Latest / The Modern Etsy Seller Podcast / 47. How to Stay Motivated When You Don’t Feel Like Working on Your Etsy Shop

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47. How to Stay Motivated When You Don’t Feel Like Working on Your Etsy Shop · The Modern Etsy Seller Podcast

• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: Hey there and welcome to the Modern Etsy Seller, the podcast where busy women build, grow, and profit on Etsy.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Melissa Carroll, a full-time teacher, a busy mom, and an Etsy seller who's built two successful Etsy shops in the small moments of everyday life.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: Here you'll find simple strategies, real behind-the-scenes insight, and the clarity you need to stop second guessing and start moving forward one intentional step at a time.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Let's get to it.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: Hey guys, welcome back.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: If you've ever had a day when you know you should be working on your Etsy business and you just cannot get yourself to want to do it, you are definitely not alone.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: And this episode is for you.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: There are days when I am incredibly motivated to work on my businesses, when I have tons of ideas running through my head, and I can't wait to sit down at my computer and start working on them.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: And then there are the days when I would rather do literally anything else.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: I used to think that there were people who were just naturally motivated all the time.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like they wake up every day ready to get things done and they don't struggle with procrastination or have days where they don't feel like working on their business.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: But I don't think that anymore.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: And what I've realized is that motivation is just not something that you can count on.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: It comes and it goes.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: There are going to be days when you feel really excited about what you're building and getting yourself to work on it feels easy.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: And there are going to be days when you don't feel like doing any of it.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: And if you only work on the days when you feel motivated to work on it, you're probably gonna have a really hard time building any kind of consistency.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: So if you have days when you don't feel like working on your Etsy shop, I don't think the answer is figuring out how to become someone who wakes up motivated every single day.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: I actually think the more useful thing is figuring out what you can pull from on those days when the motivation isn't naturally there.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: I've been thinking about this a lot lately and paying more attention to what I do on those days when I don't want to do anything.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: Because the truth is most of the time I still manage to get myself moving.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: And when I started looking at what gets me there, I realized that I tend to pull from the same few things over and over again.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: So before I ever get to the point where I tell myself that I'm just going to have to do it anyway, there are four different places that I pull from and I kind of picture them as buckets.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: When my motivation is just not there, I check these buckets and see if there's something there that can get me moving again.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of time there is.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: When there isn't, that's when there's a different decision to make.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: And we'll get to that at the end.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: So today, what I want to do is walk you through a motivation reset.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: Four things that you can look to when the motivation isn't there, plus what to do when that still isn't enough.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: So the first bucket that you can pull from, the first thing that you can do is return to your reason.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: Why are you even doing this in the first place?
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: Why did you decide to start an Etsy business?
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: I think this is easy to lose sight of because when you've been working on something for a while, the day-to-day work can become so disconnected from the thing you actually wanted in the first place.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: And for most of us, money is probably a big part of the reason.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: We start it because we want it to make more money.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: But I think if you want that reason to actually help you on the days when you're not feeling it, you need to go a little bit deeper.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: You need to be really clear on what that money would mean for you.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: How would having that extra income affect your life?
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: What would it make easier?
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: What would it allow you to do that you can't do right now?
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: And if this isn't something you've really thought through yet or something you haven't actually put into words, I would encourage you to do that.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: Let's say your goal is to make an extra$2,000 a month.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: The question you need to answer is why?
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: What would having that money allow you to do or change or experience?
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it means paying off debt, or maybe just having some breathing room in your monthly budget.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're saving to take your family on a vacation where you're not gonna have to worry about how much everything costs while you're there.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: Or you might want to put it toward the future, say for college bills or retirement.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it will give you the ability to cut back your hours at work, or you might even be hoping that eventually this business gives you the option to leave your job altogether.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: Whatever it is, is the reason that you need to remind yourself of when you just don't want to do it.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: And you know what?
