Why did we choose to be entrepreneurs? I think it’s more than why you think…

I ask every attorney I work “why did you choose to start your own practice?”

And the answers are inspiring.

To have flexibility to raise my children on the hours I want. To attend daytime school events, to be available when they get home from school.

To build something for myself and my family, not for someone else.

To help people.

To have agency over my life.

So my work feels like it matters.

These answers give us the courage to make what’s likely the scariest decision we will ever make – to start our own business. No paycheck every two weeks, no health insurance… hunt or starve. And to be pushed continually out of our comfort zone.

And I think there’s a different answer that keeps us in the game or brings us back to it if we step away –when things get hard, when we are uncertain. When we are really pushed and feel like an imposter, when cash flow is low and we aren’t sure what to do.

It’s that deep down inside we each have

a voice,

a message,

a purpose that we know the world needs to hear.

And even though we sometimes try not to listen to it, or question ‘who am I’ to have a voice in the world, how would my voice matter…it’s the essence of ourselves that that won’t allow us, as much as we want to sometimes, to walk away from our businesses.

It’s usually not a big awaking, where you start speaking your voice. It’s a small seed
that keeps growing and growing.

I toyed with selling my last business for 5 of the 10 years I owned it. Sometimes due to overwhelm and growing burn out. But for the most part it would have been easy to own that business forever. I knew how to do the work with my eyes closed, I loved our team, it provided well for my son and me, it gave me flexibility to work from anywhere. I could have done that the rest of my life and been happy. But something inside kept calling to me. Not as a clear picture of what’s next…but of a voice that needed to be heard. And even if it resonated with no one, I had to speak it anyways. For me.

It’s the opportunity to show up as our true, unfiltered self and let that resonate with the people it is meant to resonate with. To matter.

It’s what drives you crazy because when you want to quit because you can’t seem to smooth out consistency of new business, and can’t seem to hire the right people and get them trained and plugged in, and can’t stop the voices of doubt in your head…that voice deep inside keeps insisting it be heard – sometimes when you aren’t even sure yet what to say.

To my fellow courageous friends, keep letting that voice out, little by little or shouting
loudly. It matters. Your voice matters. You matter.

And I’m honored to be in the game with you.