If you are a solopreneur, business owner, or home based CEO, you work for yourself. Oh, I know you actually work for your clients but my point is you aren’t working for some large corporation, punching a time clock. In fact, you probably work longer hours than you ever did if you worked in corporate America or had an hourly job. You are wearing more hats than you ever have because working for yourself means you have to get it all done. Yes, you can delegate but too often resources might be tight and you are figuring you can do it cheaper and faster than anyone else can. So you are going it alone.
I’ve been in my own business for over fifteen years. I’ve had large teams working for me, and I’ve had no teams for working for me. Business has been awesome and business has been non-existent. It is alternately exhilarating and terrifying. Being your own boss isn’t for the faint of heart or those averse to risk. What has made it all work is the incredible opportunities to learn along the way and the creative solutions I’ve devised to keep my own business going when it seemed impossible.
In fact, a few years ago, I hit a rough patch. I’d moved to the mountains of North Carolina and was feeling isolated and alone. I had decided not to launch my design practice up there, but instead to focus entirely on my virtual business. I’d had some successes but it wasn’t going nearly as smoothly or easily as I wanted it to. I called in some help, or at least what I thought was help. It changed my life.
I had two calls with an online coach (this isn’t a rave review so I’m going to keep that source under my hat) who told me that he was getting lots of anxious calls from online entrepreneurs and he honestly advised that I get a job. That’s right one of those hourly things that I hadn’t held in over 15 years. I was aghast! I was also angry that this was his only line of help. But it worked.
NO, I didn’t get a job. Instead I went into high gear with what I knew and got creative. I turned my slump into success because for me the idea of returning to a job just didn’t feel like an option I wanted to even consider. That advice woke me up and lit a fire under me. I wasn’t going to go the way of the other business owners this coach had been talking to. I wasn’t going to get a job. I simply needed a reminder that if I wanted to succeed in this endeavor, I was in charge of my success and could make it happen. It wasn’t up to anyone else and wasn’t a product of anything else, including the economy.
Now, don’t misunderstand me, I’ve held a variety of jobs (those of us destined to be our own bosses, often don’t work well under others). In fact my longest stint in any position was 18 months and often a lot less. I supervised a catering kitchen and ran the hot sweaty dish machine nights and weekends way back in the early days of my business. I taught evening education courses to busy professionals. I was a Purchasing Agent in hotels, moving cities, states, and companies every eight months for five years. I banquet waitressed in college. I typed papers (way before the internet) for extra money. I’ve babysat three under five for an entire summer. There is nothing wrong with having a job, except when it isn’t what you want to do.
So, if your business isn’t where you want it to be, reach out and get the right advice that will actually move you forward on your chosen path instead of listening to someone suggest you go get a job. You have the skill, the talent and the brilliance to make it where you are in what you want to do, the only question is do you have the drive, dedication, focus and are you willing to invest in the help you need to make it happen?
I’ve been where you are, in that place of anxiety, question marks, and hesitation and I can help you face the fear, remove the stumbling blocks and ignite your potential in ways you never imagined. Are you ready to get laser focused, put your success blueprint into action, and reap the rewards? Or are you going to stay stuck on the sidelines of success while everyone else races to the finish line?
