Lately Sara and I have been feeling discouraged, like the winds of business in our event planning sails have ceased. Okay maybe just me; Sara is the eternal optimist and a disgusting pocket full of sunshine rolled into one.

Where as I am a die-hard cynic and personally, I love to bask in my cynicism.  It makes me feel like I’m going against the grain, a rebel going rogue. However in business, cynicism is what kills the cat. So to my point (yes, there’s a point to my roundabout ramblings), I think this time my discouragement has purpose.

Sara and I have been kicking butt since the start of the year. I mean we came in like gangbusters, new partnership, new brand, and new marketing strategy.

We were armed, prepared and ready to conquer the planning world and make it our bitch. And then the unthinkable happened. Nothing!

I was instantly transformed to circa 1998 in my high school bedroom, sitting by the phone. However this time I’m not waiting for the proverbial ” boy” to call, I’m waiting for new clients to call. All the fear, insecurity and self-doubt found its way back into my pretty little head and began to consume me.

“Why aren’t they calling”? “Maybe its the website”. “What if our prices are too high, maybe they are too low” “Should I have gone with the other brochure design instead”?

These were the questions that were haunting me, making me doubt everything. Then lightening struck and my moment of clarity arrived and my self-loathing vanished.

I realized something so simple and so true. If you do the work, business will come. That’s it. There’s no timetable or loopholes, so it is what it is. There could be hundreds of reasons why the phone isn’t ringing as much, but the truth of the matter is we are a great company that offers a stellar service and most of all, we’ve done the work. That’s what I know for sure.

More clients will come eventually and I can’t stress myself out watching the clock and sitting by the phone. What we can do is have a little faith and continue doing what we’ve already been doing, which is mastering our art and being the best that we can possibly be. Everyone has a season and maybe ours hasn’t arrived yet; maybe there’s more work to be done. Trust, that the “waiting game” will suck but this too shall pass and before you know it your season will have arrived.

Photos Credits: Bottled_Void (Flickr),Justin Brockie (Flickr) & Sarah Buckley (Flickr)