There is something so magical and so courageous about choosing to become an entrepreneur and starting your own business.
There is something so profound and brave about choosing your own path to your style of freedom. And to putting your ideas and genius out into the world for people to support.
Becoming an entrepreneur and starting a business is absolutely my favorite Brave Yes to date.
And yet starting a business is not what I set out to do in my life.
Hello, I’m Shawn and I am an accidental, multipossibilitarian creative entrepreneur.
Listen to this episode here or keeping reading below:
THE WORLD HAS NEVER HAD MORE ENTREPRENEURS
The market today — never been easier to start a biz — also never been harder, in my opinion.
Enter The Great She-cession or the Great Resignation — So many people have quit their jobs to start up their own path to freedom.
Some of those people will make it.
Others will not.
Time will only tell just how their unique business model will work — or if in a year they will be back to the job search.
I personally am pretty unemployable at this point — having been out of the mainstream workforce for almost a decade.
So even thought the market is so much harder now than when I started, I am so much smarter and so much more skilled.
I am now devoted to coaching and mentoring other entrepreneurs who want to make this work AND feel tended to and cared for by their business.
MY ENTREPRENEUR STORY
To tell you my entrepreneur story, I must first tell you that I am a writer through and through. I began my life telling stories and “podcast” on an old cassette recorder in my grandparent’s back bedroom. I wrote — and still write — non-stop in my life.
And to tell you my story, I must also tell you that I learned everything I know to be true about the world and how to help my clients from being a journalist, from going into people’s homes and learning from the grieving and the grittiness of being human.
And to tell you even more is that I never dreamed of doing what I do now. I didn’t know it was possible. Because it wasn’t when I was dreaming of the life I would have.
Thankfully, things changed. After burning out in journalism, I went seamlessly from freelance writer to blogger to creator. And then ultimately from creator to CEO and Coach and defining my own Queendom that defies all typical business rules.
For one thing, I am absolutely a multipossibilitarian entrepreneur — this means I am passionate about a lot of issues and causes that I weave into my work like artwork.
Now, I could talk business all day and thankfully my client load has been filled with other entrepreneurs as well so I can.
I’ve begun exploring what it means to be a Brave Yes Entrepreneur and researching the traits that are required to have a successful, creative business model. You can learn more on my brand new newsletter — The Brave Yes Entrepreneur
For me, as a Brave Yes Entrepreneur, I stand for:
- Creative and lifestyle Freedom,
- Family First
- Living and leading with my values and strengths
- Making offers that are 100 percent in my integrity.
ON BEING A BRAVE YES ENTREPRENEUR
Being a Brave Yes Entrepreneur is all about doing things your way — not the shoulds way. I tried for so many years to put my square peg style of running a business into the round holes of the business world — only to never feel like I was doing anything right.
The Brave Yes seems like it’s just starting — making that choice. And it is a The Big Leap for sure. I remember that day I walked out of my 9-5 to freedom and a very uncertain future.
That is absolutely one Brave Yes.
But to build and grow and expand — and survive — you have to do many Brave Yeses along the way.
Starting is just the beginning. Being a FT business owner is not for the faint at heart. There are no breaks. Until you have a solid team in place, you are hustling for all the departments of your business.
And when things fail, it’s all on you.
Until I realized that the only way to do business “right” is to make sure you are living and leading from your strengths, your self-worth and your integrity.
Everything else is clutter.
It’s not only possible but beautiful to see an entrepreneur misfit — like me — create something beautiful that someone in this world needs.
I want to see more creativity, more love, more deep service and more SOUL in business in 2022.
Let’s create a whole movement around Brave Yes Entrepreneurs.
THE UPS AND DOWNS AND ALL AROUNDS
There were times in the last 9 years I was ready to give up.
I was ready to quit.
Like many I know, I would do a quick job search, see nothing that resonated with my skillset and passions in life and root down to make my business work.
And with those big ups and downs came a lot of learning, growing, evolving and lessons learned. Here’s what I know to be true about making your business work no matter what …
9 LESSONS LEARNED FROM NEARLY 9 YEARS OF FULL TIME ENTREPRENEURSHIP
- Bolster your resilience now — business requires more courage than you think AND courage work requires resilience and self-care.
- Focus on What You Do Want: Don’t try to please everyone. it will never work.
- Be supremely patient — and fluid. NO matter what the ads and gurus are telling you there is no magic bullet to have 5-figure or 6-figure months. There is a lot of trial and error. And courage.
- Don’t start small. When my business began, we could focus on high traffic, low prices. The online market has changed and now it’s so much easier to focus on higher end offerings. Being accessible has always been my biggest goal but I’ve come to learn that I can’t work with beginners anymore. I have been doing this work for 10 years. I’m a dinosaur.
- Don’t go too big either — taking on more projects than necessary creates overwhelm for you and your clients/buyers. Doing one thing at a time may feel like you are setting yourself back but you will get farther, i promise.
- Diversify — there are many ways to bring in income. Find your Brave Yes Offer and then find your Brave Yes path to ease. Get creative. Get resourceful. Get gritty and scrappy.
- Focus on investing in clarity and trust practices ASAP — coaching is key to making progress. In my work as a coach we can work on making sure you know what you need to be working toward for your highest good and all the details along the way. A business pivot? a new offer? A clear marketing strategy? A networking methodology that works for you and your strengths?
- Keep it Super Simple — and sustainable. Focus on what you need right now not what you might need down the road or what you could offer down the road. This doesn’t mean ignore long term projects — it just means don’t get distracted and take on complicated projects before you are ready or before you can afford a team. I hear a lot of people wanting to start a membership community. You need a plan for that. A starting plan and an exit plan. Trust me.
- Your capacity is everything. Your energy is everything. Especially in this market where marketing burnout is real.
LET’S WORK ON YOUR BRAVE YES LIFE AND BUSINESS
Need a coach to help you cultivate clarity, capacity and courage to take your business to the next level? I would love to chat with you and help you refine your Brave Yes strategy and goals. Learn about my coaching here and apply for a FREE discovery call with me.