Part 3 – (3 Part Series)
Hi friends! I hope you all had a good Mother’s Day weekend – I’m 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.
Well friends, we made it to part three of this special series! For those that have been following along, thank you! Now that we are at the end, I want to take you deeper into the story, showing you the messy middle of what got me here and how digging out of a very tough season ultimately ended up teaching me more than I ever thought it would. I think a lot of times we skip over the messy parts of our stories. I truly believe it’s in the mess, that brings us our biggest learnings because it’s real, vulnerable and raw. So, I want to do just that – take you behind the curtain, not just for the sake of sharing but for you to feel a little less alone, and to remind you hard things are worth pursuing because it gives you the strength, steadiness and grit to keep going.
Grab a cup of coffee or your favorite drink and get comfy as we dive in to part three!
If you have read part one and part two, then you will know the story has been primarily centered around the year 2019. But more interesting than that, the year 2011 was a pivotal year full of setbacks, hardship and pain. It ultimately became the set-up for where I am today and it’s also the piece of the puzzle that makes the whole story (years 2019-2022) fit together.
2011 was one for the books. I was 27 years old sitting at a therapy appointment in tears explaining my dire situation and I’ll never forget her response. She said, I’m so very sorry, most people don’t have all of these major life changes all at the same time. Her look of concern and empathy was all I needed in that moment. I had just started a new job (one I was not remotely qualified to have – more on that later), was finalizing a divorce and just moved back home to help care for my mother who was about to pass away from a three year battle with ovarian cancer. It was a lot.
I remember sitting there in that room staring at my therapist, thinking and asking myself how I even ended up here. It seemed unfathomable – all these big things on my shoulders just weighing me down. I was scared, sad, defeated and completely heartbroken and wondering how I would ever dig myself out of all this.
In the meantime, I was distracted with a new job I was so fortunate to have landed. It was my dream job at the time and while it was very exciting, I quickly realized the first week on the job how under qualified I was. Because I was not “exactly” what they were looking for based on my experience, part of the agreement was they would give me three months to basically prove I could “hack it.” If I wasn’t the right fit after three months, they would move on to someone else who was more skilled in marketing and graphic design. That might sound a bit harsh, and maybe it was, but I think in some ways we both understood. They graciously gave me an opportunity of a lifetime and I was not about to mess it up. I was also their only employee working directly with the CEO and president of the company, so talk about pressure! It was essentially the three of us running their entire business.
There was a lot at stake because I needed the job. I didn’t have a back-up plan. To be frank, right before taking this job, I had turned down an opportunity that was perfectly suited to me – it was what I went to school for, it was what I knew. That opportunity would have been comfortable and familiar. When I was grappling with that decision, I remember hoping to glean some much needed advice from my mom. Unfortunately, her health was getting worse and our daily talks I was so accustomed to were getting harder and harder. It was heartbreaking knowing that part of my life was becoming a lot quieter and I was faced with this decision to go the comfortable route or choose the harder path. You know how sometimes the advice from someone you know and trust can make hard things a little less scary? Well, it was one of the first times I had to learn to really trust myself. In the end, I decided to take a chance on something WAY outside my comfort zone, a risky adventure that not even I was sure how it would turn out. Deciding to take that dream job became one of the most profound experiences of my life.
I remember showing up that first week on the job. With only two weeks of training from the person who was exiting the position, to get me up to speed; I was completely outside my comfort zone and so native to what was coming. I sat down in what would become my office and the person who had the job was giving me a very strange look. She said, “you do know they hired you over someone who has a lot of graphic design experience, right?” I was like, sure I guess? She had her doubts that day and I certainly had my own. As we started the training, she asked me, okay let’s design an email blast in Photoshop. She pulled up the imagery and copy. The way it was structured then, these were all done as custom designs, so no templates like Mailchimp or Constant Contact to work off of because the email platform was built into the backend of the website. So, it was like creating and designing from scratch.
