Navigating your true self as an equestrian entrepreneur…
While creating and running Buckin’ Good Media I’ve learned that I need to show up as my true self in my business. It’s been a long journey figuring out how to do that. For the longest time I didn’t want to show my face in my social media. I also didn’t really want to talk about myself because I am a private person and growing up I was always taught to stay private when it came to the Internet.
Nevertheless, social media is about being social. Which means that you need to show up as yourself and socialize… Even if that just means recording yourself talking to your phone (lol, it’s 2022 and this is where technology has led us). Today I want to talk about how I have navigated my way to show my true self as an equestrian entrepreneur in this equestrian world.
First off, this is exactly how I thought people would react to seeing my face on my feeds… *insert laughing-crying emoji here*
So if that is your same thought then I just want you to know that you are not alone! It’s normal to be afraid of being judged. But how did I get over this part? Honestly, I just went for it. For a moment I told myself to stop caring and that people are going to judge me no matter what - so why not just do it? I know, I know… You’re probably thinking “well Maren it’s not always that easy!!!!” and I’m here to tell you that you’re right - it may not be that easy for some as it is for others.
But an amazing thing happened when I decided to just go for it - it became so much easier to post videos of myself to my feeds because I stopped caring about what others thought. I actually started to enjoy making these TikToks and Reels… it actually became fun for me to save an audio and think about how I could put my own twist on it. And you know what? I would never have become comfortable recording myself if I didn’t just try in the first place.
The next step I had to overcome was the “who am I, really?” phase.
It’s hard to think about who we are as people. We can name all of these things that we like to do - but who are we, really? It’s taken me three different businesses to find myself and my brand identity. When you’re first starting out as any business you look at related businesses to see what their brand theme is. I definitely did this a lot with Maren Boyko Photography and Butler Photo. Sure, I had my niches for each business but I didn’t have my identity. This is something that took me a few weeks to develop. It wasn't until I was creating this new website for Buckin’ Good Media where it finally dawned on me… I fully embrace being weird and quoting movies and shows, I love to eat, and most of all, I love talking with others about how we are not guaranteed tomorrow. I won’t go into full detail here, but watching my father pass away from cancer really puts things into perspective for you. And that perspective, at least for me, is that we need to live for today.
I get it - it’s hard to really think of your brand identity. And this is no easy task. Embracing who you are might be harder for some but the idea is to keep trying. We need to fail in order to find ourselves. I also really dislike the word fail because it just automatically has a negative vibe. Instead I like to think of it as making an error. We need to fully embrace making errors in our lives because that is one of the major ways we grow as people. When we think of an error we think of something that is fixable. We learn from errors - what not to do, what to do better, etc.
As small business owners, and humans, we need to remind ourselves that we are continuously growing! And taking the time to find ourselves in our businesses takes mindful dedication. Don’t be in such a rush to figure it all out in day. As I previously stated, it took me three businesses to figure out what I wanted my brand identity to be.
(That’s over 15+ years in case you wondered…)
And now that I have it no one else can take it from me.
I am me - Maren Boyko, daughter of a man who fought cancer and never took a day for granted, I am a lover of queso and margaritas and a good Hendrick’s gin and tonic, I love quoting movies and The Office, and most importantly, I embrace myself and all of the weirdness that I am. I run a successful equine photography company because I am not afraid to show up as myself in my business. I continuously grow because I make errors and put myself in new situations. I was able to leave my toxic healthcare job to work for myself only because of that one day I decided to just try something new with my business and put myself out there.
Your life is yours to live - so why are you waiting to live it?
Gallop on,
Maren