That Perfect Facebook Photo Can Fool You: Things are Not Always as They Seem

If you spend even five minutes a day on Facebook, chances are your newsfeed is inundated with picture-perfect “back-to-school” photos. I confess – I posted several pics moving my daughter back on campus at Abilene Christian University. I personally love seeing the photos. But like the picture perfect vacation shots, it can sometimes be intimidating, making you feel like you are somehow failing at life. Ahhhh but let’s get back to reality please. We all know that photos don’t necessarily tell the entire story. In fact, they rarely do. That’s a good thing to remember as we embark on this new school year and head into fall and the holiday season I am reposting one of my favorite – and one of our most popular blog posts ever – written by my friend and fellow entrepreneur, Carey Baker. Carey is a successful business owner, a wife and a mom who is also a gifted writer. She is polished and always “together” which makes this story even better. If you have ever had a morning where anything that could go wrong DID go wrong, you will like this one. Enjoy! Every smile has a story, and that story is not always pretty or glamorous – by Carey Baker At the end of August (2014) , I posted a photo on the first day of school, like so many proud parents do, and received a ton of likes and comments about how cute it was.  As the day progressed, I began to feel a little guilty because the photo portrayed a perfectly little happy family, when in actuality the day was full of bumps, screams, tears, and traffic jams!  My guilt turned to a desire for complete honesty, so I posted a second “confession” that night. In short, my confession explained a day that started with tears of fear about a new school and change.  It continued with one of our dogs running away during the photo shoot, only to be returned covered in mud. Then it proceeded to a New York-style traffic jam in the pick-up line, which even included some not-so-kind one-finger gestures by a few disgruntled drivers. In the end, we all survived day one, and we repeated the steps, albeit much more smoothly, the next day and beyond! Why do I share this with you?  It’s simple: managing people, departments, or even a company is not easy.  We might receive accolades for great performance, growth, or a job well done, but I would bet that every single one of you reading this has felt that tinge of guilt before when hiding fear, frustration, and uncertainty with a smile.  ProRecruiters has received some great publicity, which might give the perception that we are large and beyond struggle, but in reality we are still working really hard to make it.  A CEO whom I admire shared with me recently that one common characteristic that successful people possess is their willingness to take risks. They research and evaluate, but they take action.  Owning a company or managing a team is not easy.  It requires taking risks even when we are not certain of the outcome: “Do I get that line of credit increase so I can accept this order?”, “Do I hire this person and increase my budget by X$?”, “Do I expand our services and run the risk of failing?” We have all faced these challenges. We must make the decision to celebrate our successes, learn from our failures, and face our fears head on.  Just like in our personal lives, nothing works perfectly every time.  So this month I want to remind each and every one of you who runs your own company, are looking for work or managing people of this simple thing: you are not alone.  The challenges you face and the fears you deal with are not unique to you.  Someone else has dealt with this as well.  I hope that knowing you are not alone and knowing this is a normal struggle for leaders and people in general gives you peace of mind to keep fighting the good fight. Carey Baker and her husband, Brett, launched Part-Time Pros in March of 2008 to give professionals flexibility in the workplace and filling a much-needed niche in the Tulsa area. Eight years later, their innovative business continues to grow and has been renamed ProRecruiters to better represent the broad range of their services. Prior to opening ProRecruiters, Carey worked for Chapman Foundations Management, Advisory Board Company and The Williams Companies. Carey lives in Tulsa with her husband Brett and their two daughters.   Shannon Wilburn is the CEO & Co-founder of Just Between Friends Franchise Systems, Inc. (JBF), North America’s leading children’s & maternity consignment event. JBF has 149 franchises in 29 states and Canada. JBF is actively seeking franchisees throughout North America. Click here to learn more.