The Rollercoaster of Entrepreneurship
This month marks exactly one year since I quit my contracts as a freelance marketer and stepped fully into mindset coaching.
It’s also brought with it some of my lowest lows of entrepreneurship.
Ever since leaving my full-time corporate job in 2021, I’ve thought that one of the key factors to successful entrepreneurship is how much discomfort one can tolerate; there’s oftentimes lots of sacrifices made and stability lost in the process, so being able to withstand that discomfort can be really beneficial.
Last month, I put out the call out for two new projects for Moonrise Mindset:
1) corporate team and community workshops for Mental Health Awareness Month (May)
2) retailer outreach to get my affirmation stickers sold in stores.
This entailed organizing contacts, building spreadsheets and conducting some pretty vast outreach to folks within and beyond my existing network. Putting myself out there.
Moonrise Mindset is such a labor of love.
It’s not only a career and a way to make a living (or try to), it’s a sincere, vulnerable expression of my deepest core beliefs and values. Putting my offerings out there doesn’t feel separate from me. It feels like I’m putting myself out there, opening myself up to the possibility of being rejected.
When I encountered rejection in my previous career as a marketer, it stung. It was usually chalked up to lack of budget, timing not being right, or a campaign heading in a different direction.
Here, it feels more personal.
In this career, the idea of a pitch or offering falling short feels less like business. It’s provoked a long-held limiting belief of my own: that I’m not enough.
Whew.
I had a potential client ask me if I have a background in psychology. I shared that my background is in marketing, that I began my mindset coaching practice in 2024 and that I’m a Certified Life Coach.
This question, while likely asked out of curiosity and wanting to learn more, struck that insecurity of mine.
…
Am I unqualified to lead a team through grounding practices?
I’m not trying to assess or diagnose anyone on their team…
How can I blame her? If I were in her shoes, I’d be skeptical too.
…
I didn’t even feel defensive of my qualifications because I myself did not feel qualified.
And I believe in myself.
It’s just when faced with so much rejection, that belief teeters dangerously close to doubt.
And that doubt can spiral.
And before I know it, I’m wondering what I will do if this doesn’t work out.
Until today, I hadn’t pondered that. It’s literally never been a doubt in my mind.
And here I am, a year after leaving the “stability” of my contract marketing work, and hitting a new low in my confidence. And sitting with it.
And thinking about what I thought entrepreneurial discomfort looked like in 2021, and every year since…
And letting this moment be a part of it too. Because it is just a moment.
That’s brought me comfort. The belief and intuitive knowing that these feelings are temporary.