I tell this part of the story because I had zero knowledge of Photoshop, and I certainly did not know the first thing about marketing a brand. To make matters more complicated, I had never worked on a Mac computer, which is kind of essential if you are working in design. I remember sitting there on the first day, thinking, crap I’m totally screwed – what was I thinking saying yes to this job?!! The one thing I did know was what the brand was all about as I had followed it for years, so I guess I felt like I knew something at the very least.
I remember coming clean to the person training me in, and I said, well I don’t know the first thing about how to do this but I’m a quick learner.” Deep down I was mortified. But you know what, like I said earlier I didn’t have a back up plan and I had a family at home who needed me. So, there I sat with no real other option and I knew I had to make it work.
I worked tirelessly for two solid weeks, for hours and hours with the person training me in to get up to speed and to somehow teach myself what I needed to know to at least survive the first few months on the job. I owe a lot (if not all) of my success to her. She set me up to succeed, was so patient and we really bonded over those long days together. I had confided in her at one point about the health of my mom as her condition was getting worse at home. I was so tired, so beat down and really doubting if I could actually do the job. After that conversation, she really took me under her wing and made it her mission to get me to a good place. We worked long and hard trying to somehow make me into a marketing/graphic designer in just two weeks. It was brutal but if it wasn’t for her and my willingness to persevere I don’t know if I would have made it at that job for the long haul.
After she left and the initial two week training was done, I was sitting in that office (now my office) alone, and by myself for the first time. What transpired next as I started the job was a barrage of design work coming in from every direction. I had daily and weekly email blasts to create, large and extensive direct mail pieces to design for the up-coming tour, a new website to manage, social media – you name it, I was tasked with doing it. You know what? I was SO bad at it, like literally SO bad at it. That first month I was called in to the CEO’s office to review my designs and it was like stepping into what felt like the principals office. We would go over what I “tried” to create and it got a lot of critical feedback (rightfully so) coupled with a lot of red marks of things to go back and re-do. This was the cadence that would continue for the next few months and each time it happened, I remembered feeling more defeated than the last- like I was failing at something I so desperately wanted to be good at. I was doing anything and everything I could to stay afloat, which included coming in early and staying very late into the night.
Time was passing and I was almost at the three month mark but was still struggling to make it through each day. I came home late one night after a very long day feeling completely exhausted and broken all while my mom’s health was declining right in front of my eyes. I remember having a very emotionally tough conversation with my dad in the kitchen that night about how things were going with the job and I said, “I don’t think I can do this anymore, I don’t think I have what it takes.” I’ll never forget it – he looked up at me and said without hesitation, “well. . . are you telling me you’re going to quit?!” My immediate answer was a very strong “NO.” That was all it took for me to snap out of it and gather my thoughts.
After that, I went to check on my mom downstairs. I sat in silence thinking about how I could show my value at a job I was failing so miserably at. All at once it came to me. It was a lesson my mom had taught me throughout my life without knowing it. She was a medical transcriptionist her whole career and it basically entails typing on a computer all day long. I remember all the days she would come home so tired, and sometimes defeated because she wasn’t the “fastest” on the keyboard. Being successful at the job meant you needed typing speed – they kept track of everyone’s words per minute. What she taught me was invaluable. She showed up everyday despite the hardship and found other ways to show her value at work. Her secret? She knew the importance of building authentic relationships with those around her. She was extremely good at it and honestly it was one of her many gifts.
A lightbulb went off as I thought about that very concept. After thinking about that, I made it my mission to get scrappy and creative to find other ways I could show my value instead of focusing on what I couldn’t do. I was obviously not proficient at the job – not even close. I knew I didn’t have much time left to prove I could “do” the job and the likelihood I would get fired was a good probability at that point. So, I started to give myself some much needed grace because I knew it was going to take time to better my skill set. If I could focus on building relationships and having a willingness to learn, be curious and ask questions, I felt it could give me extra time to start getting better at what I didn’t know. That was exactly what I did, I looked for opportunities to genuinely connect.
After three months of working tirelessly, I ended up getting the news I wasn’t sure I would hear. They decided things were slowly working out even though I was still learning and I got to keep the job! It felt like the biggest weight off my shoulders in that moment but I still knew I had a lot to figure out. What a blessing that was because it gave me the confidence to keep going.
