08/17/2022
In early 2020, I decided to quit my full-time, salaried job of over a decade to chase my dream of being an entrepreneur. I did everything “right” by my book in terms of planning and preparing to make this big transition. I did not plan for all 2020 would bring (who really could have?)⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Just two weeks into following my entrepreneurial dreams to take my business full time, COVID-19 hit. The world came to a crashing halt. The world went on hold. Businesses were closed. Nobody, including the CDC, aka the “experts”, knew what to do. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
People somehow thought hoarding all the toilet paper was the answer, the cure, or maybe the new currency if our monetary system collapsed…(if only, right?)⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Needless to say, it was a scary time for everyone. In my little corner of the world, I was a 45-year-old divorcee, father of two kids, now turned pseudo educator for kids who were each now online learning from home with their studies… all while trying to start a business so we could continue to afford to live. Our day-to-day lives were shrouded in uncertainty. The future, our future, was unknown and scary.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
I desperately NEEDED this to work. I could either shy away from the work or lean into the uncertainty and discomfort and figure it out. I choose option two. I knew I honestly had no other choice. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
The leaders on my team encouraged me to plug in and dive deep into the business. They helped me find structure in a time where the world seemed to be turned upside down.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
The one major factor that impacted my business was plugging in. I did and got really, really involved in my business. I made a commitment to plug into our teams daily huddles. These thirty minutes would set the tone for my days. Our morning conversations centered around the uncertainty of the market and what we would need to do to position ourselves as experts to support and uplift our clients. We discussed our wins, our losses, our fears, and our solutions. We discussed how to be a valuable resource for the other people we knew, who like us, were scared about the unknowns. (CAPTION CONT IN COMMENTS…)
