back in business

When you are in business for yourself, it is really easy to get discouraged, particularly if you are launching a product company.  When you're the new guy, everything takes twice as long and costs twice as much. Money goes out daily, and doesn't necessarily come back in.  People tell you that you are crazy.  Spouses become stressed and angry, and you really feel like you are on your own island.  Such has been my story with aquaBling.  And, I have to say that after a while it gets exhausting doing it all yourself with little help and support.  I was totally there last week.  I felt defeated and like giving up.  Then I met Lisa, and everything changed.

While getting my company up and running over the last couple of years, I consulted nearly every organization I could to learn as much as I possibly could.  I spoke with the SBDC, SCORE, and various regional and local entrepreneurial offices to ask for help in getting my business plan together, understanding what I needed to do to be up and running, and help with finding funding. After every meeting I would inevitably walk away feeling like I just wasted my time, because nobody would ever do anything that was helpful.  Certainly, I knew more about my business, but I did expect that these people would be able to talk generally about starting a business...but they couldn't.  I realize now that the reason for that is that none of the people I talked to ever started a business or worked for themselves.  They were not entrepreneurs. They just didn't get it. 

I was completely over all of those organizations, when I learned that a new counselor was working at the SBDC, a female, with - get this - her own company.  I decided I needed to at least meet with her to see if she was better than everybody else. Guess what? She was the real deal.  This woman has launched a very successful specialty food company, has gone through a round of funding, and knows the ins and outs of launching your own product business.  When we met yesterday, the passion I felt about my business returned instantly, and I am refreshed and ready to put my head down and push through until aquaBling is a success. Fabulous!