Around this same time, I was driving to work one morning after what had been a very rough night with my mom’s health. When I arrived at the office, I happened to be by my myself and just as I had unlocked the front door and walked in, I got the call my mom had passed away. I found my twenty-seven year old self standing there looking out the window at a complete loss for what to even think. The life I had always known just completely changed. Even though I knew it was eventually coming, nothing can really prepare you for the sudden emptiness you feel.
In my most difficult time, there was all this darkness I needed to tread through. Through all of that, I realized, there became this opportunity to fulfill a dream, in that moment God was giving me. I was still standing after a long three months and I recognized what I had in front of me was this job – helping me get through the grief and suffering of losing someone I thought God was going heal.
I ended up being at that job almost fours years and I learned so much along the way. My confidence had grown over time and a few years in, I was getting better at the job. At one point, I went back to school while working to further my design skills to actually learn about Photoshop. It was after that, about three years in, I was asked to take on the project of a lifetime. I’ll never forget it, the CEO came to my desk one day and asked me, “would you like to design one of my music books?” You see, she was a pianist – and the job was all centered around her music. Of course I said yes, and then I quickly realized there was no working file or template and I kind of laughed my way to the back room with all the music books thinking – why would I even think there would be a template? So, I pulled out an old fashioned ruler and went to work getting measurements from other music books. Crazy enough, I went on to design four music books (if I’m getting my math right) which are still sold today. My name is listed on inside of those books and while that’s kind of cool it isn’t what I love the most. For me, when I see my name, it’s a reminder of what’s actually possible – that hard things are worth pursuing because it gives you the strength, steadiness and grit to keep going.
Those music books remain one of my most treasured projects. It’s funny to think, I went from someone who knew nothing about design to becoming the lead graphic designer for all things marketing. Learning to navigate something I didn’t know how to do was the best gift. Sometimes I think about what life would have been like had I taken that other job, and you know what? I’m so glad I didn’t go the comfortable route.
You might be thinking, well how does this all tie in, how does this all fit? After four years at that job, I took the marketing skills I learned and went into Corporate America to work alongside franchise owners (more entrepreneurs) looking for help starting their own business. Remember that leadership program I talked about in Part Two of this series? That came during my time in corporate and it thoroughly changed my outlook and it sparked my own entrepreneurial journey. The presentation we gave in 2019, was an opportunity to tell my story and share the learnings of the early part of my career where I was focused on supporting other entrepreneurs in various industries. Looking back, my untraditional start helped me to understand hardships, the value of hard work and the grit it takes to make your dreams come alive.
After our presentation, I decided I was going to embark on my own entrepreneurial path and start working towards a dream I had for myself. I spent the next few years working on creating my own blog! This was something I always wanted to do and I felt compelled to take the steps to make that dream a reality. I wanted to take on the challenge to see if I could actually do it, from the branding to creating the site. So little by little and step by step I did just that. In June of 2021, I decided to take a chance on myself and hit “go” on the blog and haven’t looked back. I’m still learning a lot but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
As I approach my one year blog anniversary, I’m setting some new goals for 2022 and I look forward to bringing you along with me. I will be taking some time off posting weekly but will be back with an exciting new launch later this summer, and I hope you will stay tuned!
So how can we show up in a new way and develop our own entrepreneurial grit? As you think about your own life, how can you turn a challenge into an opportunity by taking a risk? Maybe that means taking on a new project you know nothing about, maybe it means figuring out how to be scrappy with the resources you have to create something great, whatever it is, I encourage you to go after it!
Betting on yourself takes courage. It’s also a reminder that taking risks and pursuing something hard is worth the effort. Cheers to new beginnings and chasing dreams!
-Natalie
How to Develop Entrepreneurial Grit
Think less DO more – take action
Pacing is better than quitting – don’t give up
Embrace the journey – find ways to pivot and be scrappy
Trust yourself – take the risk!
(Looking for more life posts – check out Part 1 and Part 2 of this series!)
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