When my husband and I bought our first home together, we spent many hours doing DIY.
Sanding, filling holes, priming, undercoating and glossing as we made our house into home by putting our own ‘stamp’ on it and creating a space we wanted to live in.
I would always moan (a lot) about all the preparation – SO boring and so bloody messy. Sanding was the WORST. Dust everywhere, sore hands, just plain messy…ugh.
The bit I liked best was the glossing. This part was the most enjoyable for me as I could see the end in sight and the results were instant!
Recently, I’ve been busy updating my website and it’s been a lot of hard work…
I was having a really tough week, feeling totally overwhelmed, frustrated and VERY impatient about all the time it was taking to set up and my husband said to me…
“Come on, you’ve done all the hard work, this bit’s like the glossing”
Ping! Blog idea pops into my head.
And this is why building your business is like DIY…
You can’t have the good bits without the bad bits.
The groundwork to building a business can be a bit yucky, boring and uncomfortable at times but you’ve got to go through it – sorry! Any good painter and decorator will tell you there are no shortcuts.
Your Business DIY Guide
| DIY | Your Business | |
| Planning | Assess work area, work out what tools & material are needed | What do I want to achieve with this business/project, what are my end goals, what do I need to get there? |
| Tools & Materials | Paint, wallpaper, sandpaper, filler | What do I need? Software, planning tools, VA support etc. |
| Preparation | Prepare surfaces, fill holes, sanding | How can I fill the holes in my plans? Do I need more training, self development etc. |
| Undercoat/Primer | Get the walls ready for top coat | How can I start building interest or growing my tribe? Set up social media accounts, create a website etc. Start to prime your audience, offer teasers. |
| Glossing/Painting | Time to get out the magnolia paint and white gloss! | What are the finishing touches you can add to make this really special? A free trial, a printable download etc. |
| Furnishing | Add door furniture, light fixings, arrange carpet fitters, refer client to interior designer. | How can I furnish my business with clients and customers? Marketing, promotion etc. This is the part where you start making money. |
| The End Result | Invoice for work – a job well done ? | Live in it! You get to enjoy the end results ? |
Use this table as a guide for your business or individual projects and it will help you to map things out and see how far you have to go before the end is in sight.
Remember, this groundwork is a learning process. To use the DIY analogy, you can’t get to the glossing without the sanding!
It’s your job to embrace the journey – even the yukky bits along the way where you’re building the foundations and learning.
You’re on a DIY journey to great things!
