The Unlikely Entrepreneur
You’ve probably heard the saying
“Rebel without a Cause”
Well, I consider myself
“A woman without a plan!”
Don’t get me wrong.
I have a general platform from which I provide my service offering and qualifications. I know my capabilities, but I also understand the value that can be delivered to an organization when I am stretched beyond an “off the shelf” standard offering to flex and expand on behalf of clients, always leveraging previous lessons learned.
To do so, I must challenge myself as I challenge my clients — To Maximum Greatness.
How did I become a business owner of a thriving consulting company, you ask?
The easiest thing would have been for me to go back to my comfort zone and take a full-time business development job in another company. However, I knew, that I was bored and needed to advance my skill set by trying something new.
As my husband reminds me, he encouraged me towards this career path two years before I made the decision. As often happens, he believed in me before I could believe in myself. (It’s so much easier to see the talent and skills in someone else before you can yourself, right?)
You see — I am the Unlikely Entrepreneur
I never wanted to own my own business. My parents had owned a business when I was young, and I saw the challenges and difficulties that it brought to them. Being a business owner (in my mind) meant being poor, stressed out and unhappy.
I’m here to tell you that I was wrong.
The past 17 months have been the most exhilarating, creative and rewarding time of my life. There’s something empowering about developing a business from the ground up to satisfy an unfulfilled niche in the market. Do I always get it right? No, but I give it my all.
One consistent question that I am asked is “Okay, what’s your plan? What’s next?”
I don’t have that answer. I accept and surrender to each day as the gift that it is, feeling truly blessed with the wonderful clients that I serve. When the next opportunity is before me, I embrace it as I would an open door. I know that what I’m learning today will prepare me for that next challenge.
My advice to you is to…
Put yourself out there as much as possible and see what sticks. You may just surprise yourself in the truly magnificent things that you can achieve; but most importantly, the wonderful ways in which you may be in service to others.
Happy Stretching!
