Why Celebrate Often as an Entrepreneur
The one thing entrepreneurs should do more of: celebrate.
Summary:
Long time no celebrate? Engulfed in day to day operations, small business owners can easily forget their small victories as soon as they achieve them. Even downplay the challenges that shape their business journey , as soon as they came out on the other end. But here is how celebrating often works its magic on you as an entrepreneur! Your sense of purpose, self-assurance, self-worth, motivation and confidence - all get a kick when you celebrate. On the other hand do you know who hates it? Your (eventual) impostor syndrome, as well as the commonly felt sense of isolation. So make a habit out of celebrating often - if you look hard enough there is always something worth celebrating.
Celebrate often. Celebrate anything.
When was the last time you celebrated?
Sure, your birthday counts but we are talking about the less-obvious reasons to celebrate. When you are heading down the entrepreneurship road - marred with challenges and requiring an immense emotional energy consumption, stopping, taking a breath and celebrating the progress made is something we neglect doing, way too often. Yes, dear solopreneur - we are looking at you!
In today’s society feeling successful, and in a mood for celebration, is not an easy fit. Taking cues from social media and comparing your entrepreneurial journey with other business stories is not making things easier, on the contrary. No wonder, finding time to stop the grind and look back at the progress made doesn’t come natural.
We hear you, who else will do the work for your small business, if you stop, right? The answer is, of course, you. You will go back to your business and your clients, but it will be a renewed version of yourself - more motivated and with an extra load of positive reinforcement to keep you going strong.
Speaking of positive reinforcement, let’s look at just a few reasons why you should stop and celebrate more often down your entrepreneurial journey.
Celebrating is a fuel-tank for motivation.
Not only you will get a rejuvenated spirit, opening the door to self-recognition and acknowledgement of your own hard work will go a long way in caring for the emotional and mental health so essential to entrepreneurs. Additionally your celebration sends a positive message to other entrepreneurs, spreading a sense of optimism.
Celebration of small victories frees success from external validation.
Yes, it is great to be in the newspapers, to grow an immense followers base on social media, to be nominated for or to win prizes. But recognition in business should not be driven only by external validation. The essence sits in the small victories and the surpassed challenges, those that shape your journey, and the recognition of these can only come from a place of self-acknowledgement and self-appreciation.
Celebrating will make your impostor syndrome shriek and shrink.
Downplaying your achievements, dismissing praise, questioning the validity of your success? Always feeling under the thread of being exposed as a “fraud”? Impostor syndrome, very common among entrepreneurs, is odious and it has a strong hold. But as soon as one stops entertaining those self-deprecating thoughts and starts seeing and cherishing the (small) progress made, the whole scene is painted instantly in brighter colors. The conscious effort to find and recognize each small accomplishment instills a greater sense of fulfillment and growth.
Now, it would not be hard to go on for a few more pages on all the reasons why one should celebrate more often but we think enough of a case has been made. This piece comes out of our own acknowledgement of not having celebrated enough during the last three years, despite reading quite frequently much better written articles on the upsides of reinforcing positive reinforcement.
So we leave you with this…
Celebrate often. Celebrate anything. Celebrate yourself.
… and we get on with the preparations for a celebration.
On Wednesday, August 21st 2024, between 10am and 5pm CET, you will find us at Freiruum in Zug (Switzerland), celebrating.
What are we celebrating? Year 2 in business, that we skipped celebrating last year, year 3 in business as of the summer of 2024, all the times we cried out in frustration and all the times we cried out in joy. Yes, we are the kind who cry in happy moments too.
Who are we celebrating? Not only us, but YOU too. Come celebrate with us and share what you have to celebrate. You think you have nothing to celebrate? We beg to differ, come and let’s have a chat among peers. If you look close enough, there is always a good reason to celebrate.
Drinks are on us. We would love to see you if you can stop by.
Diana & AM
This is a replica of the third issue of the Marketing Supplements publication we are running on Substack. If you are a substack fan, hope to see you there! Otherwise you will always find our content here, on our website, and should you wish to get it straight to your inbox too - subscribe via the form in the footer.
Thank you for reading us
AM & Diana
About Journee - Digital at Ease
Founded by two digital marketing professionals with extensive international experience, Journee GmbH is a female owned digital marketing and technology boutique consultancy.
We aim to make a big difference for the small: small business owners and solopreneurs looking to start and advance on their business digital journey.
Our combined expertise covers digital marketing, digital analytics, advertising, marketing technology as well as overall digital strategy support and mentorship.