and the things that work for you in your life help you to show up consistently. Use the tools that you learn from the people online that are your coaches and your gurus, not to overwhelm you, but to inspire you, but to help you figure out some different avenues for yourself but don't stop and not do it because you feel like you can't do it like them. It just doesn't work. Just stop doing it. Okay, guys, like, seriously, stop. Okay, number 4, stress is the enemy. I know you're like, okay, yeah, what is that going to do with helping me with my overwhelm? Well, you guys, stress is the enemy because it's number 4 on my list because I feel like overwhelm and stress are kind of related. So how can we avoid it in our marketing business? Well, my thing is here, you're not going to know everything about Facebook and Instagram.

Why?

Because Facebook and Instagram don't know everything about Facebook and Instagram. They are always changing things, shifting things around. They're like always on the go. Any social media platform, even your website or your podcast or there's always new technologies that are going to come out there. So you're going to be extremely stressed out if you're always feeling like you're behind and you're going to make mistakes. That's part of it. And if you have a lot of things going on in your personal life, you have to learn how to keep those things in perspective in accordance to what's going on overall. You're alive today. You're listening to the show today. You have your family today. You might be in pain today like I am, but you're able to do something. You are able to do something. So try to focus on the positive, because when you have stress, negative talk can get in the way and can take away small victories. And when you take away small victories, the overwhelm will exactly do that. It will, as I said earlier in one of the definitions, it will overpower you. And that's not what we want. We want to be built up, we want to be confident, and we want to just want to fly where we can. We want to do what we can, and we can only do that if we keep stress in its perspective. Stress is never going to go away, but if we look at things in a positive outlook and focus on what's good for us and what works for us in our life, things will go much, much smoother and be a lot less stressful for you. Also, when it comes to stress, you want to learn to do what you can when you can. Now, I know that's kind of weird, and I think this helps a little bit with overwhelm as well, because for many of us women, some of us are side hustlers. We're working a full-time job and doing a side business while raising families, or we are working this new business or startup or our business all the time and relying on other people. It's just a lot of mixture of things going on in our life as business owners. And especially let's not add on if you are dealing with some kind of chronic illness or helping taking care of someone in there who's not feeling well. So you have to learn to do what you can when you can and learn it's just to take it a day at a time and a moment in time. It's all you can do. You cannot be Superwoman. And even Superwoman and Superman only have 24 hours in a day. And yes, they may be able to do it really super fast, but they can't save everyone all the time. And neither can we. We can only take care of ourselves to a point. We can take care of ourselves. That's why number 1 was to take care of yourself and then to give from where you can give. And then repeat, like rinse and repeat. Do what you can, replenish yourself, avoid the stress, avoid the overwhelm, and just keep things in perspective one moment at a time. Okay, and number 5 is my last thing about helping you feel less overwhelmed when you're marketing your business online, and I think this is one that will make it a lot easier for you when you're thinking about creating content and things like that for your audience. You need to become very clear on the reason why you're doing what you're doing. What is your why? This is important because there are going to be harder days than some. There are going to be days where you just don't want to do it, but your why will be the reason why you get up and do it anyway. And so you need to be really clear on what your why is. Now you may be wondering, okay, Nikita, how do I know what my why is? I want to make money and da da da da da, and I just love what I do. Well, those could be your reasons why, and there's nothing wrong with those being your reasons why. But here's the thing, what I want you to think about, what is that one thing that will get you motivated to get you moving to do what you need to do so that you can stay positive and moving even in the really hard times in your business. For me, guys, you know, I deal with a lot of hard days. You know, for me, I can not have hours of sleep and I have tons to do that day, or I can be in so much pain and in such a brain fog that it's like, how am I ever going to accomplish what I plan to do? And when you have a chronic illness, or even if you have a lot going on in your life, you find comfort in being able to control some part of your life, right? You find some, some comfort and some— I don't know how to explain it to you guys, but you just feel driven to do that one thing that you know you can do. And for me, that's part of my why is because I have control of seeing what I can push through, what I can work through. I have control over that. It may be hard and difficult, but I can do it. And this is one of those things that I know I can do because I can sit right here in my little chair in the corner of my room with my heating pad and my blanket and talk to you guys and do this podcast episode even though I'm just having a bad day. And then that's another thing that's so wonderful about my why is because it's tied into the thing that I love to do. I love to serve women. I love to connect with women. I love to reach out and connect and see how I can help them in any way, shape, or form, if there's a way that's possible, and be encouraging as much as possible. And you might be like, how does that make you money? It does make me money over time. I don't always see it right away, but I can honestly say that making real relationships with people, connecting, networking the right way without rushing people, helps me to make income from my business, and it always comes right on time. And for me, this is my side hustle, this is my side gig. You know, my husband is a wonderful supporter, and it's something that I love to do, and it's a creative outlet for me. And it's, it's a new, um, it's a— I don't know what's the word— like an emotional outlet for me to do this show, um, and to do my business, to work with my clients, with my creative coaching business. It's just something I love to do. Like, my friends know that if they have anything to ask me about business or questions, I am there. I am just— I just love it. I literally love it. And so those are my reasons why. So make sure your why serves you and serves your audience. So just to repeat those 5 things that I think that will help you in your creative business so that you don't feel overwhelmed, here they are. 1, take time to refresh yourself. 2, choose your tribe wisely. Know your gifts. I'm sorry. And number 3, know your gifts and don't compare. And number 4, be careful of stress, know your limitations, and keep your stress in perspective. And number 5, get clear on the reason why you're doing what you're doing. And you won't feel overpowered. You won't feel like you've been submerged into the crazy world of marketing if you keep these things in mind, I promise. And what I think And what I suggest for you to do, and I'm starting to do myself, is keep a daily journal of gratitude. Keep a daily journal of all these things. If you need to create a list of things that you do every day to help take care of yourself, to check in with your tribe, to check in with your gifts and see how you're serving others with them, to check your stress to make sure that you're not feeling overwhelmed by them, checking what kind of talk you're having with yourself. Put positive things, use affirmations to help you and to continue to work on and getting clear on what your why is and who you serve. If you do that on a daily, weekly, monthly basis, the overwhelm will not take over. You will feel a lot better. So those are my tips, you guys, on how to stay free from overwhelm, or at least have less of it. So I hope you enjoyed this episode. Please let me know if you want to hear more topics like this. This is something I thought I'd just try out and see if it's something that encourages you guys. So thanks again for tuning in. Be sure to review me on iTunes and subscribe and download and share with a friend. And remember, you are crafted to thrive.