01/09/2026
Honest post...Year 2-3 I felt like I was drowning, I took on way more than I ever should, I panicked and said Yes to everything and everyone. I wanted to grow, I wanted to have a finger in allllll the pies, I wantes to be the most successful preservation artist in the UK.... and by year 4 I said things had to change, because burn out was something I couldn't crawl out of for more than a couple of weeks at a time and it wasn't healthy.
I started making changes and I was pretty savage, if it wasn't working for the business or my health it was gone. Resin being the start, a new website and name and then some more subtle changes followed. It was a huge risk as Resin at the time made up 70% of my bookings.
Now I'm moving into year 5-6 and I feel a sense of gratitude I've never felt before, what I wanted in years 1-3 is worlds apart to how my business is and where I see it going now for year 6 onwards. My version of success and growth is different and now I'm in a place where my business feels like a hobby again instead of my hobby being a business.....
Ive had to unlearn quite a few things and even to this day I still feel like someone's going to be calling me at 9am asking why I haven't clocked in yet.
Ive found it super difficult to get out of the 9-5 mentality. I'd do early gym classes, walk the dog, shower and have breakfast in a panic to make sure I was ready to start on orders by 9am.
Now, my mornings are slower, I dont necessarily have a morning routine and I allow myself to enjoy this part of the day that for many years was a race to see how many healthy lifestyle choices I can tick off before 9am.
Honestly.... my days are way more productive when I can quite literally stop and enjoy the morning cuppa.
I used to think growth was upscaling every year, taking on more bookings year on year. I used to think success meant building a team, bigger studio,awards and wanting more and more. And while those are perfectly good versions of growth and success, they're very different to how I now measure those.
Everyone has their own version of what growth and success looks like.
Real growth and success to me now comes from within, not necessarily what yo
