You are the only one who determines your success or failure.

The primary question I hear over and over again is how do I book more parties? As a DIY Workshop Business, the to do list can be never ending. We are responsible for product development, marketing, staffing, HR and more– and sometimes it may feel like you are doing all of this work and not seeing the results of a consistent flow of people walk through your door or schedule mobile parties with you.

The question I would challenge you to ask yourself is are you building a hobby or a business? You may have started your business because you had a had a passion for crafting and realized quickly that you can make exponentially more money teaching a group to paint versus creating custom one-at-a-time designs. You would be absolutely correct. Over the course of running PGM, I have grossed well over 2 million dollars— and firmly know that with the right tools and mindset, anyone can achieve the same results. It’s why I started Maker Bootcamp to help empower and provide the tools for aspiring creatives.

There is one key factor that separates my high achieving clients from those that haven’t hit their goals just yet. It is when they make the switch from running their DIY business as a hobby and start running it like a business. This does not mean you have to run a grueling 80 hour work week schedule. It’s a mentality shift of how you approach your days.

Your Operating Hours

If I were to ask you what you do for your business Tuesdays at noon what would you say? Are you running a consistent schedule each and every week or do you work on your business when you can fit it in between kid’s activities and the hustle and bustle of life?

I get it– especially if you are just starting out, if you have young kids at home or are fitting it in between working a full time job. Running a business is hard work and fitting it in can be harder. If I had to choose ONE thing that separates my most successful clients from those that get frustrated it is a commitment to their business schedule. This is not necessarily the number of hours worked– but it’s the mindset that you have to be COMMITTED to the schedule you have laid out for your business. I try to think of it as if I am the employee of my business. If an employee was constantly ask you to change their shift or called out of a shift multiple weeks in a row, you would fire them. So why do you get special privileges for being the owner of the business? The hard truth is you don’t. If you want your business to succeed you have to show up for yourself. You should have a consistent schedule each and every week of the hours you have set aside for your business. If you can’t tell me what days you work on what parts of your business and your work schedule– then you are running your business as a hobby. Hobbies are fun, and can absolutely create revenue– but they will not stand the test of time and maintain consistent growth.

Your Focus on ROI

When you are creating as a hobby, you do the fun things first. You may paint the new door hanger or learn a new skill like pouring epoxy. It may be getting lost in the vortex of Pinterest to be inspired by a new project or mindlessly scrolling Etsy for the latest SVG designer. These things trigger a dopamine response because it’s things you LIKE to do. They feel good because they are the things that spark your creativity. When your hobby turns into a business, you have to look at each day with a focus on completing the activities that will produce the highest profit result. I look at my daily activities like my business is a garden. Each day, I need to make sure I’m planting seeds for future business connections, this may be making those awkward phone calls, sending the email pitch or getting out in the community for networking meetings. They are all things that push me outside of my comfort zone, but are absolutely critical to create a consistent revenue and stream of customers. After these tasks, I nourish or build a relationship with current or prospective clients. This could be customer care calls, sending weekly newsletters or scheduling my social media. It is all the things that keep me from getting my hands dirty in paint, but if I don’t focus on them, the well of customers dries up. It’s a commitment to constantly be maintaining a cycle of planting and nurturing instead of solely harvesting that keeps a business running. Ask yourself each day– what will I do today to make sure I have a business in 90 days?

Your Grit When Things Get Tough

You have heard the adage, “Success is on the other side of your comfort zone.” While it may seem cheeky or corny, it is absolutely true. If you are finding yourself getting upset when you don’t have enough sales, making excuses about the economy or blaming outside circumstances for your success– you’re operating from a hobby mindset. Again, there is nothing wrong with having a hobby as a DIY workshop– unless you want MORE and want it to be a reliable source of income. When you are running a business, the only way you can point a finger of blame is right back on yourself. There will ALWAYS be outside factors that will make business harder to run or require more of a running start to get over the hurdle. The question is are you going to sit down and wait for things to get better or are you going to stand up and stare the challenge head on and find a creative way to PIVOT around the problem. You saw businesses all over the world pivot during the pandemic. When we could no longer have people in the studio, just months after purchasing the building, it was scary. But you don’t just sit down and take it! This is where we started running delivery routes for orders so people could paint at home, started virtual toddler time and subscription boxes. You find ways to push through problems instead of letting problems push you around. As a side note, this is also where it comes in extremely helpful to have a community of like minded people in your corner to brainstorm and mastermind with. I am so blessed to have over 50 women in our post-bootcamp membership because they all think outside the box, encourage each other and find ways to push through problems.

Your Commitment

The last and most important determiner in your success is your commitment to your success. You have to believe with all of your heart that you can do this. It is vital that you visualize yourself achieving what you are setting out to do. If you allow doubt to creep in it creates a stress response in the body because you go through the motions of the business with a hesitation that it will really work. Without realizing it, this creates a mentality of uncertainty and lack of confidence that does not attract clients to you. Be so sure that you can do it because you have made a promise to yourself to keep going until you achieve it. This commitment to your success will produce a confidence that you work with an infinite mindset instead of operating out of fear. You’ll begin to think bigger, achieve more and grow larger than you ever thought possible.

I have had the privilege of helping some amazing women along the path of running the DIY Workshop parts of their business. There are absolutely tools and tricks of the trade that make it easier to systemize and streamline processes to maximize profit. However to achieve true success, you have to be willing to run your business like a business and not get stuck in the hobby mindset.