Episode I - The Taster
What is Oversharing Business & what can you expect from it?
“Oversharing Business” might be something of a misnomer.
I’m honestly not sure whether I am oversharing, or whether 99.99% of business owners are undersharing.
What I do know is that talking about the problems we face is the first step on the road to resolving them.
Burying them beneath our own egos is not.
I started my public oversharing journey on LinkedIn in 2022, sharing weekly Peak-and-Trough posts about the best & worst elements of my week.
Like this one:
And almost without fail, each post would be accompanied by messages of support.
Either for the challenges I was facing, like this one:
Or for the mere act of sharing them with the world, like this one:
Or this one:
And so, perhaps belatedly, I’ve realised that a longer-form version of this oversharing could bring a lot to others. Plus it is good for my soul / sanity / blood pressure to get some of this stuff out!
Every Monday, I will be sharing the best & worst of my week as a business owner, and in detail, what I have learned from those experiences.
Sometimes I learn about myself & my shortcomings, sometimes I learn that actually I am doing things the “right” way, but for better or worse, I learn.
And if through learning I can teach too, then all the better.
Here’s the sort of thing you can expect:
The Trough
Last week’s trough might sound laughable to some, but hey, it’s called Oversharing Business for a reason right?!
I spent some of the week helping a fellow agency owner with a new venture & it is a really exciting opportunity.
But also the kind of opportunity that makes you wonder Why didn’t I think of that?!
And then from there, Why aren’t I more entrepreneurial?!
Now therein lies the laughable element for some of you I’m sure; this guy owns & operates a (small) group of three trading businesses, and he’s still thinking Why aren’t I more entrepreneurial?
And if it didn’t chafe me so much to feel that way about it, then I would probably be able to see the funny side too. But it does.
From speaking about this affliction to that same agency owner, they talked about it being the itch you just have to scratch. And they couldn’t be more right.
So what did I do about it?
Firstly, I sat down with pen-and-paper. I might run a digital agency, but I think better with the tactile implements.
My pen-and-paper sessions are designed to allow my brain to flow so I can record not just the what I am thinking about, but critically, the why.
And that flow went something like this:
I want to feel more entrepreneurial —> this is about creating something new —> this means I need to do something / take action —> I like writing & the idea of “building in public” —> what outlet can I find for that to create something new?
That was then followed by me grabbing my phone to research the sh*t out of how I could find that outlet.
The result? This Substack.
And the knowledge that I had my whole Friday, the day I reserve for my passion projects, to execute it.
So what do I learn from this Matt?!
Fair challenge.
But hopefully, quite a bit:
When something upsets you, work out why
Even if your discontent might seem irrational to others (& I can see why mine would!), it is still discontent. And it won’t go disappear just because you don’t want to feel that way.
So get into the why of it - for me, this was the first part of the pen-and-paper exploration: I want to feel more entrepreneurial —> this is about creating something new
Because once you have the why, you have a tangible path out of that discontented feeling.Change requires action
If you want something to change, you have to do something to make it change. To paraphrase Sir Isaac, for every action there is an equal & opposite reaction. Or conversely, for every lack of action, there is an equal & opposite lack of reaction!
I could’ve sat on my Substack idea for days, weeks, months, or even years. But that lack of action would likely have left me feeling the exact same discontent as before. Sure I might have gotten temporarily distracted by more pressing matters, but nothing stays buried forever.
So don’t dally, make the change. 99% of all changes are reversible too, so even if it doesn’t work, you can back out or pivot. But do something.
And ideally in hours or days, not weeks.Keep time for yourself
I’ve built my businesses in such a way that I can reserve time for me & what I want to do. It didn’t happen overnight, and I had to consciously push in that direction to achieve it. But achieve it I did, and so can you (story for another day).
Whether you run a business right now or are considering running one, remember that you are not your business, and your business is not you. There needs to be some separation between the entities, some delineation where the business stops & the human being you are starts.
And where that gap exists is where you can do things that are purely for yourself. If didn’t have my Fridays free, it would likely have taken me much longer to get this Substack set up. And therefore I would have continued to feel un-entrepreneurial for much longer.
Sure I could’ve given up my Saturday to do it, but I wouldn’t have (story for another day there too!).
So keep time for you - you’re the most important resource your business has, and so you need to keep you happy :)
That just about wraps up Episode I - if you’re already a subscriber & enjoyed that, by all means share with your friends / family / casual acquaintances:
And if you’re not a subscriber & now think you should be, come on in:
Until next week,
- M