So, you come up with this grand idea to start a furniture business in Midlife. You know you can do this! You're inspired, excited. You get that surge of dopamine from all the free-flowing creative ideas flooding your brain, warming your heart and cultivating new purpose. There's light! You feel that spark; the joy of embarking on a new journey. The Midlife Re-invention has arrived and your basking in that glow, only.... you haven't done anything yet! This furniture gig? It's all in your head.
Suddenly, your sitting with naming your business, logo design, building a website, filing and licensing, finding suppliers/partners that can help produce your vision, pricing, shipping, the list goes on. You're now in the trenches and feeling like it's really just a pipe dream. All the things that suck your time and energy are right there in front of you. And the worst? Do I have to commit to putting my face on endless Tic Tok reels in order to build a store? I'd rather chase my last estrogen molecule through a corn maze, than lip sync to an audio track on Tik Tok and just like that--- inspiration turns to dread, light turns dark and moving forward feels like conquering Mt. Everest. And what if all of this time, effort, and energy is spent and we FAIL?
Climbing that mountain
In this moment, I realize that I've been here before. Many times over!
In 1997, I graduated from college. Hubby and I were at a crossroads then too and also wondering at that time, what's next? We decided to sell our 1st home in small town Ohio and move to big town Phoenix, Arizona, on the money from the sale--- without jobs mind you, deciding we'd make the most of whatever opportunities availed. After waiting tables and working temp jobs, I got my first real post college job with Charles Schwab because that's where a door opened. Economics had been my worst subject in college, btw and anything having to do with math was something I steered completely away from. So, continuing by the seat of my pants, I got a stock brokers license which had been no easy feat. Me? With a stock brokers license? In my mind, I was doomed from the get go but it led me to a path in sales! This--- I could do. I started with in inside sales, got promoted quickly to outside sales, then had an opportunity in Pharma. Goodbye Finance! Hello, Specialty Pharma; the holy grail if you're in sales and IT WAS GREAT... until it wasn't. By now, I have 2 small kids that I barely see but the money is great. I find myself longing to start a business but how? Walk away from a sweet paycheck, give up the high life, all to go into debt and scrape by? So much to think about. Again, what next? I was dying inside with that job wanting for something real---just to be with my family!
We decided that the sacrifice was worth it. Hubby had a mower, I could start a cleaning business for cheap and all my experience in sales would have a payoff. Fingers crossed! So, we jumped off that cliff with a mortgage and credit card debt on our backs. "And how did that go", you ask? Well, 18 years later, I can say it's been a ride. The answer is a short novel all on its own. It's been ugly and beautiful and I wouldn't change it. If there's anything I'm grateful for, it's that I've been present in my kids lives. It was the gift that gave back more than any career ever could.I'd have missed the rides to school, the storytelling, setting my alarm for midnight to take my kid tee-peeing with her friends. Yes, I am that Mom. As for my Retirement, well, I knew this day would come! Lol.
Embracing the Ugly.
Why start a business in Midlife? Experience. Doing it better the 2nd time around. Failures become successes. You know the things that you stumbled through the 1st time and along the way learned that life really is a journey. The failures are for learning, knowing what you've lived through. The successes are meaningful...spiritual. And thus, here we are again. Jumping off a cliff. This time Covered In Sawdust.
