One thing people ask me when we’re catching up is “how is Poshmark going?”
Normally, my response is “really great!” or “slow and steady!” or something like that.
The past few weeks, my response has been, “well, if I wasn’t about to have a baby I’d be looking for a job.” because it has been slow minus the steady.
Let me put this month in context.
At the end of June, I treated myself to a proper no-work vacation. Right before the summer slowdown. Since I’m gearing up for a baby, I figured I should work my butt off in July to pick up the momentum from my vacation and get things moving so I could slow down the closer we got to meeting our baby. Of course, I did that DURING summer slowdown.
For weeks, I worked pretty full days, sourcing clothes and photographing and listing and…. well, not really shipping because sales stalled. I found myself with bags of clothes to sell… Â with nowhere to put them. Seriously, the back seat of my car has bags of clothes listed for sale on Poshmark, with NOWHERE TO GO.
So I stopped working. I didn’t know what else to do. I felt like I was literally drowning in clothes and was really discouraged. It didn’t make sense to make the problem worse, so I decided to just back off for a little bit.
It’s one thing if you’re not working hard but you’re still making some money. It’s a completely other thing if you’re not working hard AND you’re not making some money. That’s where I’ve been.
You know how you avoid your bank account when you’re scared to see what is or isn’t in it? I avoided looking at my monthly profit on Self-Employed by Quickbooks because I didn’t want to see how bad things were. Then I decided to just face the facts and I was FLOORED.
Things really aren’t as bad as I thought. I’m not sure where that money came from, where it went, etc. but it’s been showing up.
Faced with the numbers, I realized that I’ve been operating on my feelings towards my Poshmark business. My feelings have been discouraged, overwhelmed, burned out, doubtful, frustrated, worthless. The FACTS state a completely different story. Last month’s hard work has been paying off. I’ve made nearly twice as much as I did last month. I’ve made more this month than I have all summer.
I personally tend to operate in response to feelings as opposed to facts. I FEEL like I’m not making money (I’ve been transferring money to savings which is probably why I FEEL like I’ve brought in less money – I see less of it), but I AM making money. I FEEL like my hard work isn’t paying off, but I AM seeing the rewards of my labor.
Not just with stuff like Poshmark, but also in other things. Like days when I feel unloved, alone, unimportant, unworthy, etc. It’s so much easier to rely on how I FEEL instead of facing the FACTS, which often contradict what I’m feeling.
Just a friendly reminder to plant your feelings in facts. 🙂
