I’ll be honest, the idea of not waking up at 4am to be on immediate energizer bunny mode was appealing, especially when juggling 4 kids at home and having a more than Full time job.
I was sick and tired of being tired, my energy was depleted, I was always stressed with trying to figure out who could pick up my sick kid from school and be home with them, I was frustrated with vacation time limitations, glass ceilings, and egotistical employers who only care about results and not quality of human life.
Being an entrepreneur was in my blood, in my early 20’s I traveled the US running a wholesale business that focused on high end products. I had a blast traveling, staying in hotels, and reaping the benefits of having nice new things all of the time. Then, in my late 20’s I started a business called, Helping Humanity. This was a small service based business that was a way for me to give back to my community.
Entrepreneurship was a way of life, but as my family grew I desired more stability and benefits so I kept juggling between working the Corporate world and creating an amazing business. Finally, after helping a start-up business go from barely known to generating multi-millions in two short years, I said, “why not me?”
So back to it for good this time, I began my humble business that quickly grew to multi-six figures, which allowed me limitless opportunities, all the vacation that I wanted, and the flexibility to be with my kids when they needed me or I needed them.
But it really wasn’t that easy. Running a business is one thing, but add in a family, and then the fact that you’re the one running the family… this is a whole other thing. Now, you know, just as well as I do that running a business is like saying yes to a never ending roller coaster. Of course there are times where you’re smooth sailing, but the dirty honest truth is, business ownership has its ups and downs and twists all of the time. Add in the fact that we’re in an era of evolving technology and have shorter attention spans than goldfish, holy guacamole, this never ends.
Not to mention we often need to sacrifice our income, at least to start off with. Listen, I’ve worked with nearly 200 businesses and what I’ve seen time and time again is that those that have money can make money more easily. They simply have what it takes to financially invest in the right things that give them great returns. The saying, “It takes money to make money” is sadly true.
Then, we have the average entrepreneur who starts broke or near broke and they struggle trying to get to their first $50k year. This isn’t the case for everyone, I left my 6 figure career, had little savings and no income. I sacrificed for a bit, but it came to a point where I said, “Athena, you need to get paid” and from that point forward I decided to give myself a salary. It started ridiculously low then eventually grew to something that was more rewarding. And here I am, someone who had to open a credit card to pay business expenses, is now bringing in multi six figures annually.
The other dirty truth is, most people go into business with no clue as to what it takes to actually get the business to thrive. Take me for example, I built businesses for a living, but I didn’t know what to expect until I had my own six figure business, going through almost every imaginable business hiccup possible.
After reading this, you may be wondering, “Athena, is it worth it?” The answer is yes! It can without a doubt be one of the hardest things you can do, it can take just as much if not more hours than your old corporate gig, you may not always be compensated for the work you’re doing, and you can go through some experiences that make you second guess why you decided to get into business in the first place. But here is the upside, once you’re established you can take all the time off you want, you can be with family or friends if that’s on your heart, you get to make a difference in this world by helping your people achieve their goals, no more glass ceilings to limit your income potential, and you can create a wonderful team in your business to support you through your roller coaster ride.
The best investment I’ve made in my business is in building a support team. Having someone that is working for me, who is dedicated to my mission and growth, is truly invested in my success, and who will contribute to my business needs. This is what takes all of those uncomfortable dirty business ownership situations and makes them bearable. My team helps me with lead generation, video marketing, email marketing, lead nurturing. They make what I do possible, which means I have more time to do the things that I love that serve my business the most. And my first team member started when I had zero revenue, but I took one step at a time and continued to develop it as my company grew.
Between the ups and downs, the clean and down right dirty, team has been the backbone to this entrepreneurial journey and is the difference between a startup and a scaling business.
If you’re interested in what a support team could look like for you, let’s connect:
Email: hiring@letsscale.io
Join my Facebook Community, SCALE Collective, where you can get free business support and advice by clicking HERE!
