Being an entrepreneur is no joke.
Since I made the choice in 2016 to become a Licensed Massage Therapist (LMT) I have learned so much more than the curriculum of massage therapy. I went to Mind Body Institute for my Diploma of Massage Therapy in 2017 and I learned not only Kinesiology, Biology, Clinical Concepts, Chemistry and body mechanics. From each of my instructors’ demeanor — as different as they are to each other — I learned different ways to approach and resolve problems in my life, just like I would from my family. After I graduated and earned my diploma in 2018 I started working so hard that I would occasionally put a shoulder out. After my first year I started losing feeling in my hands. My neck and arms are full of trigger points that are very satisfying to get worked out, but I didn’t want to slow down. I needed the money. I even got a second job for a short time, and for 6 weeks I trialed myself with 12 days on, three days off before I realized that I couldn’t keep doing this to myself — Ah, the glamorous life of a massage therapist!
I wanted to start my own business and I was scared. I finally understood something that I learned from my mother;
“No one is successful on their own. Everybody successful has somebody. Some people have money. If not money, they have a community, if not a community, they have just one person, and if that one person believes in them, they can change the world.”
When I was a child I wanted so much to be like her that I didn’t understand then how many things she was really telling me.
My dad taught me “You do what you must, and then you do what you can, until you can do what you like.”
And I was living those concepts to my core. Pulling off as many hours as I could, because I must. Getting small luxuries to allow some enjoyment when I could, because for that week, I can. Working towards the point of doing what I like.
As for my mother’s wisdom, I didn’t have a community supporting me or a stack of money I could use to invest; I’ve always only had one person.
That one person, no matter who they are, has to be your biggest cheerleader, your number 1 fan, your strongest supporter and someone who can catch you when you fall no matter how high you fly. Someone confident, someone not afraid of mistakes, wrong directions and wrong decisions, because the life of an entrepreneur is unpredictable, and each person has to assess the level of risk vs predictability that they will accept in their lives.
“Must. Can. Like.”
I’ve tried to find a balance of hours between working at a franchise while doing what I can on my off days, and it was adding a Personal Training certification to my education that really rounded out my knowledge base, conflict resolution skills and confidence. It was like I found the piece of me that was missing, and the sense of being an imposter in my own life finally went away. I learned that I could be encouraging and positive while still having strong boundaries, and since getting certified and plucking up the courage to put myself out there I’ve enjoyed working with several people on their fitness goals.
Being an entrepreneur requires risk, boundaries, and self care. It requires us to make hard decisions. It requires doing a lot ourselves if we can’t pay someone else to do it; like spending weeks on a website or shortening our hours at our place of work because we have a perfect fit client whose schedule we have to work with. It requires being okay with not having clients at all and giving more hours to our steady job again, and it requires not seeing that as a setback.
It only takes one person… And I’m building a proverbial village. I owe a debt of gratitude for the support of my “Ones”; my mum, my dad, and my partner.
