Two days ago, someone asked me how I was doing with starting my own business and I said “At least I get to float at the end of the tunnel, so that’s nice”. There are stretches of time where I need to remind myself WHY I am doing this because it is easy to lose focus.
The reason WHY could likely be explained in many different ways:
- Specifically, and somewhat selfishly: I want to float! My good, gosh – I NEED to float!
- The overall general, paint-it-with-a-broad-stroke approach: I want to do good in the world.
- The truth: I want to make people happy and enable those around me, myself included, to achieve their highest level of consciousness possible.
It is easy to get distracted from, what I feel is, my soul’s purpose (see Point 3 above). I put on my business hat and need to recognize that a service I wish I could provide for free needs to create a salary so that I may pay bills and exist in the current reality. I mean, c’mon, can’t I barter floats for rent? Not… yet.
So I hustle. I work hard at connecting with people, spending a large chunk of my time reaching out and educating about the benefits of floating; I wake up in the middle of the night with an idea I need to write down, and wake up early to cross it off my list; I get out of my (closet) introvert shell and do things that make me feel uncomfortable – like selling myself and my business. Is it difficult? Heck yes. It is worth it? Absolutely.
Heres the thing: When writing a business plan, in particular the financial aspects, I made sure to apply different contingency plans. There were unknowns: the construction, fluctuating product costs, the dreaded USD-CAD exchange rate, potential delays and even “Oh gosh, is Halifax even ready for this?” ponderings.
What I didn’t create a contingency plan for was LIFE. On social media platforms, like most, I tend to share the positive aspects of my life with others. The wins. Maybe it is a front, but on the larger scale, I’d rather attract positive people in my life than the Debbie Downers, so I share the good shit. But life hit hard in the last few weeks: there were multiple deaths in our family, falling-outs with friends, close pals suddenly moving away and some big life changes in general.