If there is one thing I know for sure it’s that being an entrepreneur is HARRRD but it’s also the most rewarding thing ever. Today I want to talk about the waves of entrepreneurship. Where one moment you feel on top of the world and the next moment it feels like a hurricane knocked you off of your feet and the next moment you want to go back and get a job but you smack yourself because you know you are worth more than any job and have a bigger mission to accomplish, motivate yourself and get back on top of the world again and that’s just before lunch hahaha.

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If there is one thing I know for sure it’s that being an entrepreneur is HARRRD but it’s also the most rewarding thing ever.

Today I want to talk about the waves of entrepreneurship. Where one moment you feel on top of the world and the next moment it feels like a hurricane knocked you off of your feet and the next moment you want to go back and get a job but you smack yourself because you know you are worth more than any job and have a bigger mission to accomplish, motivate yourself and get back on top of the world again and that’s just before lunch hahaha.

This is totally normal and you are not alone. It’s hard to be an entrepreneur and I think women have an even harder time trying to balance it all and be the leader of your family. Here is the thing, most of us think there is something wrong with us because we are in the never-ending cycle of mom guilt and the ups and downs of running a business.

I think some people fantasize that one day they will get to a spot in their business where everything is rainbows and unicorns but the reality is you will always have crap come up in your business and life. One of my favorite quotes is “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about learning how to dance in the rain.” I think we need to remind ourselves that it is a journey and not a destination.

Once you figure all the crap out in your business, it’s time to grow again and that becomes uncomfortable again. We need to learn how to embrace the journey. It’s hard to keep our emotions in check, but once we learn how to do that, things don’t seem that bad anymore.

I want to share a little story with you…When I was in the middle of my real estate company crashing to the ground, it was one of the hardest things I have even been through until years later when my 11-year-old son at the time was hit by a truck and I would say that was the new worst phone call ever – but he made it through it…that’s a whole other story for another time.

Back to the collapse of my business. It was a dark time and I had so many horrible things happen in such a short period of time. We even had someone who had embezzled from us, when confronted, threatened our young family. One of the things that helped me get through that time was music…I am not a country music fan but my hubby sure is and one day a song came on by Rodney Atkins and while this song has nothing to do with business, it was describing my feelings at the time perfectly. I listened to that song on repeat daily.

Listen to it here:

Oh, my gosh, what a great song that is. It’s Rodney Atkins “If You’re Going Through Hell.”

And let me tell you, if you ever find yourself in a spot where you feel like your back is against the wall, go listen to that song.

Anyway, I have found that over the years, continuing to work on my mindset and my emotions has helped me so much.

So here are a few things that have helped me that I wanted to share with you.

#1 So the first thing is surrounding myself with a group of entrepreneurs on the same path as me and having a coach who can slap me back to reality when I get out of line. But seriously, someone who can help me just see things clearly in a moment where I’m letting my mind drama show up – this has been really crucial. And I think that is probably one of the most important things that you can do. I’m in a mastermind. I have a business coach. I have a lot of friends who are successful entrepreneurs. And there’s nothing better than that, because at the end of the day, my friends and my family, as much as I love them, don’t understand the struggles. And the entrepreneurs really, really do. So that is number one that has been huge for me.

#2 Number two is feeding my mind with so many stories of motivation and people overcoming obstacles that I have so many references of amazing things that I can pull up if I’m feeling a certain way. I can remember certain stories, a certain story of resiliency or I surround myself with wonderful quotes like even looking around my office, I see that quote about “life is not about waiting for the storm to pass…” It’s beautiful and it’s framed. I’ve got “life begins at the end of my comfort zone.” “Let your light shine.” “Leave a little sparkle wherever you go.” I have so many amazing, inspirational things around me. And also, I’m a sucker for a good “getting over some hard times” story.

#3 And then the third thing is understanding that my thoughts are controlling my emotions and that when I control my thoughts, my feelings can change. I’m going to say our brains love drama and can come up with some pretty crazy thoughts that make us feel horrible.

But we can choose the thoughts we think and we can challenge the negative thoughts.

I ask myself often, “Kara, is that a thought? That thought? Is that a fact or is it fiction? Is that something that I’ve completely made up?”

So an example might be getting a large, unexpected expense. And while that, my friend, is a fact, you start thinking how you can’t handle this, and that is fiction, right? Because you start thinking you can’t handle this and you start going into panic, anxiety, “I’m never going to be able to handle this…” etc. And you go down a horrible path. But the reality is – you can handle it.

You’ve handled so many other things before and you can handle this. And therefore, the new thought should be, “OK, where can I find that money?” “How can I make an extra X, Y, Z this month?” That thought will actually start working for you to find solutions instead of throwing yourself a huge pity party of why you suck at all of this.

So that has been crucial for me, really learning how to reprogram my thoughts. And challenging the ones that are making me feel horrible.

Listen, learning to ride the waves of entrepreneurship and embrace the journey is going to make you not only a happier person but a better entrepreneur.

Oh, I should add – I have my go-to song list, which “Going Through Hell” is one of them, and I also have a list of inspirational movies that I watch when I have had one of those days, or let’s face it, could be one of those weeks and they pick me up and help me get back on track.

So make your list of tunes and movies that inspire you for times when you need them most. And if you don’t have a big enough list, start Googling it and you will be amazed at all the amazing songs and movies that you will find that are motivational. It’s amazing. Listen, I am so grateful that I get to be an entrepreneur and even in the moments when things aren’t going my way, I remember all the amazing things that I do get to do because I choose to be an entrepreneur.

So that’s it for today.

I just wanted to ask you before you go, when was the last time you told yourself how awesome you really are? You deserve to be reminded of your greatness because the truth is you are awesome.

I will see you on the next episode.

Kara