I cannot express to you how difficult it is to keep up a blog on a weekly basis. I don't know what I got myself into.... But it's a commitment I plan to see all the way through.
Here's what I've come to realize. Each week, as I sit down to write my blog, I am forced to evaluate exactly how I've been feeling that week and then articulate it in words. I don't know how many of you can say you do that on a consistent basis, but for me, this is new.
This week, took some time to figure out. I was FOCUSED. I mean, the most focused I've ever been. I put a plan together for myself and I followed through with that plan just to see how it worked for me. AND IT WORKED WELL!
It's funny, because I don't think many of you actually KNOW what I do lol. I don't talk about it, and it's always funny when people tell me what they think I do for a living. So today, I'll fill you in.
Many of you know that I had a job in education, that's what my degrees are in, however, I left education in March and started working for a start-up company. It's a cool concept, we help nonprofits receive donations from regular everyday individuals. Those individuals then receive discounts from local businesses for their donations to the nonprofits. Everyone wins!
When I say start-up tho, I mean, I'm the only person in Brooklyn working for this company. Which means, I make executive decisions about what should be done for the company's success EVERY DAY. Believe me, when I started the job, I had no idea that was going to be my task, but I truly believe that God does everything for a reason, so I accepted this challenge gracefully!
When I say challenge, I mean CHALLENGE. So now, not only am I trying to manage my own career as an artist, now the success of an entire start-up is dependent on my efforts and my decisions. At first, it was really overwhelming, and I honestly wasn't sure how well I would do, but THIS WEEK, I had an incredible breakthrough. Right now, my job is to get people to sign up for our service. I made three sales this week, and have made at least one sale every week for the past four weeks. That wasn't the breakthrough. The breakthrough was the feeling I had about my job.
For the first time in my life, I see how the job I'm doing for money relates to my career as a musician! To be building two companies from the ground up, and seeing the effects of what happens when one company is in a different phase of development than my music career. I see how this company being a few phases above mine, allows me to see what will happen when I have a product that's ready to be sold! I have NEVER had that in my life.
Work and music have always been two completely separate entities. Neither of which have I ever been able to transfer skills between. SURE, I used what I learned from my students to interpret things, and often I was inspired by them, but the skills I had as a teacher did not compliment my music career. Nor did working as a counselor. But running a business directly correlates as I'm learning to run my own business as Geminelle the artist.
So I've reached a level of extreme confidence in the path that I'm on, and for that I am grateful.
It's funny. You tell yourself, you're not cut out for something and suddenly you're excelling at it. I guess that's why it's important to try new things, and to not step on your own toes before you've allowed yourself to walk into a new situation.
In all honesty, having a company in my hands scared the hell out of me. I remember thinking about all the what ifs, none of which were, "what if I do well, what if I succeed".
Somewhere in that fear, I had convinced myself I was going to fail, and was already contemplating my escape plan to the next job. But I prayed about it, I thought realllllly hard about it, and I started to piece together parts that made sense from all of the "business" experience I had. Suddenly, the pieces started coming together. And FAST.
Life takes courage. People fear the unknown but everything is unknown. There are no guarantees in this life, so sometimes you just have to be bold and go for it. I'm finding my way, for sure.... And it's taking every ounce of courage I have in me.