When your business is a burden

The WordPress.com design team recently completed a customer research study with small business owners. Reading through the report, this line stood out to me:

All business owners expressed some element of feeling like an imposter and concerns they were doing key things wrong

I’ve always admired and looked up to small business owners. The idea of running and owning your own business seems like the epitome of success. You are your own boss, you have mastered what you do, and you had the courage to start something on your own.

The problem is, there is more to running a business than being a master of your craft. You have to learn the business side of things, such as accounting, taxes, marketing, and more. When time is scarce, how do you continue creating great work as well as learn the ins and outs of running a business? How can you sustain a reputation, and also feel like you’re on top of the business?

Business owners experience imposter syndrome in their own crafts. Having to learn the skills needed to run a business only adds more stress, especially when these skills are not enjoyable and take away from the real work.

I love the work, but not the business? It sounds weird, but if the business part could be less scary and easier to do, everything would be better

After reading the report I can see why business owners might put the task of creating a website on the back-burner. When you’re learning so many new things, the task becomes a burden that takes away from the joy of focusing on the work you love.

What if we can reduce the burden and turn this into a task that a business owner can check off their list with ease? We could do the hard work for them and surface the information they need. Instead of feeling like an imposter, they can feel informed and empowered. They can get back to what they love, and know we are taking care of their website needs.

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