Rewinding back on my journey before I started coaching – I’m 19 and I’m ready to be my own boss and the first attempt at creating a successful business begins. I have always been interested in being my own boss having grown up watching my uncles and dad run their own businesses. I wanted to create a successful enterprise that my parents would be proud of and so that I could live unchained to society and be free to move around in my own life freely.
I’ve been reading business books since the age of 18 and as soon as I had enough information to run with, I was off. The first piece of advice any ‘start your own business’ book would give, is that before you start, you need to ensure that you follow your passion. It would dictate that without passion for what you do, your business would never survive. That exact advice resonated so much truth within me. I have always been a believer in everyone being on this earth for a reason, that we should all be living our life’s purpose and if we could build a business around that we would be aligned enough to see success happen; as long as we persevered of course.
I started my career as an Entrepreneur at the age of 19 and have since run six different businesses on my journey to become a successful business owner. Some of these businesses lasted longer than others with many more ideas that never made it out the gate.
Before each business attempt began, I would think about how I could turn my current life’s passion into a business. Party host turned Event Planner, aromatherapy lover turned Complementary Therapist, business networker turned Network Event Leader, life’s purpose believer turned Life Coach.
You will probably be wondering why so many businesses? The reason – I simply couldn’t find a sustainable interest. I couldn’t create the balance between enjoying the journey and creating the financial success I wanted.
What these startup books don’t tell you, is that if you struggled to make money from your passion, your once beloved past time would become a frustrating thorn in your side and a burden heavier that all the weights in the world.
I read books that yelled about action taking, how to create goals and hit them, why businesses fail and succeed, the best sales strategies, marketing your business, how to be more mindful about your work, how to make financial projections, how to write a business plan to receive investment and even ‘The Dummies Guides to …’. But none of them told me what I’m about to reveal inside this book.
Failure is only possible when you give up, and I’ll admit, I gave up on many occasions because the journey to success was hard work. Not just any old hard work, the kind of hard work that likens trying to fill a well using a bucket without a bottom. The kind of hard work and struggle that would see you in tears. I used to beat myself up over failure because I knew that I was the one in control of it. I knew that giving up was the true failure. And I gave up. And that was my fault. I held onto these moments of giving up, beat myself up and they laid heavy in my heart for the longest time. And all because I didn’t know the truth.
The gurus will tell you that hard work is how you build a business and I’d have to agree. But the truth of the matter is, hard work shouldn’t be fruitless. Most people aren’t really afraid of hard work; they’re scared of the failure. They’re pissed off with banging their head on a brick wall with nothing to show for it and they’re scared of struggling to keep their head above water to support themselves and their family. True entrepreneurs are not scared of hard work, in fact, most hungry and driven entrepreneurs will even enjoy hard work and often struggle to slow down and stop. Hard work is enjoyable when you’re seeing the fruits of your labour. Running a business becomes a burden when it’s taking more than you can give without the monetary return you want.
Every time something doesn’t pull off as I want it to, it’s a lesson. The reason I gave up was that I didn’t know how to counteract it. I didn’t know there was another way. Now, if something doesn’t work, I change the plan not the goal. I’ve written this book not so you can put on a carbon copy cloak, I’ve written this in such a way that you can use this approach your way.
Putting your stamp on how you operate and show up is vital to stand out. I want to tell you with every fibre of my being, that if you truly want to become a financially successful go-to expert, it is totally possible, no giving up is required. There is always a way.