Today we are slapped across our faces with rich lifestyles and we are almost forced to think that owing expensive things is the measure of someone’s success. Even if we look at social media we can see different influencers, with their herds of followers, announcing “You could be next!” while they are sunbathing somewhere in the Caribbean.

I have nothing against their success that brought them to Caribbean at the first place, I’m sure it’s well deserved so don’t get me wrong, but I don’t need someone shouting “You could be next!” like I’m not happy where I’m at! I don’t need Caribbean or a brand new Range Rover to measure how far I came in my business and how successful I actually am.

When you are the owner of a small business it’s easy to doubt yourself, compare yourself to others in your industry and questioning your way of doing things once in a while. We have all been there and that is completely normal as long as you snap out of it fast!

It’s hard to define what success truly is, because it’s subjective, but for starters we need to ask ourselves;

• Do I need all these things to be truly happy?
• Will possessing fancy things and traveling across the globe taking selfies for my social media really make me think that I’ve made it in my business?
• Do I need 100 000 followers on Instagram to measure the value of my work, or am I happy with my tribe of 1000 who supports me and my business.

If your answer is “Yes”, good for you, go for it! Sky is the limit. ☺ Now I would like to share with you a few things which make my version of success.

• Setting my own working hours
• Working from my PJ’s ☺
• Seeing my clients overwhelmed with happiness when they flip through their wedding book
• Capturing that perfect moment between two people, thinking quietly “Oh my…this is breathtaking!”
• Homemade meals with my family

People often seem to forget that if they want expensive things and luxurious vacations they need to work twice as hard and that means being apart from your family and friends most of the time. It means missing out on small barbecue parties on a warm summer night or any of the life’s “little” moments that actually matter. Robert Collier said:

Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.

Having things is not the measure of your success. Living the dream is!

Love,

Iva