It’s February 1. This month, we celebrate Valentine’s Day… my birthday… and what I’ve dubbed the “OFFICIAL” Love Your Business Month! All month, we’ll be bombarded by marketing messages about romance and love and commitment, so I figured I’d kick us off with a post about LOVE and COMMITMENT… and how it applies to my business. And how it applies to yours.
See above? From left, you see the pictures of my “babies”. My business was BORN because of them… because of my desire to spend every waking moment with them… because of my refusal to hand them off for several hours a day.
Incidentally, I did ATTEMPT to go back from maternity leave. I started with four hours a week. Then, I daringly, begrudgingly upped it to EIGHT. 8 hours per week. 2 four-hour blocks of time AWAY from her. Big mistake. I quickly gave notice. I quoted an “unforeseen issue with childcare.” The issue? My kids weren’t going.
My business wasn’t born out of my passion for marketing or business or anything like that. My entrepreneurial journey is firmly rooted in my love for my kids… and my commitment to them — above any and everything else.
Love.
Commitment.
The conversation with my husband was less “loving” when I announced my “extended” maternity leave. That’s he and I on the far right. He was raised by a single Mom. He didn’t know women actually quit their jobs. In fact, in total shock — when I asked him how he MISSED all of the conversations we’d had about me quitting my job — he said, “I thought ALL women said that at first.”
Um, no.. Mister. I quit my job. This is my last paycheck.
Soon, my business began to take off…. and I wanted to see how far I could push it. My love for my husband…. and his commitment to me and my “crazy” decision to “work from home” inspired me to go bigger. Business affords me a lifestyle with HIM… my best friend. I’m committed to his early retirement… and many many more trips, leisurely mornings and shared experiences with him.
Love.
Commitment.
And, yes…. I did fall in love with this gig… for the gig itself. For the challenge. For the opportunity. For the imminent importance of what we do here. The health of our economy lays squarely on our backs. We create jobs. (HINT: that underline is a link.. read it! lol…)
We create income.
I am committed to the success of small business. Yours. Mine. My clients. Because it matters. It matters within our homes and it matters within our borders.
I love what I do because I’m an example of the “anyone” who might desire business success… You don’t have to have or be anything other than what you already have or are in order to start…. in order to succeed.
I’ve done this thing wrong… kept it hard, complicated, confusing, and hard to predict. I barely made the jump between feast and famine… the famines were longer than anticipated… and the feasts were less impressive than I’d hoped.
And I’ve done this thing right… focusing on direct response, simple strategies and consistent results… finding that the missing link was ME, my own daily, strategic actions… realizing that MOST of what I’d read, learned or been told about business success was wrong. I started working my own way, carving my own path, and harvesting my own profits.
And I LOVE sharing these strategies with you. I get teary-eyed over your success… and what it means for you. I get giddy when you win. I feel proud when I see you on tv. I’m relentlessly committed to seeing you bridge that gap between potential and profit. And I’m committed to exposing MORE of you to this “third option” of self-employment.
Love.
Commitment.
What do you LOVE about your business? What are you COMMITTED to this year?
Share it here, people. Be counted and be accountable. I’m rooting for you!
First I LOVE getting to work with amazing women – like you – who are ready to pull up their bootstraps and get to WORK. I LOVE spending all day every day with ambitious, driven, wont-take-no-for-an-answer, we-control-our-own-economy, this-isnt-your-mothers-industry-anymore business women from all over the World. They constantly inspire me, motivate me, and support me in Leading them to greatness, and I LOVE it.
I LOVE that I get to drop off and pick up my girls from school each day, do homework with them, cook dinner with them, do crafts, attend school functions, get to know their friends, their friends parents, and stay in touch with what is going on in their lives.
I LOVE that I get to work side by side with my best friend – and someday husband (if I ever give in lol) who is my biggest cheerleader and fan. I LOVE that each day we wake up together, have breakfast together, stop working to enjoy lunch on our back porch together, and talk about our days. We get to help each other – pulling from both of our strengths and supporting one another.
I LOVE that I can control my income, control my time, control my business, and control my life. Thank you for the reminder to LOVE your business!! Sometimes we need the reminder 🙂
I love my career and our whole industry, Tourism. I’ve been leading tours around the world as a professional Tour Director for years and I teach others to do the same. My students can e found working locally, domestically and internationally on land and sea. They range from college students to seniors to mothers looking for flexible, fun, local, part time work. We get to do what people pay thousands to do. There’s nothing better than seeing my students getting into careers they love!
Ask a Tour Director about their career. They will all tell you they could never work a ‘real’ job again.
Love my career.
Some of the many things I love about my business:
1. I am continuing a family legacy- increasing what my mother created with her blood, sweat, and tears. Honoring the past while looking forward to the future.
2. I am creating a circle of business people around me to support and promote my brand- and who have open ears when I need advice and the truth.
3. Hello I get to receive massages, pedicures, facials, waxing (well that isn’t as much fun but necessary) and it is part of my job- best perk ever!
4. I get to have a flexible schedule so that I can complete my degree (18 more weeks!) be a room mom, and a wife- I get to have family time on my terms not only after a 9-5 grind.
5. The thrill of being in my spa when no one else is there- looking at each room and seeing the potential.
6. Having the big girl office
Hi Michelle! Like all of your posts, I LOVE (pun intended) this one. 🙂
I started my business with the intention of creating a platform to be an INSPIRATION to women, which is truly what I LOVE. What I LOVE about my business is that I get to champion for other women entrepreneurs, help them find their voice and create bold verbal and visual expressions. I LOVE gleaning inspiration from my brilliantly ambitious clients. I LOVE having the flexibility and freedom that I need to create the income that I deserve. I LOVE the challenges, the sweat, the sleepless nights because they all give me the strength to REJOICE in my successes.
You should LOVE my business because it changes lives and paying it forward is positively infectious. I am DEDICATED to women’s health and wholeness in a fabulously fearless fashion.