Disclaimer: In celebration of my company Nel Tax and Financial Solutions completing its fifth year of business, I decided to once again share some words of wisdom to other business owners and entrepreneurs that will help them along their entrepreneurial journeys. Tips and guidance provided are purely for informational purposes only. Enjoy!
Many entrepreneurs have a fear of failing. But what happens when you are faced with obstacles outside of your control yet you are still able to keep proceeding, keep growing, and keep shining? Is succeeding just as scary as failing?
At the moment this selfie was taken, my client had no idea that weeks prior I received the news that I had uterine cysts and polyps that were thankfully benign after begin tested from the operation to remove them. Little did I know that about a month after this selfie, I would spend five days in the pediatric ICU working virtually during the height of tax season while my daughter slept hooked up to machines due to her asthma. Or by June, I would be dealing with what I thought was a horrible case of vertigo which ended up being a rare, incurable condition called idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH). And if that was not enough for 2018, at the end of September, the uterine cysts and polyps grew back more abundantly than when they were first discovered in January. So after Thanksgiving, I had a hysterectomy which revealed I had adenomyosis and and that the polyps were precancerous even though they were benign again.
Yet in spite of multiple surgeries, hospital visits, and facing my own mortality during 2018, I kept going with this dream that I was determined would live outside my head.
Now, I did turn down some clients and opportunities throughout that year. I also scheduled my casework to give me a two week break so I could focus solely on healing immediately after my hysterectomy.
Did my business suffer? Thankfully, no. I was still getting new clients, new speaking engagements, and creating new workshops in between all of the events that were happening outside of my control.
then realized I had two choices. I could have stopped, and there would have been no shame in that. I could have held my head up proudly knowing that I wanted to go into business and also knowing that I did. Due to changing circumstances with my health, I could have decided a different path for my life guilt-free.
Or I could confirm my goals, my dream, and my promise I made to myself years before all of the calamities. I worked with my doctors to create a plan for how I could continue to show up for my clients, my local and global community, and those who I have not yet had the pleasure to work with but seek the skills of what I can do.
I chose to continue. It was not my bravado. I wrestled with closing my business after being diagnosed with IIH. But quitting was not what I wanted even though my own body was my biggest threat to my business during that time.
I wanted to confirm to myself that I truly am a goal-completer. That I can see it through. That I would be successful on my own terms. But most importantly, when I tell my daughter that they only thing that can ever deny you are your choices, I can show her the results of my choices with my ongoing business being the confirmation of my choices many years ago.
What do you choose to confirm today for your future self and the future of your business?
Shan-Nel D. Simmons 