Sometimes all it takes is a leisurely doom scroll.
I'll be on social media and see someone launching a new product, packing orders, getting ready for an event, or comfortably talking to the camera about whatever they're working on.
Meanwhile, I'm lying down because I took the day off and have done literally nothing productive. Or maybe I'm sitting at my sewing machine, taking a break from a sewing marathon that doesn't seem to be ending and trying to distract myself from an impending crash out.
Either way, after enough scrolling, it can somehow start to feel like everyone else is doing more than I am.
Social media makes everyone else's business look busy
Some businesses really are doing the things I'm comparing myself to. They post regularly. They're constantly showing new products. There's another launch, another idea, another event, or something new they're working on.
When I see that kind of activity over and over, it's easy to start wondering why I'm not doing the same thing.
I make new things too. Just not constantly. If anything, I usually feel like I'm behind. There's always a pile of something waiting for me — things that need to be sewn, photographed, listed, restocked, finished, or finally dealt with after I've been meaning to get to them for who knows how long.
So while someone else is showing the new thing they just made, I might be working through a stack of things I've made plenty of times before. Or finally getting around to something that's been sitting on my own list for weeks.
And then there's actually showing any of it online. Sometimes I prioritize the work itself over making content about the work. Sometimes I prioritize something else entirely. Sometimes I haven't left myself enough time for content, and after a full day of doing business things, what makes it onto social media is a dinky little video of my cutting table.
The weird part is that I can know I'm already busy, know I already have more work waiting for me, and still look at someone else's business and feel like I'm not doing enough.
There's always something else I could be doing
There's always another thing I could be doing for Momako Designs.
I could post more. Make something new. Photograph products. Update the website. Sew inventory. Work on listings. Apply for events. Plan ahead. Probably do whatever new thing social media has decided businesses should be doing this week.
There's no natural point where a small business announces that you've completed all available tasks and may now go home.
That makes it very easy to focus on what I haven't gotten to yet instead of everything I've already been doing. Especially when there's an actual pile of unfinished work sitting there to remind me.
And sometimes the thing I need to do that day genuinely isn't work.
I don't think the answer is doing more of everything
It's tempting to respond to that feeling by adding even more to the list.
If another business posts more often, maybe I should post more. If they're releasing new products more often, maybe I need to make something new. If they're doing an event, maybe I should be doing that event too.
Which is a particularly unhelpful response when I already have plenty on my own list.
Their business isn't my business.
Even Vanessa and I don't try to make Lovanna Hawaii and Momako Designs look the same, despite selling together. We actually tend to work around each other. If one of us is already making something that fills a particular need, the other is more likely to make something different.
We ask each other's opinions, send pictures back and forth, and cheer each other on, but we still trust our own tastes and run our businesses differently.
If two businesses that literally sell alongside each other don't need to operate the same way, there's no reason every business I follow online needs to become a blueprint for how I run mine.
Going back to the point helps
When I start feeling like I'm not doing enough, it helps to get away from everything I could be doing and think about what I'm actually trying to do.
Yes, make money. It is a business.
But I also want to make things I'm proud to sell and that people feel good about buying. I want the products to hold up. I want to keep finding prints I like, making things I would use myself, and running the business in a way that makes sense for me.
None of that requires me to constantly have something new to show for it.
Sometimes you just have to put your head down
I'm not sure I'd call what I experience imposter syndrome. I don't generally feel like I'm pretending to know what I'm doing or waiting for someone to discover that I shouldn't be here.
It's more that running a small business gives you an endless number of opportunities to feel like you should be doing more. There's always something I haven't gotten to yet, and seeing what somebody else has gotten to can make my own list feel even longer.
And sometimes I probably should be doing more. Other times I'm already doing plenty. Sometimes I've decided something else is more important that day. And sometimes I really did take the day off and do absolutely nothing productive.
It helps to know the difference.
I know what I'm trying to do with Momako Designs. The people who get it, get it. The ones who don't, don't.
And on the days when everybody online seems to be doing more than I am, sometimes the best thing I can do is stop scrolling and get back to whatever is already waiting for me.
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