#8 ~Hitting Submit
and ditching the Sunk Cost Fallacy
I’m feeling momentarily clutched by a touch of the “oh my god, what have I done’s”
Note to self… don’t look back. Or at my bank account!
Since my Substack is in its infancy and I have amassed only about 19 readers thus far, I thought I would do a little refresher.
About 14 months ago I took a huge step back from my business. I was feeling upset all the time. I loved my job but hated my business. Nothing I did had me falling back in love with it. Honestly, I hung on to my business about 18 months longer than I should have.
I'm not sure if you have heard of it, but there is something called the “Sunk Cost Fallacy?” To summarise, it is the tendency we can have to continue on with an endeavour that we have invested a lot into– even when the cost outweighs the benefits.
The cost of running my business was too high. I'm not just talking financially. I'm talking spiritually too. I was spending hours on marketing and doing all the things that must be done in-order to both run and promote a business. Marketing is time consuming, expensive and continuously talks to people’s pain points. There is a balancing act though, because for every pain point you talk about, you as the marketer get to solve that problem.
Outside of coaching, marketing ironically is my favourite thing about running a business. I am a content creator but I was becoming increasingly vexed by talking about the same subject I had been consuming, learning and growing on for nearly 20 years. I began to really hate the marketing. Not the content creating – the publicising. It felt empty, soul destroying and crying into deaf ears daily was quite frankly pissing me off. It felt like a waste.
There was a reluctance that morphed into a pure dread of talking on the subject in which I excelled at. Being at the top of my career was falling to the dirt as I fell more desperately in love with my son, husband and creating art, writings, photographs, videos and food all of which – thankfully - had NOTHING to do with my job.
I felt I was constantly missing out on Rocco’s childhood. I was working a billion hours with little return, I could never be there for school pick up and Rocco was miserable at the childminders. I wanted to create massive change.
So, I ditched it.
My husband and I decided it would be ok for us to pretend that we don’t desperately need to be a 2-income family and give me a chance throw my full focus on to my family and especially Rocco. I’m a home maker at heart and I wanted to have time to actually be one.
Outside of full time motherhood and homemaking I would spend my time retraining. I have wanted to be a photographer and videographer for a very long time and I couldn’t get my qualification done whilst doing EVERYTHING else. Honestly, I should have done this a long time ago…but there is that bloody Sunk Cost Fallacy…
It’s still creeping in everywhere. I nearly just put in the links to my website and my old YouTube channel to this chapter. Why Cee Fee? Let it go. I also just recently re payed all my business cost which includes my website, members area, URL. Why Cee Fee? I could have bought a new lens or at least stopped burning through savings. Well, I suppose was a case of pay up or loose hours, months and years of work. What happens to my work if I don’t keep it alive? I also guest spoke in a summer summit as part of a panel of professionals. Why Cee Fee? I literally had anxiety logging on to my old Instagram page to promote it.
Why Cee Fee…? Well, I guess it really does prove to me that after all these months, I wasn’t playing. I really am done. I wonder if the Sunken Cost Fallacy will have me paying my business fees next year too and I’ll be writing yet another Why Cee Fee post here? Well, that is my own choice… I'm growing less concerned about letting go with each passing day.
Whizzing excitedly back to present day, I am very literally, as in right this second about to apply for receiving my photography diploma.
Friday, I submitted my final written assessment, today I received a 10/10 mark for said assignment which closes off my course on a rather positive note… which feels a bit big.
It’s not my intention to start trying to work right away… I feel a ways off from that…Still so much to learn and I am BRIMMING with ideas of how to start building out a portfolio and finding my style. I have loved this year so much. and I am absolutely not going back anywhere near the trenches of full time mum and full time career balancing. Not until my boy is older. I’m so grateful that I have gotten a whole year of being a very present mama and (I’m going to say it… excellent home maker)and I am going to do whatever I can to continue my stay at home mum life.
I love you my boy. It won’t be tight forever and we are growing richer every day xxx
I’ll see you next week for a recipe
Love Cee Fee