Let Me Tell You a Story
I am going to tell you a story; it’s about starting a business. Starting a business is hard, it’s expensive, it takes time and it can be exhausting. I’m not complaining at all, this is completely my choice but it’s not an easy thing to do. Now you can cut corners, and you can do things on the cheap, but it’s still hard.
Laying the Legal and Practical Foundations
I spent 7 months training to be a life coach, and I paid for the cost of that myself. I have built my website; I’ve done some legal training so that I have contracts in place which protect both myself and my clients, I have registered with the Information Commissioners Office so that all of the personal data that I do keep, I keep safely and securely and I have applied for 2 trademarks – one for a programme that I’m going to launch next year, and the other for my blog and learning materials as I want to protect myself.
Why I’m Choosing This Path — Even Though It’s Tough
These are just a few examples of the things that I’ve done in order to make my business successful. This is all my choice and I’m doing this alongside a full-time job – I live on my own, I have to pay my mortgage, I want to eat things, I have bills to pay, it’s life and life is tough. Life is tough for everybody and I’m no different to anybody else. My tough is different to your tough, but it’s all tough, and again, it’s my choice.
Why I Can’t Keep Doing This for 20 More Years
I bought a house last year and I need to work for the next 20 years to pay my mortgage off. I don’t really enjoy my job; I’ve been doing what I’m doing now for 25 years. I’m good at it but I don’t enjoy it and for me, doing this for the next 20 years is not appealing. It’s my choice to do something else.
What 75 Hard for Business Looks Like
Last week I decided to start 75 Hard. I’ve heard of it before and it sounds pretty scary but I’m actually doing one for my business, so every day for 75 days I have to do 5 things; something which either directly generates revenue or will lead to me having revenue, something which makes me visible, so that could be posting on social media, writing a blog, it could be anything really, something which is an act of self-care, something where I am challenging myself by learning something and finally, I have to be accountable every day.
Doing the Work — Even When It’s Hard
I watched a zoom call which kicked this off and it basically said ‘this is going to be hard’. If I go to the office, I don’t get home much before 7pm and I probably haven’t done any of these things before I go, so then that’s my evening alongside my dinner. Again, that’s my choice and I know I’ve just said that life is full of choices, but they’re your choices. My choice is to see what I’m capable of and to grow and run my business.
The Power of Choosing Your Growth
I know that I’m really lucky that I have an education and I have been able to train and to get some certifications, but it hasn’t been easy, and I put on a credit card, and I spent a year paying that off and again that was my choice.
What’s Your Choice?
What I’m asking you is what is important to you and what choices are you making to get closer to that thing you really, really want? If you don’t know what that thing that you really want is, if you feel lost, if you think that there really is more to life but don’t know what it is, then I’d love for you to get in touch with me and I’ll help you discover what that is and then help you get there.