People keep telling me I’m an inspiration, so why do I feel like such a failure

Why I'm exiting my flop era and what I've learnt so far from the process of selling my business

I just can’t explain the flatness I feel right now, not knowing what’s next for Faace. I’m replaying every single decision I’ve ever made, questioning how things could have been better if I’d have been different. It’s hard when things don’t go to plan to not look at yourself as the one to blame. Part of me knows that a lot of the ‘failures’ don’t lie at my door, but that doesn’t stop the other part of me tormenting myself that they do. It’s ironic really, because at a time where I find my self-belief extremely low, almost every day someone is literally calling me an ‘inspiration’. I’ve never felt less like one. It’s a strange feeling as I genuinely am so proud of Faace’s achievements, but I can’t help wondering if I could have been better.

I was first made aware of the term ‘flop era’ yesterday in Tara McMullin’s ‘What Works’ Substack. Tara describes it as “a name for the experience of cycling through failure, often for years. In the midst of a flop era, you might begin to believe that every new idea or project is bound to fail—just like the last one. You can easily lose your motivation and feel out of control. You might start to believe that no matter what you do, something—whether an external force or a personal deficiency—will sabotage your success”, and for me that was a hard relate. Reading Tara’s post came on a day when I received an assortment of unwelcome news. I say unwelcome as I don’t think you could class this as bad news as such, but it’s the kind of news you’d rather avoid. Anyway, I’m definitely in a flop era frame of mind right now. It’s nice when you hear a term that sums up how you feel, it’s comforting to feel related to, and flop era for me, describes that well.

I bumped into an old friend this weekend who asked me about the Faace sale. They hadn’t heard of my agency, Known, and knew all about my skincare business. It’s hard to explain why that upset me, I’m just not feeling very robust right now. I guess it could be because it seems all my achievements are recognised around the thing that I see myself failing at. It’s like breaking up with that boyfriend or girlfriend who you really like but just know isn’t nice enough to you. Doing it is self-preservation, you don’t want to but know you must.  

In more positive news, the whole sale experience is teaching me a lot. And if you’ve been following me here for a while now, you know I love to learn.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again because we all need to hear this: not all is what it seems. A lot of (lovely) people have reached out to me since announcing the Faace sale and no matter how big the business is, or what stage it’s at, it seems most of us are struggling. Now, misery likes company as the saying goes, and I’ve found some comfort in that. Whilst I’m of course totally wishing everyone else well, it’s sometimes nice to know you’re not alone. The current climate is making everything challenging and essentially, I’ve not just single-handedly messed everything up. Even the wonderful Caroline Hirons commented on a video of mine to say it’s hard. And if that absolute legend finds it tough then I don’t know how the rest of the skincare brands out there are supposed to make it work.

It’s not all doom and gloom. Anyone not struggling seems to be focusing on one thing - TikTok, Amazon, QVC internationally - and going all in on that. So, there’s hope.

Also, I’ve been reminded about the power of networking. Whilst it remains to be seen if I can secure a buyer, I’ve been speaking to a lot of interesting people and made some good connections that’s for sure. Which reminded me of the benefits of networking, talking about what you do, and the opportunities that can bring. Plus, I can’t believe the reach and shares of the video I put out announcing the sale. Through the power of social networking, I’ve achieved interest from over 50 people, all of which could be a good fit for the brand.

I don’t know what’s around the corner, but I’m just hoping that I’m exiting my flop era and can get back into a more positive mindset when it comes to my own abilities. And in the meantime, I’ll keep going, as one thing is for sure, when you run a business and have a family, you’re not really allowed to have off days.