The Truth About Success

Let’s just cut to the punchline, shall we? The day-to-day living with a successful business is pretty much the same as when I started flower farming 27 years ago: sheer joy and excitement with crippling fear and even terror thrown in on the side much of the time.

You get that knot in your tummy when things go wrong, a simple problem arises, or you feel those butterflies when you try something new. Those “things” don’t ever really go away. 

First, you have to know that my journey is paved with failures, quitting, crying, wasted money and time, hard discussions, nervousness, a bunch of ah-ha moments, some “duh Lisa—you dummy” thoughts, and a whole lot of learning curves—all requirements to reach what I define as a business success and for it to continue.

This day-to-day rollercoaster ride of leading doesn’t go away as the business grows and matures, it’s just a different ride. I used to think “When I get to this goal or that milestone, I won’t be afraid anymore” or “This won’t be a problem once I…”, you fill in the blank. 

But the thing is, success doesn’t mean that the problems stop coming, it’s that I’ve changed the way the problems make me feel and how I react to them, or at least that’s my daily goal…

As your business grows, you face new challenges daily, it’s as though you are starting over again each morning. This “living” part of leading a successful business has been so surprising. 

It’s like experiencing the absolute joy of having a big florist sale for the first time and basting in it, but then you realize…you have to do it again next week, and the week after, and after… scary stuff.

But, this is the game of business.

I’ve had to learn and train myself to see and hold on to the success part more, and to push my fear aside to face the scary stuff.

A big part of this was giving up my delusional habit of walking around thinking that it’s going to be smooth sailing next week when: the busy season is over or when we get rain or once I do “xyz”, etc. Once I crushed the current problem, my worries were over. Wrong.

Putting our business hope in these preconceived ideas of smooth sailing is why we pull our hair out and feel like a total failure, which can lead to quitting.

I had to find a different way to manage how business days made me feel.  All the while, stretching myself outside of my comfort zone to keep this business I love growing and sustained. 

It’s constant training and practicing just like an athlete or musician does to develop their skills. 

The first step that helped me to not just survive, but thrive as I own and lead a successful business is facing the truth of what a successful business life is, not what I thought it looked like. 

It’s hard every day and that’s the way it is supposed to be. 

This is the truth of living within a successful business.

The Field and Garden Blog⁠ is produced by Lisa Mason Ziegler, award-winning author of Vegetables Love Flowers and Cool Flowers⁠, owner of The Gardener’s Workshop,⁠ ⁠Flower Farming School Online,⁠ and the publisher of ⁠Farmer-Florist School Online⁠ and ⁠Florist School Online.⁠ Watch ⁠Lisa’s Story⁠ and connect with Lisa on social media!