CREATING A NEW BUSINESS IS SCARY!
Starting a new business is both exciting and scary. If you’re doing it on your own, there’s so much to do, so many different hats to wear, and not enough hours in the day or week to get everything done on time.
And if you have family to get home to, it can be even more stressful.
In March of 2023, I was working as a Project Manager at a local remodeling firm. It was a family type company and yet, I never truly felt comfortable there. I always felt like I wasn’t in any circle there. Not everyone was alike, and some folks I could share a good cry during lunch, or a hearty hug. But by the end I was getting tired of seeing my bank account negative every week right before pay day, or soon after pay day.
It was stressful, to say the least.
I had also signed up for a 12 month intensive online business development course that was nearly ⅓ my salary at the time and I had no idea how I was going to be making those monthly payments. After about a week of introspection, and realization, I had come to the conclusion that I was unhappy with my current circumstances and I was the creator of that circumstance. If I did not want to be in that circumstance of being stressed about money, not having any, wondering which bill I wouldn’t pay this month, which are the cheapest groceries I could get, I would have to choose to make my own difference, my own new path, my own new business.
On the morning of Monday, March 20, 2023, I went into my boss's office and gave him my notice.
It was incredibly serendipitous that not only a month prior I was given the opportunity with a side project that effectively became my first project in this new venture. It was also incredibly serendipitous that it was an expansion of one of if not my favorite projects to date, the Bike Bar of Ithaca.
I wasn’t new to running a business. In fact, I’ve had several other carpentry businesses in the past, prior to either closing up shop for better opportunities, or simply because I merged with another firm. This time, it felt different. This time, it wasn’t because I was doing it because I simply needed money, or work, or because it’s just what I know. No, this time it felt like I’m on a mission, and I want to create some kind of paradigm shift in myself to create an impact that is lasting, to create a legacy. This time I was focused on creating a brand, a marketing strategy, an estimating structure that was easily scalable and replicable. This time, I want to take all the lessons I’ve learned, the skills that I’ve acquired, the structures and organizations for a company, and make them happen. I was completely energized! It was like a natural high (with a lot of energy drinks as well).
And as soon as I got home, I was exhausted, and yet, so happy to be present for my daughters. I wasn’t really stressed in the same way anymore, and I wouldn’t be grumpy or short tempered. I wasn’t dealing with someone else’s company stress. It was my company and I get to choose it or not.
The reality is, there’s a lot that occurs when you start a new company, and a lot of hours that you have to put in to grind through to want to make it work. You don’t have to be the smartest person in the room to start and run a sustainable & successful company, you just have to know who to talk to to learn what the tasks you have to do, and then do those tasks. Am I saying you don’t need to know everything that goes on in a business, absolutely not, but you don’t have to do everything once the business is set up and you have a team. On the other hand, if you are over dedicated and have a hard time delegating, and do it all yourself, why would you have a team, and who is being trusted there? If you create a team that you trust, and can delineate roles and responsibilities knowing that those deliverables are going to be completed with integrity, then you’re set and you can focus on your deliverables.