I can't remember a time when I wasn't thinking about "what's next" or wondering if there wasn't more to life than going to school, getting a good job, settling down, and riding off into the sunset with a comfortable pension. That's the exact route I took and less than a year into my first job after university I felt restless. Not because I wanted more money or status out of my career, but because I wanted it to mean something. There's a point in most careers when you look around and wonder if what you've done over the years has made any kind of impact on the world, and for me the answer was a resounding "no".
I got a university degree in sociology because studying societies and all their nuances was really interesting. But what the heck do you do with that info? You do a Master's Degree to specialize in something. For me that was urban planning. I wanted to take this fascinating knowledge about how communities thrive, and turn it into a reality by planning incredible towns and cities. Little did I realize how many other factors and influences would be working against urban planners, and that the end result would be a shell of its original vision, pared down to appease developer interests and political neutrality. It was heartbreaking and soul crushing.
There's gotta be more to life.
So I set out to have a cool online biz that I could carry with me in my laptop. Except the whole "getting online" thing felt daunting to me. So much so that I closed up my trusty laptop for about 6 months and pretended I never wanted an online business at all.
But I kept getting nudges to try again, and finally one day I was ready. Step by step I bought my own domain, chose somewhere to create my website, and learned ALL the things I needed to start serving my clients. At the time, I was helping women sleep next to their snoring partners, something I know all too well! However, when I'd pop into the Facebook groups with other entrepreneurs I was drawn to responding to questions about their websites. Time and time again I'd look for ways to help anyone who was in a bind, and the joy of seeing tears of frustration turn to tears of gratitude after I'd found the solution made my heart beam like a Care Bear.
I was hooked.
My personal values are Impact, Growth, and Freedom. Helping entrepreneurs with their websites and all the online stuff checked all three boxes.
Looking back I probably needed to feel the frustration of navigating through the online world. If I didn't start out with my initial business idea I never would've had the chance to create my own website and fall in love with the part of online business most people hate. Lucky me!
So, here we are.
I will never stop looking for ways to help other women bypass the tech headaches that I experienced early on. If there's one thing I know, it's that when women raise each other up extraordinary things happen. It's been a serendipitous journey so far and I can't wait to see where it takes us.
Together.