Adversity

No one likes getting stuff wrong, right? 😉 But when you’re running a business (or an event) it seems even more soul-destroying. 

This week was a bit of a challenge my end so thought I’d share and give you an insight into how I/we deal with adversity…I for one am terrible for giving myself a hard time, probably because I have such high expectations of myself. It’s one of the core similarities between Arif and I, in fact. 

Carol Dweck who writes about Growth Mindset tells of the differences between talent and effort – it’s not about how good you are, it’s about how hard you try and the effort you put in to developing. I’m on board with this. The Personal Development drive this end is a strong one. It’s important to stay on top of new trends, stay up-to-date with social media, digital marketing and general reading-training-learning. This week there were meetings with new suppliers, customers, phonecalls. That’s before I’m even able to ‘put customers first’ (which is tremendously important to me) and reply to important emails and design bespoke parties. On a personal note I’m also renovating a house (as in laying new wiring and ripping plaster off the walls myself) and helping to plan various charity events.

This is not a rant email, I promise. 

The point is that I fell over. A lot. My organisation went out the window; simply not enough hours in the day; overwhelmed with ideas and things to do and achieve, meaning I couldn’t focus on anything for long. Gah! At least it certainly felt that way. But then again, learning is meant to feel like that, right?

We’re brilliant at designing and building parties but it got me thinking that perhaps YOU don’t know what happens when WE get stuff wrong?

Arif and I are constantly asking for feedback – from customers, family, friends. Anyone with an opinion really. And I genuinely think it’s because of that, that we’re so good at what we do. Blimey, I’m proud of what we do.  But when it does go Pete Tong we respond with honesty. We solve problems. We fix things. 

Anyone who works in the events industry will talk long and hard about the last minute glitches because it causes people unwanted stress. But after a while you get used to it. You learn to over-plan. You understand the pitfalls and allow extra time or resources. You build up good relationships with decent crew and industry professionals so that there’s back-up support when you need it.  Basically, you try hard and put in the effort to limit the last minute glitches which send other events providers spinning. 

Do you have worries yourself that you want to chat through and get an opinion on?

Are there things which concern you about planning or putting on an event? 

Do what we do. Talk about it. Let one of us know cos we’ll probably be able to help. 

If you get five minutes to check out the work from Carol Dweck I’d highly recommend it. It’s an interesting read and empowering insight into how people operate. 

In the meantime I’ll start putting together some stories for you about how we get it right, and how awesome that looks 🙂

Thanks for taking the time, 

Elise