It has been a terrifying and exciting roller coaster, but since the universe pushed me into having no choice but to do what I had slowly started to do over the last year (and had been thinking about for years), I took the leap to start my own business! It's called JMJ Communication Group, a training, coaching and consulting business.
I knew I wasn't meant to teach college full-time forever, so after 6 years of struggling to find a full-time college teaching position, doing the adjunct thing for most of that time and finally getting a full-time lecturer position at a state university near me only to be one of the first to be let go a year and a half later when the department had to cut it's FTT staff in half, I got the message. The skills and knowledge I had gained teaching all that time teaching communication classes perfectly prepared me to finally be ready to start my communication training, coaching and consulting business I had been thinking about for years. The only reason I hadn't had the courage and confidence to take the leap before is because I thought it would be very hard to secure regular business, aka, income and liked the idea of just showing up for a job and know I would have a regular paycheck. The idea of starting a business also seemed like a monumental task, like climbing Mt. Everest. And that's exactly what it feels like now, but I've been able to focus on specific things I have gained expertise in over the years and want to offer in my business and have a strong passion for teaching those topics, so my motto has become take it a day at a time. As long as I am taking steps forward every day, even if some days it's just a baby step, I feel I'm making progress.
I've been taking more than just baby steps for the last few months, when I made up my mind that I was going to go for this for real. And, already, I feel like I'm at base camp 1. I love that Everest documentary, and frequently compare my journey in starting my business to climbing a mega mountain. And the more progress I make, the more excited and confident I feel.
And speaking of baby steps, I have a 1-yr old (our 1st child), so I talk about that in my vlog in case anyone with young kids thinks they can't follow their dream and start their own business with little ones. In fact, that's one of the main reasons I decided to go for it now because it has been 8 years since I worked a 9-5, M-F job and the thought of having to go back to doing that now and not be able to spend some days during the week with my toddler is not something I can imagine!
I started a vlog on my youtube channel a couple weeks ago to document my journey and share tips in hopes to help others who have always wanted to start their own business but have not had the courage and/or confidence to do it. You can check follow along with me weekly there... https://youtu.be/_GMg5YMFTCM?t=20s It's very amateur, raw and honest, and was very scary to do these first 2 videos, so bare with me. ;)
Also, speaking of baby steps, I just saw a great video by Tony Robbins on the idea of the importance of making progress in your goals. It's called The Art of Fulfillment. Check it out.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ncm3vxbOmyc
