I Recognize this HUSTLE: Growing a Business is like Growing a Baby

HUSTLE

Dear readers, clients, friends,  

Are you ready to launch a new business? Have a baby? Start a new career path?

To all those go-getters who are on the verge— here are some observations from one of your own…

Having a baby, after launching 2 businesses, feels oddly familiar. In fact, I recently discovered that birthing a baby and birthing a business share these 10 uncanny common experiences. Use these 10 Indicators to see if YOU have the personal stamina to take the plunge:

 

  1. You will be in a non stop hustle for the first 6 months. This may isolate you from your friends. This will l get you a lot of nods from random strangers and perhaps a pat on the back. (You’re not in this for the approval of others or you will burn out fast.)
  2. There is less “ME TIME” and you rely on your car for much of it-–  You eat in the car a lot, get the news on the car radio, use your commute time to catch up on business calls, and put your makeup on in the rearview mirror… a LOT (if you live in a subway city… you will be catching up on the ride in!)
  3. YOU have to force your self to exercise. There is a lot less tome to exercise. It doesn’t have to be perfect. It doesn’t have to be long— just DO IT for stress relief and sanity.
  4. Not everyone “gets” your drive. But, the ones that do— they are gems. 
  5. You easily pass out by 9pm …or anytime you try to sit still and watch TV for more than 15 mins
  6. You have started to drink coffee again. 
  7. Strategically planning your time is a necessary in order to get ANYTHING done. Every day is a new strategy. Your life is now measured in 2 hour segments. Do the most important things FIRST. 
  8. Creative inspiration comes in the still and quiet times. You MUST schedule them in or they will not exist. 
  9. You’ve decided it is ok to choose quality over quantity to compensate for all the behind-the-scenes planning. Less work. Fewer appointments. Less friends. Fewer commitments. 
  10. Regulation is the name of the game for survival. It sounds cliche, but you cannot give ALL your energy away at work and still have any to bring home for the ones you love.

I admire those thinkers that become doers, the entrepreneurs, the “momprenuers,” and the strategists, who find a way, in the midst of life’s many changing factors, to take ownership and be the captain of your own ship.

A reacitve life may be interesting, but a proactive life is so much more exciting!

Love to you all, 

Andrea