When Business Development = Self-Development

Solo entrepreneurship means not only being purely self-motivated, but also building a business from scratch. Think of a salaried job as wearing store-bought clothes. You look through what is available, trying things on, and choose what to buy based on your personal tastes and practical needs. It’s that simple. You create an image of yourself based on these choices.

Now think of entrepreneurship as making your own clothes. You won’t just make shirts like the ones you saw at Target. You’ll find yourself thinking creatively about what you’d really like to make, how you might invent something new. To get the best custom fit, you’ll measure your body in places you never before considered the size of. You’ll think about what kind of fabric to use, what pattern and color, what shapes will make the pattern, how to measure them accurately, what time of day you have the energy for such intricate work, what stiches will be best for look and strength, how to get your sewing machine to stop jamming, and fifty other considerations that didn’t enter your mind when you were just shopping for a ready-made shirt/job that would fit well enough and look good enough as it came. And when you have finished making your own clothes, you will feel different wearing them. They will feel like an extension of your spirit. Your pride and satisfaction will run deep, knowing that you are fully clothed by your own creativity and accomplishment, and you embody your own dreams brought to life.

In short, entrepreneurship has been for me not only a new approach to work, but a new approach to life. There is no longer a difference between the two; my business plan is my life plan, and only a holistic, integral approach will work.

I didn’t plan on this when I went into it. In fact, I didn’t intend to be an entrepreneur at all, until I discovered grant writing and felt more inspired than ever before in my life. I knew that this was what I wanted to do, the perfect fit to do what I love and am good at, and use it to help others make the world a better place. And I knew that there were no entry-level jobs, so I would have to start out as a freelancer. I jumped right in and have been learning as I go. Years later, I still love it. It’s a wild, exhausting journey, like a steep climb through a tropical jungle, but my discoveries along the way are richly satisfying, and whenever I reach a new peak, the view is astounding, and I know I am doing something splendidly meaningful with my life.

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