We recently connected with Olivia Bain and have shared our conversation below.
Olivia, first a big thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights with us today. I’m sure many of our readers will benefit from your wisdom, and one of the areas where we think your insight might be most helpful is related to imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is holding so many people back from reaching their true and highest potential and so we’d love to hear about your journey and how you overcame imposter syndrome.
Hi, thank you so much for having me. This is a really important topic and it’s very personal to me. I suffered from imposter syndrome for years. I kept second guessing my talents and my content, whenever I saw someone posting similar content get more likes and engagement than mine. It was so bad, I refused to use Instagram at all.
In order to overcome imposter syndrome, I had to understand what in me was being triggered. I saw people living the lives I wanted on Instagram and had decided that Instagram was the problem. Instagram made people believe that if their life didn’t look a certain way, then it wasn’t worth sharing. It was so much easier to blame a platform for pushing people to curate images that did not reflect a true reality. But it wasn’t just Instagram; the concept of social media makes us want to see the shiny best in life. Even when we are sharing our low moments, there is something powerful in knowing that our moment of weakness can empower others. It’s still about us.
So I stopped following all of the accounts that made me feel inadequate, and only followed accounts that showed me how to do things. How to make recipes in my small kitchen, how to make items that I could sell, how to take pictures that made me feel comfortable. I had to learn how to separate the content creator from the content. Even if my posts weren’t getting the traction I hoped for, I posted anyway, because I know that visibility is important for my business. Most importantly, I accepted that I don’t understand how to be successful at Instagram and I’ll be okay with never being successful at it. I may not be getting hundreds of likes, or engagement that could land me affiliate marketing jobs, but as long as I post content that is true to me, and post when it’s convenient for me, I don’t feel the pressures of social media.
My advice is to run your own race and do what you can. Seize every opportunity, network and be consistent.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I have been a guidance counsellor since 2016 and it continues to be my main job until I can propel my home-based business to full time income. I fell in love with counselling in college and thought I would be doing it for the rest of my life. But I could not deny that I love to create things. As long as I am creating, I am happy. Before settling on counselling, I thought I would have a career as a fashion designer and even entered a competition where I failed miserably, but learned so much in the process. I learned that I may be an amateur seamstress, but I felt no joy in doing it professionally. I then thought I could be a photographer but again, I didn’t push myself to go the professional route.
It can be hard to stay in one lane, because I feel like I’m boxing myself in, or limiting my opportunities. But for now I really am enjoying woodworking. I started the business with husband during the pandemic and because of that, I have learned so many skills. I love introducing our business to people and hearing the question, “So who does the building”, to which my husband always answers, both of us. It gives me a confidence to use power tools and lift heavy items. I’ve learned how to build my own upholstered chair and floating shelves. I’m looking forward to building more things with concrete and perfecting our woodworking techniques. We miss making planters, so hopefully in the Spring, people return to gardening and order more of them.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Grace – I am still learning that just because I can make or do something, doesn’t mean that I will always do it well (especially when doing it for the first time). So I must give myself grace for when things don’t turn out as expected.
Accountability – When you are a small business owner, you have to be able to take responsibility for the bad as well as the good. It’s so easy to celebrate the good and pat yourself on the back for it, but when something doesn’t work out, hold yourself accountable. Did you slack off last month? Did you post regularly? Did you create any new content or find a way to repurpose old content? Did you set goals? What was your vision and expectation? When you’re honest with yourself about the flaws and the successes, you can run an honest business.
Creativity – I would not have made it this far if I wasn’t a creative. Being able to come up with new product designs, and helping our business to pivot when necessary has been my most important quality and skill in this journey. Sometimes the woodworking business is really slow. That’s when I push our photography business on Airbnb. As much as I would love for the woodworking and 3D rendering to take off and be self sufficient, we simply aren’t at the point yet and I can’t sit back and allow us to make nothing, just because we’ve put all of our eggs in one basket.
Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
I would love to collaborate with other small business owners, who also have a small following like us. I love to see women in fields that are traditionally dominated by men, and I love to see husband and wife couples working together. I don’t know what the collaboration would be. Maybe we just encourage each other. But I think that partnership would be great!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heartandhomedesignstudio/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heartandhomedesignstudio/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/olivia-russell-bain-49786751/
