Part 2 – (3 Part Series)

Hi friends! Thank you for hopping on the blog today. Glad you are here! Welcome to this special three part series on Developing Entrepreneurial Grit. I’m excited to bring you along the journey of how I ended up here and I’m pulling back the curtain of how it all started. You might be asking yourself, why this post? I’m a big believer in story-telling. Stories are a powerful tool to help us feel connected, learn something new, and feel inspired. It’s my hope YOU will feel inspired through these true stories of taking risks, having GRIT in hard seasons and how you can bring the entrepreneurial spirit to your everyday.

I’m going to take you into Part 2 of this series so if you haven’t read Part 1 – I recommend catching up on that here. If you read Part 1 – you will recall the leadership program I was selected to be a part of and the theme around the question, “what are you passionate about?” Let’s jump back into the story!

Back in 2019 . . .

It was there in her office that afternoon we found ourselves talking around this idea of embracing hard things and why it’s not only important in business/career but also in everyday life. It was quite the conversation and I felt so seen, so heard and so inspired to share this message with the organization. From there, we started the planning process around the topic. I was lucky to be partnered up with one of my long time career mentors, Bill Kotrba (now VP, Marketing Optimization at C.H. Robinson.) It’s not everyday you find someone who crosses your path that not only understands where you’ve been but also has a solid grasp on where you are going. It was an immediate connection at the start of my corporate career. He took a chance on me then and the lessons and advice along the way has been extremely valuable.

Bill and I both started our careers in a non-corporate environment and as I think about that, I know it has shaped not only my career path but his as well. It allowed us to bring the entrepreneurial mindset to the job – to think outside the box, be more creative/strategic and knowing the right time to step out and take a risk.

In preparation for our presentation – we had to think about “what” topic we wanted to share with the organization. We spent a lot of time together talking about our life stories and thinking through a message that would be worthwhile, meaningful and not boring! You may have already guessed it, but we ultimately landed on “Developing Entrepreneurial Grit.” It was the perfect topic that already had meaning to both of us because it was reflective of our own career journeys and we knew it would be the right message to spark a different and more positive way of thinking to build on company culture.

Speaking of taking a risk, we knew this wasn’t your typical “corporate” topic and quite honestly I think we were happy to push the envelope and do something different and unexpected. Taking this on was such a breath of fresh air and it inspired me as I thought about my own career and what I wanted to do next. We spent the next few months in full on planning mode, meeting together, looking for a guest speaker and working with executive coach, Vivian Rank – who was another key person in this process.

After a lot of meetings we mapped out our outline, organized our thoughts and laid out the roadmap for the presentation. Our objective was simple, instead of “teaching” – we wanted to tell our individual story – to share our own unique entrepreneurial journey and the lessons we learned along the way.

Read Part 3 – as I take you through my story! Instead of teaching the “how” – it’s my hope you will hear the takeaways through the story-telling as you not only think about your own life but also how you can think more like an owner!

Takeaways

Entrepreneurs can look at a mundane thing and see a “gem”

What it means to take a risk and step outside your comfort zone

No path is ever straight – having GRIT

-Natalie

Click here to read PART 3!

(Looking for more life posts – check out Part 1- Developing Entrepreneurial Grit!)

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