You're Not Doing It Wrong: Welcome to the Messy Middle

By Tricia Scott 

If we've been hanging around here together for a while, you'll already know I love creativity. I mean really love it.

When I was younger, my version of creativity looked like dragging furniture around my bedroom at all hours, sneaking pots of paint upstairs to "redecorate" (RIP to every carpet in the house), and creating makeshift over-bed canopies from random curtains and battery operated fairy lights.

I was always changing something, and change never scared me. I welcomed it.

Some of that was natural, but a lot of it was thanks to my Nana. She was one of those people who just knew things. She'd scribble in the margins of philosophy books and talk to me about the Law of Attraction and quantum physics, ideas that felt too big for my teenage brain but still stuck somewhere deep. She always told me, "Be careful what you let in, your thoughts are shaping your reality." She taught me to embrace new things, allow my path to unfold, stay open and true to myself, and not get stuck in detail. I now follow all of these things religiously, and as a result, I adore the refreshing newness of change. Working as The Female CEO, I've recognised the story to be similar for a lot of the women I've talked to.

I was thinking about this on the beach on Saturday, blowing away the cobwebs with some of my gorgeous fellow entrepreneurial friends and shaking off a lingering cold when we got to talking about the thing I want to share with you today, the hardest part of starting a business isn't the beginning.

Sure, the beginning is scary (no doubt), releasing your baby of an idea into the world, not knowing if anyone will care, and making big, terrifying decisions with zero guarantees.

But it's also exciting.

You've got the rush of newness. The late-night brainstorming sessions. The dopamine hit of every new follower, sale, or email inquiry. Adrenaline is carrying you through, and that's a good thing because otherwise, 99% of people wouldn't make it past the starting line.

But the hardest part?

The messy middle.

The part where the excitement fades, and you're just left with… the work.

The part where:

• You don't have any paying clients yet.
• Tumbleweeds are rolling through your inbox.
• You start wondering if even doing the washing is a better use of your time.
• You catch yourself reminiscing about your soul-sucking 9-5 and thinking, That ice-cold office cubicle and predictable paycheck weren't so bad, were they?
• You're still in the same hoodie at noon that you slept in two nights in a row.

This is where most people quit.

Because excitement and passion? Not the same thing. 

Excitement is what gets you started. Passion is what keeps you going. 

Passion is the thing that will drag you back to your desk when it feels like nothing is working. It's what reminds you why you started when your brain is screaming enough of this! Let's go be a barista in Bali instead.

This is what figuring it out feels like. 

This is where you have to choose hard.

Every. Single. Time.

You have to decide, really decide, that your dream is bigger than your doubts. You have to believe in this before the money, the validation, and the big wins roll in.

Because success isn't magic, it's not luck, and it's not reserved for "special" people who somehow got it all figured out. 

It's showing up when it's hard. 

It's pushing through when it feels like nothing is happening.

It's not quitting just because you haven't "made it" yet.

So, if you're in the messy middle, keep going.

Keep refining. Keep showing up. Keep choosing you.

Because when your time comes, and trust me, it will, it's going to be glorious.

And it will be because you made it happen.

You did that.

So, on the days when it's tough, the emails aren't coming in, and the clients aren't showing up—do it anyway. Re-read this. Then, get to work.

The world needs what you have to offer. And when you show up for your dream? The universe will show up for you in return.

Now, go make it happen.

I believe in you (always).

👉🏼If you want to receive a Biz Love Letter directly to your inbox every week, I email our Hello CEO mailing list every Monday. To join, head to The Homepage and sign up!

 Tricia Scott is a passionate startup business mentor and the Founder and Editor of The Female CEO - Create Evolve Overcome, a platform and digital magazine holding the space to showcase female entrepreneurs from all over the world. 

The Female CEO is gaining global recognition daily and Tricia is able to bring her own level of expertise as a start-up mentor and multi-company director to her very exclusive table along with her team of brilliant Guest Editors and Contributors. You'll usually find her with her MacBook in one hand and a coffee or a glass of something fizzy in the other. Reach out anytime!