We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tasha Romano a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Tasha, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

I love this question, because I think a lot can go into success – even just answering what success looks like for each of us. For me, success is helping my clients grow and show up authentically, and having the finances and time to live my most joyful life. Now that may not be anyone else’s goal, but I think a key to being successful is taking the time to clearly articulate what ‘success’ means to you. After all, if you don’t have a destination it’s hard to know if you’re going the right direction.

After that, I’d say you need a few characteristics; passion, tenacity, self-growth, and support.

You need to be passionate about what you’re doing and building. Life is going to test you, there will be ups and downs, and it’s ok to fall in and out of love with your business. The key is being passionate enough to always come back. To know that even when you aren’t in love with it, you’d rather be doing this than anything else. That is what will see you through each wobble.

Which leads to tenacity. This is the one that will get you through those tough periods or big leaps. Every success story has adversity that they had to overcome and your journey is going to be no different. Learning what you need to keep going is going to be so important (support systems, time off, hobbies, etc.).

Self-growth might be one of my biggest ones. I strongly believe that being a business owner is the most self-work you will ever do in your life. You will need to confront every outlook, belief and feeling you have about yourself and the world because your business is going to magnify it back to you in a big way. You struggle talking about money? You will need to learn how to talk about money if you want a financially strong business. You need to learn to file taxes? Add to your skills to help your clients better? Promote yourself on social media? You are going to have to learn as an entrepreneur. A willingness to learn, grow and push your comfort zone will help every aspect of your entrepreneurial journey.

Which is probably why I’ve also put support on here. It’s easy to feel alone as an entrepreneur and forget that the struggles you’re having are actually pretty universal. Having a support group of other business owners is going to be so integral to share the burden of hard times and the excitement of good times. So whether this is a paid group, people you meet networking, or online friends you’ve found make sure to nurture your support group.

Tasha, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Form & Flow Studio is a catalyst for personal and business growth by creating captivating visuals that usher in a new era. We take a strategic approach to your brand & website that takes a deep look at what your goals are and how you want your business to impact the world, then turn that into visuals that are going to excite your people and allow you to step into your next iteration.

I always say design found me. I’ve always loved psychology, art & business, but had no idea which to choose when it came time for post-secondary. So I decided to pack up everything and travel the world with a friend. We went to 5 continents and I got to experience and see so many amazing things. It was while traveling that I discovered design and realized that it not only tied all my interests together, but that I could build a business that would enhance the lifestyle I wanted.

This has had a huge impact on how I view things and approach a project, particularly in how deep I dig into each one. I want to find that spark that keeps you going and makes you excited about your business, and I want to amplify that. Use that as the backbone for every design decision we make. This I think is our superpower, our ability to help people distill what they’ve been thinking and turning it into something they had struggled to articulate before.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

I am a huge book worm and there are so many incredible books out there. Some of my absolute favourites have been ‘The Win Without Pitching Manifesto’ by Blair Enns, ‘Profit First’ By Micheal Michalowicz and ‘Delivering Happiness’ by Tony Hsieh. While there are so many I could go on and on about, I think these are a great starting point.

‘The Win Without Pitching Manifesto’ is a quick read that really talks about how you can make your own rules for your business and gives a lot of perspective on how positioning is so key to your business and alleviates some of the stress on selling. This was the first business book I ever read and it totally blew my mind.

‘Profit First’ is the most recent book I’ve read, and again it was incredible. It gives practical advice on how to manage your money with incredible story telling and anecdotes. Micheal Michalowicz is a seriel entrepreneur and he emparts some beautiful pieces of wisdom in with all the amazing money advice.

‘Delivering Happiness’ is just a great book about how we can be profitable and successful while putting people first. While the story is a bit of a roller coaster as it’s also a bit of an autobiography of Tony Hsieh’s journey as an entrepreneur, it’s also a great guide in how to define your business’ values and culture.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I’m a huge believer in pivoting and adapting as you gain knowledge and feedback from your audience and yourself. I believe when we start a business we have a theory about what we’re building, an idea, and when we take it to market is when we actually test it, learn, and adapt.

I’d been in business a few years when I started to fall out of love with it. I wasn’t closing as many sales and I really didn’t feel aligned with the kinds of businesses I was finding in my niche. Those I did work with were amazing, but I wasn’t finding enough of them to keep going. I knew there was nothing else I wanted to do beyond owning my business, but I also didn’t have the money coming in I needed and I was feeling like I was running on a treadmill that was going too fast. I was at a pivot or bust moment, which honestly is terrifying.

To know I had spent so much time and energy on something that didn’t feel like was working was really discouraging. But I also had some moments of real success in there, and my clients were all thrilled with the work we had done. I knew deep down I could do this, but I also wanted to just have fun with it again. I needed to reconnect with the business and let go of all the ‘shoulds’.

So I did some soul-searching. Lots of thinking and joined a business coaching program that focused on finding what was right for you. Now, the business is doing great, I’m fully in love with it again, and I have learned so much.

I really believe that there is no one-approach-fits-all in business. You need to try loads of different approaches to figure out what’s right for you. And even then, what worked a year ago might not work now. Consumers are constantly evolving too, which means the whole landscape changes.

Pivoting is always scary because it’s a leap of faith on a theory, just like starting the business in the first place. While the stakes get higher every single time, so does our knowledge, capabilities and support systems. Each time we end up with a better understanding of who we are and what we need to be successful. Pivots are scary, but they also are exciting.

Contact Info:

• Website: formandflowstudio.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/formandflow_studio/

Image Credits
Sonia V Branding