Taking the Leap to Follow Your Passion

You did it. You took the leap to follow your passion and combine your life purpose with making a living. Congratulations. Yet if you are reading this you are probably feeling less than inspired. You may feel like giving up and if so it is time to regroup and reassess where to put your time and energy. 

A word of warning: This is not a letter to tell you to keep going no matter what. It is a letter to help you reflect on what might be the right move for you, (and sometimes that does mean knowing when to quit).

First of all know that you are not alone. I think all entrepreneurs consider giving up at some point. I know I have, more than once. We also do need to know when to shut things down, to learn from what worked as well as from what is not working and what is not sustainable. We need to learn to know how to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and get back into the world in a way that does work for us. Sometimes we just need a moment to process the challenges of being an entrepreneur. It is a mind shift and it comes with its own unique blend of gifts and challenges that are different from a steady 9 to 5 gig. It is not always better or worse but it is important to be clear on what is most important for you and how this fits with regular vs. self-employment. There tend to be more cycles with self-employment and knowing you are not alone is sometimes all that we need. Other times the ongoing question of whether to throw in the towel can point to a deeper problem that needs our attention. 

Second: go back to basics. All businesses need at least a basic business plan. If you didn’t do this in the beginning it is time to get a clear picture of your the bottom line. This needs to include a financial breakdown of what your minimum income needs to be in order to support your lifestyle. You also need a plan B and to know when to re-evaluate or even when to shut it down. You need to know when it is not working and to know what is not sustainable. You need to know your own timeline and risk tolerance level. 

I was guilty of not knowing what I was doing at all in my first practice. I was doing the work only for the love (and I still strongly believe in doing work that I love). Yet, my lesson was that I did not look at or take care of the financial end to ensure sustainability. I gave away far too much of my time for free. I worked for reduced rates if people said finances were a barrier (Often I realized later I was discounting my services to people who far out-earned me and or were investing equal or greater amounts in other products, services, travel or commercial goods). I was doing work I loved but at the cost of my own personal finances and savings, my relationships, and my time and energy which ultimately began to also cost me the love of the work itself. The business model was seriously flawed and was not sustainable. I was becoming burnt out and resentful because I was giving too much away and not taking care of myself. Something needed to change. 

Third: Create a sustainable plan and takes steps to fix what is not working (on both the external and the internal levels) : This can mean addressing both the day to day business systems and processes that are not working as well as doing our own deeper work to get to the heart of our own contribution to the problem. Difficulty setting boundaries, our comfort with our own value and charging for our time and services, blocks to getting out there to promote our business can all trip us up in taking the steps we need to take to feeling comfortable in our preferred business model. 

Even after shutting down my first service based practice I knew that I wanted to create another practice. But I had also learned that I would have to do it in a different way. It took time and work for me to financially recover and to seek additional training to be able to offer spiritual and intuitive based services in an evidenced based way. I also needed to take the time to address the internal factors that led to the failure of my first business before I was ready to take the leap again. I also sought training, support and supervision in learning about business in a way that felt good to me. I found heart-centered business models and I had to pull my head out of the sand to actually be aware of the numbers and bottom line. I had and continue to have a plan B in place. 

I had to work on my own boundaries and the value of my own service and time. I had to get better at saying ‘no’ with love and letting go of guilt for not being able to meet all requests for my time. I worked on healing limiting beliefs such as I can’t do what I love for money, or my own discomfort about charging others for ‘helping’ or ‘healing’ services. I had to learn to better honour my time and to set healthy and sustainable boundaries and limits . I can give generously in ways that are in alignment for me and to also do the work I love and be of service in a sustainable way.

Life purpose can be a tricky concept. It has different meaning for different people. Personally I don’t believe our life purpose is limited to how we make an income. I also think we get to have a say in creating a life that is meaningful to us. This can change and evolve over time. It is important to be clear on your top values and priorities and to have a grounded plan for executing your vision. If how this works out in the end changes from your initial vision know that it is all part of the process. It is not a matter of failure but is a matter of knowing what you need and what is best for you. 

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