Dear Aspiring Entrepreneur
No one talks about the rebuild, the burnout, or the grit it takes to back yourself.
I speak to so many wantrepreneurs on a regular basis, who are all waiting for that perfect moment.
The perfect home situation, capacity, savings in the bank… which I cannot fault, there are certainly better times in life to start a business than when I did…
My business was born in a season that forced me to rebuild almost everything. A home, finances and faith. That shaped me more than comfort ever could.
I was in my 20’s busy going through a divorce at the time which placed significant financial pressure on me as after a long battle - I eventually said “ screw that, have everything, I back myself enough to rebuild” Which in time I’ve come across more and more people who for the sake of sanity and moving forward have taken the same action in a divorce settlement. It may sound bizarre to some, but the truth is the opportunity cost just becomes too big. Other than stepping into the consulting space, I had a few brick-and-mortar businesses as well, which came into very sticky legal situations with suppliers around rent, services and stock payments. (due to the financial situation I was in) - It felt like every day was another legal letter.
I moved into an apartment with no furniture and started to rebuild on a credit card (I must add - it was a choice, I could’ve easily gone back to my corporate job with a fixed salary) However, I figured - it can’t get lower than this - I might as well give it all I have. Let my full-time FunEmployment era begin.
Thankfully I had my health (until I didn’t) and continued to train for my second 70.3 half ironman. The laps in the pool were my mountain top, the sound of my Asics hitting the tar, a beat I grew to love and the long weekend rides my vitamin D fix. I met incredible like minded driven people and triathlon soon became life to me and I decided to enter my first 140.6 Ironman event. Life was looking up despite the challenges of rebuilding.
However, training hard, throwing ADHD into the mix, easily working 15 hours - 20 hours a day and whole heartedly believing I can continue on 90min to 3hours of sleep for the foreseeable future lead to severe burnout. (Yes, I know - older me also rolls her eyes at this.) I threw the text book at it and sought advice from multiple medical professionals and homeopaths - all giving the same answer: 6 months recovery! I had gone from working 15 hours a day to sleeping 15 hours a day.. At this point I started p*ssing clients off as my deliverables dropped and I found myself in one or two legal matters here too. I remember The Mothership visiting me, with me sitting in the bath crying on a Sunday evening, having no idea where I was going to get the energy from for the new week.. Her response: “Michélle, be grateful you have clients to serve.” Alrighty then, time to reframe this mess I guess.
Rest was forced. I took accountability where I needed to with the client matters and irrespective of exhaustion, I needed sanity. Therefore, I kept “training” aka floating in the pool with my cap and goggles while sipping a coffee for my caffeine fix and continued onto a very slow 140.6 Ironman. I slowly started to rebuild structures after that.
My start was so far from perfect, but it was a start nonetheless - The grit and tenacity that came from those early years is something I wouldn’t have learnt via a book or a podcast. I see so many entrepreneurs not backing themselves up when they take the leap and they end up giving up way too soon.. To an extent I blame the hype on social media of too many “overnight” success stories or the romanisation of entrepreneurship
For me: I couldn’t be more grateful that I stuck it out through the early years and I finally understand the saying ‘10 years to an overnight success.’
So before embarking on your journey of FunEmployment - make sure you’re 100% honest with yourself as to how much you’re willing to put in to make it work and know how far you’re willing to go before you even start and then, well, be brave and give it everything you’ve got. Back yourself like no one else will!
Wishing you nothing but success!
PS. Below pic was taken in George, South Africa in the first few months of the business while on an on-site client visit - from the outside it looked fabulous. So just a gentle reminder to us all - you never know what battles others are fighting, be kind, always xx