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: Your reason doesn't even have to be financial.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you wanted something that was yours, or you missed creating things, or you wanted to prove to yourself that you could build something successful on your own.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: The point of returning to your reason is to reconnect the work that you don't feel like doing with the thing you want long term.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: Making another mock-up or researching another product can feel pretty far removed from the bigger thing that you're working toward.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: So returning to your reason helps you connect those two things again and remember what all that day-to-day work could eventually give you.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: So when you don't feel like doing the work, start there.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: Go back to your reason, go back to your why and see if reconnecting with it is enough to get you moving.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: If that doesn't do it, the second bucket I want you to look at is the track your trajectory bucket.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: This means taking a minute to look backward at how far you've come instead of looking forward at how much further you still have to go.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: When you're building a business, you spend so much time focused on the next thing.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: You are thinking about the sales that you haven't made yet or the goals that you haven't reached, or how far away you are from where you eventually want the business to be.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: And when that's where your attention is all the time, it can start to feel like you're putting in all this work and still have so much further to go, which can really start to affect your motivation.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: So sometimes when I'm not feeling motivated, it helps me to stop looking at the distance between where I am right now and where I want to be in the future, and instead to look at the distance between where I am right now and where I started.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I want to be clear that this doesn't have to mean that you've already built some hugely successful Etsy shop.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: Your trajectory could be that one month ago you didn't even know how print on demand worked, and now you have five listings in your shop.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe getting your first sale felt impossible and now you've made 10.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: Or you finally have figured out how to create better mock-ups or getting faster with the designs, or you're starting to understand your stats.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: Those things can be really easy to dismiss because as soon as we reach one point, we tend to move the goalpost and start focusing on the next one.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: 10 sales doesn't feel exciting anymore because now you want 100 sales.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: Making$500 in a month doesn't feel like enough because your goal is$2000.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: And there's nothing wrong with wanting to keep growing, but if you're constantly measuring yourself against where you haven't gotten yet, you're missing all of the evidence that what you're doing is moving you forward.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: And that evidence can be motivating.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: So if returning to your reason isn't enough, take a minute and track your trajectory.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: Go back and look at where you started.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: Look at your first designs or your first listings or your first month of stats, whatever gives you a point of comparison and remind yourself of the progress that you've already made.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: Because sometimes seeing that you're further along than you were is going to be enough to make you want to keep going.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: But maybe you've reminded yourself why you're doing this, you've looked back at how far you've come and you still don't feel like doing anything.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: The third bucket I pull from is the start small gain speed bucket.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this is certainly not some new idea that I came up with.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: Starting with one small task when you're procrastinating or feeling overwhelmed is pretty common productivity advice.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: And there's a reason you hear it so often.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: Getting started can be the hardest part.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: I know for me there are days where I can spend more time thinking about the fact that I should be working than it would have taken me to just sit down and do something.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: And then the longer I put it off, the bigger the work starts to feel in my head.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: On those days, I try to pick one really small thing that feels easy enough to start.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: So that could be something like researching just one idea or maybe responding to a customer message.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: I just tell myself I'm gonna get to work, do this one thing, and then see how I feel.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes all I need is that little bit of movement.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: Once I get myself started, continuing usually feels a whole lot easier.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: And that's where the gain speed part comes in.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: One small thing can lead to another.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: You finish the design, and while you're there, you get it listed, or you start researching one idea and end up finding another one that you want to explore.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: You tell yourself you're gonna work for 10 minutes, 30 minutes later you're still working because getting started was the hardest part.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: I think we tend to assume sometimes that the motivation comes first.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: We wait until we feel like working to start working.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: I've had plenty of days where it happened in the opposite order.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: I started working, got a little momentum going, and then felt more motivated to keep going.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: And obviously, it's not just me who this works for.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: There's a reason this idea of starting small is such common advice.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes getting yourself to take that first small step is enough to get things moving.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: And once you're moving, it becomes a whole lot easier to keep moving.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: So if the first two buckets haven't gotten you going, find the smallest thing that you can get yourself to start.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: Make it something that feels almost too easy.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: Do that one thing and then see what happens from there.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: The fourth bucket to pull from when you are lacking in motivation is the borrow the boost bucket.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: This one is about tapping into the people or things that tend to give you a little burst of motivation.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: I do this all the time.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I'll listen to a podcast from someone who gets me excited about business again.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: Or I'll watch a YouTube video, listen to an audiobook, or scroll the Instagram feed of someone who has done what I want to do.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: I've also gone back to something that I've saved because I remember how it made me feel the first time I heard it.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: Another way to get that same kind of motivation boost is from different people in my life.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: So talking to someone who understands what you're trying to build or being around other people who are working toward their own goals, or even just letting someone know what you're planning to get done, can give you a little bit of energy.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you walk away from a conversation like that feeling completely different than you did going into it.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: And it really does help to know where you get your boosts.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: Where does it tend to come from for you?
