The Recession is Bullhonkey Paces Story - When I Grow Up

The Recession is Bullhonkey Paces Story - When I Grow Up This is part of  The Recession is Bullhonkey series, where I share stories of those who have gotten hired and/or started their own businesses (or sometimes both!) since 2008.  I did such a happy dance when I saw Paces story pop into my Inbox. A friendleague of mine (thats what I like to call colleagues whore also friends), I wouldnt be surprised is her insides were made up of truth and wisdom and inspiration and sweetness. Im honored to share her story here. In 2008, I quit my job to do what I love for a living. I had a couple of Seth Godin books. I had a pie-in-the-sky business plan. I had enough savings to survive for 3 months. I took a leap of faith And hit the floor face first. It turns out that starting a business from scratch is hard, and takes longer than you think. Especially when you have no previous business or marketing experience. Especially when theres zero overlap between your day job and your field of passion. Especially when youre building a brand new audience from the ground up. But now that I had gotten a taste of doing what I love, I didnt want to give it up. So I went back to my boss at my day job, cap in hand, and asked if I could come back to work half-time. He said yes, and that was half of the puzzle solved. But that alone wouldnt have been enough; it would have only extended the window from 3 months to 6 months, and that was still pretty tight. So we cut our expenses in half, too. We found one or two fatty places to chop off in our budget, but the rest of the cuts required big sacrifices and lifestyle changes. It took some time to adjust, and it was hard but after a couple of months, it became the new norm and wasnt painful anymore. After that, my half-time job was paying all the bills, so I had as much time as I needed to grow my business. With the pressure off, I could experiment, I could play and my business could thrive. From 2009 to 2011, I tried out lots of different ideas in my business to see what worked and what didnt both for me and for my audience. I wrote a book about relationships and communication. I organized a writing workshop. I instigated a revolution or two. I experienced enough success to keep me going, and enough failure to keep me humble. It was the summer of 2012. My business was making over half of the money we needed to pay all the bills. I created a plan to quit my day job (for good this time) in February of 2013. I would get a big end-of-year bonus so that I wouldnt have to dip into my retirement fund. It was a good plan. But then I saw the movie Im Fine, Thanks, and the plan fell apart. I simply couldnt wait any longer. I couldnt do the sensible thing, because my heart was breaking from being told she had to wait just a little longer. So in October 2012, I quit my job, we sold 95% of our possessions, and we traveled the country living full-time in an RV. Like ya do. But seriously, if that twist came out of nowhere to you, youre in good company it came out of nowhere to me, too. But sometimes the call is like that it hits you over the head like a ton of bricks and all you can do is say, Yes, yes, yes, a thousand times yes. During the past couple of years of working for myself full-time, there have been more twists and turns, for sure, but the general trend has been upward and outward: upward in profitability, and outward in growth, connection, and opening up my heart. Now Im The Pathfinding Coach, and I have the honor of helping others with what I struggled with when I started out: finding the clarity to listen to your heart, then finding the courage to follow it. The biggest thing that Ive learned from my adventure is this: You can find a balance between your head and your heart. You dont have to choose between 100% sensible and 100% wild. You can find your path through the middle ground, the grey area between rational and heart-led. In other words: saying yes to your heart doesnt mean you have to say no to your good judgment, and saying yes to planning ahead doesnt mean you have to say no to your wild, crazy, meaningful heart. Pace Smith (The Pathfinding Coach) helps sensitive spiritual nonconformists live  wild crazy meaningful lives. She’s also a teacher, a speaker, a writer, a Sufi  dervish, a bi poly trans gamer geek, an open-source Reiki healer, and a  tournament-level Dance Dance Revolution player. Download her free eBook,  Find  Your Path Now,  to STOP living on autopilot and START living the wholehearted,  unconventional life you were meant to live.