Welcome to the rollercoaster that is running your own business.
The best advice I received last month was ‘Hold Your Nerve’ and that I did.
I never expected it to be as hard as this, I have had my own business before and it was never this tough.
10 months in and I have put everything I thought possible into making it a success. It’s been a long waiting game, a game that involves educating organisations on best practice and then hoping this can be communicated properly back to the powers that be. Then you wait, hoping you get their buy in and a green light. So much riding on it, more than they will ever know or need to know.
When dealing with white collar businesses in the early stages of new business development it can take many layers of decision makers to get anything approved and it takes time… time that keeps your cash flow not flowing and your business not moving forward.
It’s a learning curve, a process. One where you have to re-evaluate, re-assess and develop new strategies to ensure you are covering all bases. You need to be willing to change and be open to new and different opportunities. You have to grow, adapt and learn what works and what doesn’t.
You ride the rollercoaster through its ups and downs. Sometimes you just want to scream and jump off and sometimes you just feel sick, sick with worry and stress. Then you’re faced with a harsh inner critic who takes charge of you, self — doubt creeps in and tries to sabotage your positive and optimistic outlook. But you can’t let it win. You have to stay strong, believe in what you’re doing and what lies ahead.
The key to this is mindset, once you shift this and your energy, we re-gain control and great things start to happen.
And then, you feel it, you see it and you know it’s going to work. There is light at the end of the tunnel and the blood sweat and tears you’ve invested finally come to fruition.
Last month I wanted to throw the towel in, I had lost faith, faith in myself and faith in my future. It was a long dark tunnel that stunk of fear and disbelief, one I now know was part of the inevitable journey you have to go through with a new business.
It doesn’t come easy, so when you finally see and feel the light you fully appreciate it and feel worthy of your success. You’ve fought for it, it’s consumed you, haunted you and pushed you to the edge, to the brink of giving up.
But when we let go, let go of fear, something incredible happens.
Originally published at medium.com