A story about getting reality-smacked

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I used to dream about a life where I only ever got to do what felt good and nothing else.

I genuinely believed, back when I was feeling stuck and unfulfilled in jobs (plural) that I didn’t care about, that once I was able to work for myself everything would be rosy as heck.

Set my own hours? Yep. Get to coach people all day long every day? Naturally. Get paid oodles of money to do what I’m passionate about? Duh.

I so resented the toil, drudgery, tedium and pointless butt-in-the-seat lifestyle of my job that I decided that the exact opposite (excitement, ease, movement, intellectual stimulation) was what I wanted, no … deserved … to have all of the time.

Then, in a rush to escape the drudgery, I quit my job.

And the Universe promptly reality-smacked me. Hard.

That rosy life I thought I’d have when I quit? Yeah, about that. It turns out that being an entrepreneur is often just as tedious, boring, and difficult as doing a job you don’t care about.

THE HARD TRUTH IS THAT THE CLIENTS DON’T JUST POP UP OUT OF THE WOODWORK WHEN YOU DECIDE TO QUIT.

There are about a million things to think about if you want to build a stable business with steady clientele (none of which are my calling in life, but have to do be done):

How SEO-friendly is every page of your website? What’s your social media strategy? Do you want to do a re-targeting campaign? What is a re-targeting campaign? How many pitches do you want to send every week? What is your Google Analytics looking like today? What’s your click-through rate? What about your conversion rate? How’s that sales funnel looking?

{I breathe in. I breathe out. I try not to scream. On most days, I succeed.}

There’s also the added pressure of not always knowing where the next paycheck is coming from. Sometimes you feel like a squirrel prepping for winter – hoarding those nuts away for leaner times.

YOU MIGHT BE THINKING, “YOU JUST COMPARED YOURSELF TO A SQUIRREL. THAT’S PRETTY UNGLAMOROUS.”

And you’re right. I’m a very un-glam entrepreneur at least 95% of the time. Which is to say that the vast, vast majority of what Kristen and I do isn’t what we signed up for (getting to coach people and help them figure out their passion). It’s marketing what we have to offer. It’s writing blog posts (OK, that’s usually fun). It’s trying to make sense of weird numbers and de-coding the complicated SEO stuff that makes me want to cry.

“So why,” you ask, “are you still doing this? You do realize that you could easily not have to worry about any of this stuff, and get paid steadily somewhere else?” {You’re probably not that snarky. I’m taking liberties with your response. Roll with it.}

And I answer: Because the difference between the tedium, drudgery, and boredom of my former life and the tedium, drudgery, and boredom of this life is …

I’M DOING THE UNGLAMOROUS STUFF IN SERVICE TO A BIGGER VISION

Everything I’m doing right now is in service to my desire for freedom, autonomy, and passion.

The purpose is what fuels me through all (and I do mean alllllllll) of the ups and downs.

Every once in a while, I stop and ask myself, “Do you really want to keep doing this?” And I think about my vision, play out what I want in my head, and realize that yes, this is still what I want. And it’s worth it.

Life isn’t ever going to be 100% rosy. There will always be tedium, boredom, drudgery and toil. So if that’s true, then you might as well be doing it for something you care about.

There’s really nothing worse than being bored and exhausted for no freaking purpose. Don’t waste your life toiling for something you can’t get excited about.

And if you don’t know what would excite you and be worth the struggle, that’s why we’re here. We’d love for you to get on the phone with us for 30 minutes and chat about it.

So, what do you think? Are you drudging for a higher purpose … or not?

Much love,

Rachel (+ Kristen)