Yes, I’m an entrepreneur.
Yes, it’s something I’m passionate about.
Yes, it’s all I think about some times.
Yes, I’m proud to be a business woman.
But no, entrepreneurship doesn’t define me.
I’m so much more than that.
I’m a wife who loves her husband. I love watching him work, and that he’s so passionate about cooking. I love how I can help him and provide him with a place that we can both work toward something we are so passionate about. I love how he takes care of me and my little family. I love how he makes me laugh so hard I can’t breathe. I love him for who he was when I met him, the man he is today, and who he will become.
I’m a Christian woman who serves an awesome God. I’ve been through a lot during my time so far on this Earth. Lord knows what He has planned for me in the future. But through all the things that I’ve done, experienced, endured, failed, and succeeded in – it has been with God’s grace. No, I was not walking with Him the whole time. I didn’t always do what was right. But He didn’t give up on me. And no, life isn’t easier. In fact, it might even be harder sometimes but because of His grace I’ve been able to get as far as I’ve come. He’s opened doors that I would never dream of, and He’s closed doors that needed to be closed. All I want to do is to live my life in such a way that aligns with His plan for me.
I’m a daughter and friend. I’m a binge watching, cries-over-everything, overly sensitive, positive thinking, sweats-the-small-stuff, food loving, always smiling girl that will always be there if you need someone to talk to. That’s just me.
Yeah, I’m an entrepreneur too. Admittedly, it’s a big part of my life. I’m pretty sure that’s obvious. But it doesn’t define me. There’s so much more to me than that.
Ok, maybe I’m being a bit over dramatic. Technically you can’t lose something that wasn’t yours in the first place.
I didn’t lose an existing client, I lost a potential client. But oh man, this one hurt. It hurt my ego and it hurt financially. But alas, there’s a silver lining to this story if you just keep reading lol 😝
So what happened was one of my mom’s clients from 20 years ago contacted me because they are planning to sell their home. The same home my mom sold them 20 years ago. This couple had never met me (I was 13 when my mom sold them their house) until our meeting a couple weeks ago. My mom was really good at keeping in touch with her clients, she was a real people person. After years of my mom visiting them every year with cookies and calendars during the holidays, it stopped. The last time they saw her she brought them some cookies and told them about her breast cancer diagnosis. A few years after that my calendars started arriving at their door. Naturally, they called me.
I was so excited! So far real estate has been slow for me this year so I was really looking forward to get the ball rolling again. TBH, it was actually good timing because I had to focus on building out the new restaurant.
When they called me I immediately prepared my listing presentation and doing my research. I met with them, they asked questions about my mom, her story, we reminisced, told me how they met her, they asked about my story, and I asked about their beautiful home. Everything was going great. I told them about my background, my journey as an entrepreneur, and how I’m following in my mom’s footsteps.
Then the other day I got a call, and they seemed to be concerned about the fact that I didn’t do real estate full time. I explained to them that I had a great team of people that help me with not just my other businesses but my real estate business specifically. I have a great broker and mentor as well as a great team at our office. They informed me that they were thinking of interviewing other agents and immediately my heart dropped.
I told them that while I do hope that they choose to work with me I understand their concern. I could lie to them and tell them that I do real estate full time but I wanted to be open and honest with them. I wanted my experience, knowledge, and dedication to be the reason they would entrust me with selling their home. I wanted to be truthful not only to them, but to myself. No, I don’t do real estate full time but I give everything I do 100%. I make time for important things. I put in the hours. I put in the work.
Well, a few days after that I got a message from them saying that while they really liked me and thought I was knowledgeable they decided to go with a full time real estate agent. At first I was really, really discouraged. I felt like a failure. I got really stressed about money. Instantly, all these negative feelings started to take over. But after I allowed myself to feel my disappointment for a moment I started to look at the bright side of this. I was actually really proud of how I handled it.
The truth is I’m a serial entrepreneur which means I own a number of businesses. I used to be ashamed of this, like it was a bad thing. But then I realized what that meant. It meant I was ashamed of my life, my reality, and who I am. The last year has taught me to be proud of myself, my journey, and what I’ve been able to accomplish so far in my life. The people that I want to attract are the ones that have faith in me and believe that I have something of value to offer.
I’m starting to remember that I should stay true to the mission that God has placed in my heart. It isn’t to please people or change who I am to meet their expectations. It’s to serve Him by bringing value to others through grace. and to share my stories to lift people up and give them hope. I’m not upset at my situation or getting turned down by potential clients. Don’t get me wrong, I was. In a way I’m grateful. I’m proud of who I am. It has helped me to realize that I’ve come a long way.
I talk to a lot of fellow entrepreneurs and what I’ve observed is that no matter how far into your business you are – whether you just started, you’ve been a few years into it, or you’re a seasoned entrepreneur – we all go through the same things.
Maybe at different scales, but we all can relate.
I decided to start a series on here called “The Entrepreneur Diaries” where I can just be real. It’ll be similar to a “Lately” or “Update” type of post.
Anyway, in the last few months I’ve been feeling like a newbie entrepreneur. I’m currently swimming in unchartered territory with Ninong’s and I swear I thought I could plan and plan and plan and things would be fine. I thought I’d had enough experience running our business at our old location and that it would be the same thing here. Well damn, I was wrong.
I mentioned it in one of my podcasts that I posted a couple weeks ago. It’s been a learning experience, and it’s been in front of the public. The growing pains, the hard lessons, the wrenches in my perfect plan…it has taught me a lot in the last few months.
I do have to say, though, I’m actually really grateful for it. It has made me a better business owner in so many ways. I’ve learned to stand firm in my goals for our business, to take criticism with a grain of salt, to take constructive critique to heart, and to always trust my instincts.
At the end of every work day I sit in my office and while I’m finishing up my lasts tasks before I go home I remember what it took to get us here. Where we started compared to where we are today are like night and day. People ask me why I think we’ve grown so much and I think it’s honestly because we’re not afraid to pivot. Yes, we have the same main goals but we’re not afraid to try things and see if they work. If they don’t, on to the next. But if they do – GREAT!
Pivoting is part of every business’s journey. I don’t think I’ve encountered any entrepreneur or business that can say that it turned out exactly as planned to the T. But that’s the exciting part of being an business owner right? 🙂