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: So you want to start to learn that.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: Pay attention to the people or the podcasts or the communities that leave you feeling energized and wanting to get to work.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: You could even keep like a little list somewhere so that on the days when you're struggling with motivation, you already know where to go so that you can borrow a little bit.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so now the question is what happens when you've checked all four buckets and you're still not motivated?
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: You've returned to your reason and reminded yourself why you're doing this.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: You've tracked your trajectory and looked at how far you've come.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: You tried starting with something small to gain speed and you looked to borrow some motivation from somewhere else, and none of it has changed how you feel.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: This is where you have a choice to make.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: You need to choose either grit or grace.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: Grit is deciding that you're going to do the work anyway.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: There are going to be days when you're tired and you just don't feel like it where you would just rather sit on the couch than open your computer, even though you know you're completely capable of doing the work.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: You just don't feel like doing it.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: Those are the days when sometimes I have to push myself to do it anyway.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: I may not enjoy or feel motivated through even one single second of it, but it doesn't matter.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: In the end, I've usually made progress, and often while I'm glad to be done, I'm also glad I did it.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: Grace is giving yourself permission to step away.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe you've been pushing really hard, you're tired, you have a lot going on in other parts of your life, or you can tell that you need some time away from the business.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: That's when you need to decide to take the night off or the day off or whatever it is that you need and give yourself that break without feeling guilty about it.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: And that's really important.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: When you choose grace, you can't beat yourself up about it.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of the time, stepping away is exactly what you need to recharge a little bit and come back with more energy the next time you sit down to work.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: Here's the thing though about grit and grace.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: You can't live in either of them all the time.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: If your answer is always grit, you're eventually gonna burn out.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: You need to be able to recognize when you genuinely need a break and allow yourself to take one.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: And grace can't be the choice every time you don't feel like working either, or you're never going to get anything done.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: Building a business takes consistency and there are going to be plenty of days when the work still has to happen, even though you're not particularly excited to do it.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: And this is why the four buckets come first.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: You need to give yourself a chance to find your motivation again before you have to make that choice.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: Because a lot of the time, one of those four things is going to be enough.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: Your reason reminds you why this matters.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: Seeing your progress can give you a little encouragement.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: Starting small can get you moving, or you just find that boost from somewhere else.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: And if one of those works, great.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: You don't even have to get to grit or grace.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: But when none of them work, that's when you have to be honest with yourself.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: Do I need to push through today or do I need to give myself a break?
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: I think the biggest thing I've learned is that you don't need to wake up every day raring and ready to go in order to keep moving forward.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: Some days it's going to be easy to sit down and work on your business, and some days it's going to take a little more effort to get yourself there.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: So the next time you have one of those days where you would rather do anything else than work, do a motivation reset and see where it takes you.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: Because you're probably never going to figure out how to be motivated all the time.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: I certainly have it.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: But you can get a whole lot better at knowing what to do when you're not.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, thanks for joining me today.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: And if you've been enjoying the podcast, I'd love it if you would take a minute to leave a rating and review.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: It helps more Etsy sellers find the show, and your feedback helps me create more of the episodes you want to hear.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: I'll see you next week.