Be Your Own Boss Babe!

One of the biggest struggles I have dealt with in my life is starting a business.

Not knowing how to build a website or logo, write a blog, or market myself online. It all felt so overwhelming that it made me stay stagnant… such a yucky word, but really that’s what was happening.

I had taken the courses to do the work I wanted to offer through my business. I had the knowledge and great ideas, but the idea of jumping in and getting started made me feel overwhelmed, confused, and lost. Never mind my constant need for perfectionism to control everything which delayed every step of moving forward. If this is you I hope you continue reading so you can learn through my experiences….

When I was married I had taken a very intensive health coaching course but by the end of the program I still didn’t feel confident enough to start my own health coaching business. I was teaching fitness classes at a local health and fitness studio but I felt guilty about investing more money and time into myself and my own business. I was believing the lies bouncing around in my head: “You’re a stay at home mom. What gives you the right to spend money that you haven’t earned yourself on own passions and wants?" What if you fail and all that money goes down the toilet?” (I’ll address the roots of these beliefs and how I kicked them out of my brain in another blog post.)

After I had gone through my divorce, my part time employer announced that they would be franchising their company and were looking to sell a location at the nearest town to mine. I jumped at the opportunity as this called to my entrepreneurial spirit and solved the overwhelm of starting a business. “A business in a box”, this was exactly what I needed… I thought at the time.

My girls and I in our Cochrane home. The first place that felt like “Home'“ to me in a very long time!

I moved to a near by town, that I still love to this day and still consider HOME, and started full speed ahead with my new business. The website, business cards, booking system, marketing, logo and everything else you can think of was all inside this “business in a box”. I had zero start up fears and doubts which allowed me to dive right in to the grind of building clientele.

Let me give you a little warning… if you are a creative person, someone who has grand ideas of her own, THE FRANCHISE ROUTE IS NOT FOR YOU! Don’t let fear of having to figure out the beginning pieces stop you from putting your ideas out into the world! Purchasing something that is someone else’s ideas and has a set of rules you have to follow is not going to feel good or work out in the end.

…BUT I do want to share with you that owning a franchise allowed me to gain a valuable asset: confidence in myself. After my divorce I needed to build confidence and belief in myself. Learning the basics of starting a business by actually doing it helped me so much and for that I am grateful.

I also learned some things about myself:

I’m excellent at building relationships with others and bringing like-minded souls together into a community.

I’m committed to the work I do and want the best for everyone around me.

I’m great at writing professional and personal stories that inspire others.

I’m CREATIVE and love the growth that comes from following my heart and creative passions!

The most surprising and HUGE thing I learned is that building an online presence came very naturally to me. I always thought I was not techy at all and that everything to do with online marketing and building websites and graphics would be a struggle for me. Wrong! I soon had other franchisees reaching out and wondering how I had built our online presence so quickly. We had built a strong following on Instagram and had made a reputable name for ourselves in the community! That to me was FUN and EASY PEASY!

After some twists and turns I parted ways with the franchise and decided to restart my life where I had originally raised my little family. I was feeling so lost and in my own head, not having anywhere for my creative brain to dump it’s ideas. I decided it was time to TAKE THE LEAP and start a community of my own. I hired a business coach, I started learning how to do my own website design, I started allowing my thoughts to come to life. I’m SO EXCITED about where my own ideas will take me as I continue on my entrepreneurial journey building up other women with the confidence and steps I wish I’d had years ago.

Here we are at my first community launch event. We had a great night where I hosted a workshop for moms to find their happy and did some speed-friending! It’s always to fun to meet new ladies who have similar stories and like-minded goals!

If you are one of these people searching for someone to guide you and inspire you to get your ideas out, I hope you’ll reach out to me or someone in your area who will help you. Don’t get side tracked by taking the easy route (working exclusively for someone else). Have confidence in your ideas. There are people out there who need to hear them. And don’t let perfectionism stop you in your tracks.

I’m so excited to finally be putting my thoughts into action. Some may work, some may inspire, some may fail… but at least I’m free to follow my heart to the next step in MY OWN JOURNEY and enjoy inspiring other women to do the same along the way. I hope you decide to do the same!!!!

Let me know if you need help - click here to send me a message!

Laura Tucker