I cannot tell you how frustrating it is to be an adult. Of course, I am sure you already know that. Paying bills, making meals, dealing with customer service, avoiding mouth-breathers at the grocery store. These are all very frustrating things. This week I have found myself in an entirely new realm of Adulting: Starting my own business.
Being a life coach has been a private labor of love for a long time. I never truly believed I could do this for a living. Not because I couldn’t, but because I believed that I couldn’t. Turns out, I’m doing it.
Now I have to say and acknowledge that there has been a confluence of occurrences that has made this venture possible and without them, I would not be starting my own business. (this is me acknowledging how lucky I am, how privileged I am, and how someone else in my position might not get these chances)
- My husband is working.
- Our income is currently stable.
- All our bills are paid.
- We own our own home.
- We are receiving a decent tax refund.
- We have loving family and friends who are helping with childcare.
- We will be able to put the baby into daycare soon.
- I am able to do all this remotely (thank you COVID)
The thing is: I am still terrified. I feel both that I know what I am doing and also that I am utterly clueless. Have you ever felt like that? I do. I spent hours and days at my old job thinking “I am so good at this. I have been pouring my energy into this work and doing so well with such great results and yet, little to no appreciation. Lots of complaints. Being paid half of what I’m worth. Why am I pouring my talent into someone else’s wallet??” Sound familiar?
I decided to just go for it and do this thing for real. I have been thinking about it for a long time and was scared. Can you relate?
Here’s the thing though: the difference between me and a million other schmoes out there in the world is this: I decided to do this, I sat down and wrote out every little thing I could think of, and then (this is the most important part) I broke it down to its smaller parts AND figured out what I can do by myself and what I have to get help with. Is this where you get stuck?
It requires such a massive shift in thinking. Truly. For me, as an ADHD adult, I tend to run a million miles a minute in my mind and skip steps, want to get everything done right now, and get utterly overwhelmed when I see my to-do list. So after years of studying the greats, the people who have successfully done things like this before, I have finally started putting their suggestions to work. The best book I can recommend for this is The Success Principles by Jack Canfield. It has changed my life, the amount of hope I have, and the amount of confidence I have developed to believe that I can succeed. (Remember: I read it years ago and it still took time, meditation, life changes, a wedding, a funeral, a pregnancy, a baby, a pandemic, moving across the country, and being miserable in two different organizations to finally apply the wisdom. Go easy on yourself).
So, dear reader, my point is simple: Being an adult is hard. It’s scary. It’s deeply intimidating and since I have never had a single adult show me how to run a business growing up, I am somewhat flying blind. But I have decided to do it anyway, to begin before I’m ready. I am taking certification courses in small businesses, analytics, WordPress, and more, so that I can educate myself. Why? Because this business is going to succeed, dammit. Because it’s worth it to me. My boss is Gd, my business partner is my husband, and I work for three of the cutest board members you could ever ask for.
If I can do this, so can you.