Before I was bitten by the entrepreneur bug, my husband and I had three littles at home and we both worked full-time. Making all-natural products sprouted when I made lip balms & body butters for Christmas gifts one year.
Many of those I gave these gifts to came back to me in the following months and suggested I should sell them because people would love them.
Herbs and attaining a more natural lifestyle had always appealed to me and I had already been studying Herbalism (formally) a few years by then. For me, it was the perfect marriage of things I love: developing products, working with herbs, and eventually attaining financial freedom.
But Elemental Promise itself was truly born out of my frustration with tricky marketing on product labels. I’m kind of a research nerd and with just a bit of digging it wasn’t hard to uncover all the fluff and nonsense around claims of all-natural products and further, ‘free-from’ claims that were only half-truths.
I wanted people who made the choice to buy from Elemental Promise to feel safe in knowing exactly what was in the products they would be using on their bodies and without tricking them into believing in non-existent health benefits.
I take issue with products that are unsafe, unstable, or just plain do not do what they claim to.
Many hours of research were behind which herbs I selected for our waterless formulas.
For example, certain components of a plant cannot be extracted into oil. The very same herb, extracted into water/ethanol or a fixed plant oil (olive oil) will contain very different chemicals. This means that Centella asiatica water extract contains the active chemicals that have the potential to provide skin benefits. Whereas C. asiatica steeped in olive oil will not contain those active components.
In my experience with many natural brands, this distinction is not clear to the average person. Sadly, the label is able to say, ‘Contains C. asiatica’ but if the product is also marketed as ‘preservative-free’ because it does not contain water, the active components of C. asiatica will not be in there.
It’s my belief that that practice isn’t ethical. Elemental Promise was created as an answer to that need.
Starting the Business
Elemental Promise began almost on a whim. My husband and I had chatted about it here and there, but finally one night I just decided to come up with a name and logo. The very next morning, I purchased the domain and began the laborious process of launching an online store.
We also went to local craft shows, and we did fairly well there. People seemed very receptive and this encouraged me to put in even more effort.
One of our biggest challenges, and one that still confounds me today, is how to reach people. Without the big dollars to spend on ads or on any significant marketing efforts, getting people to your website is almost impossible.
I focused on growing my email list and creating a group of people whom I could nurture and help with words but who would also buy from me when they wanted or needed what I was selling.
During this time I had switched jobs, and not long after that, we welcomed our fourth child. He was an unexpected but very loved addition to our family. But with another baby, and my starting a new job, it became very hard to continue nurturing my followers.
Then the global pandemic became a very real and extremely scary place to find ourselves. My husband and I were struggling to balance work with caring for two toddlers, and two older children who were required to attend virtual school.
It wasn’t safe for our parents to help us, as they are older and in an at-risk population of people.
This is a challenge that we are slowly recovering from now, as my children grow older and I again have the energy and time to focus on growing my business.
Today, Elemental Promise is recovering, slow and steady. I refuse to give up when I know in my heart that this is a mission with a greater purpose. My purpose is what I go back to when fear threatens to hold me back. The ultimate goal of Elemental Promise is to help others and if I back down or allow feelings of inadequacy to gain a foothold, I lose that perspective.
At the time when I first began this journey, part of me was so proud that I had taken this step but another part of me was absolutely terrified of what other people would think. I wanted my family and friends to think I was this amazing person, meanwhile the fear of being “found out” as a faker was very real.
Battling Imposter Syndrome
In the beginning, for the first two years or so, I suppose I was in denial about what starting your own business really meant. It came with responsibilities to claim the title of owner which in turn labels you as an entrepreneur.
I resisted that title, thinking that I didn’t have any right to something so grandiose. If I stepped into that role, I could be a big fat failure, or worse, people would discover that I was somehow a fraud.
It wasn’t until I discovered that these feelings had a name that I could then have the chance to overcome these fears. Imposter Syndrome is a real feeling that many of us suffer from in secret and that all people have to varying degrees. It has the power to hold you back from realizing your dreams, whatever they are. Big dreams or small, Imposter Syndrome waits in the wings.
Now my opponent had a name and I began an intense journey of self-discovery. It became important that I grow and learn to value my unique identity and what contributions I can make to the world.
One of the most amazing things I heard and hadn’t considered in any real way was that each of us is special because we exist. No matter what we do or don’t do, be or not be, we are each of us important and worth the space we occupy and the air we breathe.
Because we each have our part to play and we deserve the chance to play it. But if you’re scared, and you allow that fear to hold you back, you are depriving yourself and everyone else of the wonder that is you.
Self-worth is so intricately woven into the fabric of feeling like a fraud, that it may very well be the ideal place to start. Examine the way you talk to yourself, if you talk to yourself more harshly than you talk to others, then start there.
Start with using kind words for yourself. Remember that you are only a human amongst a population of other humans, all struggling and all at different points on our paths.
It also became important that I separate my idea of self-worth from the roles I play. Mother, wife, sister, daughter, business owner were how I defined myself and my value. Whether Elemental Promise becomes a smashing success or an utter failure is not really the point.
Defining yourself by titles will always leave you feeling less than, or trying to squeeze yourself into a societal ideal. If you take the time to learn what the roles mean to you and what success in those roles looks and feels like, you will feel the pieces coming together.
You may even decide to reject the roles.
Something important to remember; learning your ‘why’ will rescue you every time. When you’re defining your roles, ask yourself why you want it to be a certain way. This gives you control and helps you understand where the pain points are for yourself.
Summing It Up
Recently, I had an artisan make me a small pendant with the word ‘Worthy’ inscribed on it. It helps to have a constant reminder for times when Imposter Syndrome may be getting the best of me.
There are so many ways to approach Imposter Syndrome. Because it’s just so incredibly personal. I took the time to learn about me and the rewards were exponentially better than the effort required.
In the end, I can’t say it was easy. I can’t say that I’m ‘cured.’ I can say that this is a life-long endeavor.
I can say I took on the Entrepreneur title and for me, that was the trigger for lasting change in how I look at myself, other people, and the world at large.
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