Sometimes it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and defeated when taking the path to entrepreneurship. As sexy as being your own, and running your own business may sound, the reality of it is that it is probably the hardest thing you will do in life! I say this not just coming from what I have heard, but from what I have experienced. This is not my first entrepreneurial venture. No, not at all. When I was younger I sold candy, lemonade and was the President of our neighborhood Friends Forever club. In college I worked with a direct sales company selling Cutco Cutlery knives where I started as a sales rep. I sold over $50,000 in personal sales of Cutco knives and then went on to become an asst. manager, then branch manager. As a 20 year old college student I ran an office in Hartford county, MD. For one summer I did everything from hire and train receptionist, sales reps, run team meetings and manage a sales force of 40+ people, majority high school grads and college students. Not to mention that I was a college student myself! That was literally one of the hardest summers of my life. I remember being on the phone with my parents and business mentors battling through the good and bad days, not to mention the roller coaster of emotions that comes with entrepreneurship. But I loved it so much that the next summer I became a District Manager with the company in Southern Maryland.
When I look back on that time, as what I will call my baby/adolescent entrepreneurship stage, it was a great time of learning, growing and character building. While it was so tough, it was also extremely rewarding. I also learned an important lesson with each experience, that although it was tough and even at times painful, I did not die. As a matter of fact, I gained invaluable experience in something that I am so passionate about. Not just entrepreneurship, but working with people, developing a great team culture and collaborating to achieve something great!
Actually, I am truly appreciative of those years that I was developing as a young entrepreneur and sales rep. In many ways they were soooooo fun! I developed friendships and bonds with many of the people in these pictures that are still in tact today. It was also a really trying time, especially being so young. I felt at times like I wouldn't make it, but I did. Now that I am gearing up to be an entrepreneur again, not as a summer internship or a short stent as a full time District Manager, but this is about to be my life, my bread and butter! As scary as it still is, (that's the nature of entrepreneurship)I I know that I will not only survive as an entrepreneur, but I will thrive! And have a ball building great teams, organizational culture and numerous companies based on the foundations of hard work, having fun and integrity that change the world along the way! The foundation and training ground has already been set. Now it's time to just allow what has already been developed and matured in me over these years to come out. It's time to pursue and Just Do!
By the way, I am putting this disclaimer out: I was slightly heavier when I was younger, as you will see from these pics :) Now that I am out of that eat whatever you want, whenever you want college mindset, and have learned the art of healthy living, I am ready to see how this positively impacts me as I prepare to tackle round 2 of entrepreneurship.
Whatever your field or passion, make the decision to put all your chips on the table, and TOTALLY ROCK IT in 2015! NO what if's, NO regrets! And lastly, know that all the events in your life whether good, bad, challenging or championing have been leading you to this point. They have been shaping you and molding you. The question that I have to ask myself daily, and what I leave you with is, Will you allow yourself to use these experiences to elevate or deflate you from reaching and operating at your best?
Passionate & Determined!
Danielle
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