I’m a natural encourager. But today, I’m not going give you a pep talk. You know why? Because you probably won’t believe me. Know how I know? Because most of the time I don’t believe me!

It’s probably hard to imagine me, Shanna Skidmore, sitting here asking myself “does my work matter?”

“Are you kidding me Shanna? Just look at those testimonials! The weekly ‘you changed my life’ emails.”

I literally just got this email yesterday from a dear friend and client, “Friend, I just had to share that someone just booked us for 100k!!!! That’s insane! From free to 100k! I have you to thank so much for my growth and I just want you to know I heart you!”

Last year I sat with my journal, tears in my eyes, and wrote “does my work matter?” And to be honest, I’ve wrestled with that question almost every day for the past fifteen months.

Here’s some contributing factors to my doubt :

1.

I went off social media. So, the constant affirmation was no longer there. 

2.

I tend to go quiet during busy season and not write newsletters for months at a time (sorry SS insiders)! So, the email affirmations also slowed down.

3.

I moved to a completely new city with no local friends. So, the hugs and reminders over coffee were non-existent. The quiet has a way of getting extremely loud doesn’t it?

Does my work matter?

How to overcome doubt as an entrepreneur

Is it worth pushing on when the clients are pushing back on price? When you see social media friends getting that cool deal? When you’re jaded it’s not you?

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Did you know?

• Vincent Van Gogh died in 1890 having sold only one painting.
• Emily Dickinson was a shy recluse who barely published any of her poems during her lifetime. Upon her death, her sister discovered 40 hand-bound volumes of nearly 1,800 of her poems and got them published.
• Henry David Thoreau was never understood by people as a result of which only two of his books got published while he was still alive. (Data Source.)
• Julia Child wrote her first cookbook at the age of 50.
• Sara Blakely sold office supplies door-to-door for seven years while trying to launch Spanx (Data Source.)

Related : How I Built This podcast interview with Sara Blakely of Spanx.

What if they had stopped?

It’s so easy to doubt ourselves and our work. We all feel like frauds, hello imposter syndrome. And we all wonder, does creativity matter? Does writing blogs matter? Does making pretty things matter? Does the quiet work I do here while no one is watching, matter?

IT MATTERS.

There are more eyes watching than we will ever realize. 

In my favorite book on work of all time, Every Good Endeavor, Tim Keller says “we are called to serve the work, we must not worry about the outcomes.” (paraphrased) 

Take a deep breath. You don’t have to control the outcomes. Just put your head down and go serve the work. 

Join the conversation below : 

How do you overcome doubt as an entrepreneur?

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