What I’ve Learned About Starting Over

The first day of the rest of your life can be scary as hell. It’s also a canvas, waiting for you to do anything you want to it. It’s all you, with your fresh box of paints and your (hopefully) moderately-sized baggage of life. No one is going to tell you what, when or how to do what’s next. You just have to start.

I started a new career path a few months ago, and I’ve learned so much. Every conversation is a lesson, both personally and professionally. This list of lessons is long and somewhat cliché, but holds true. Move over kindergarten, now is the new “everything I needed to know I learned when I quit my job and started a new business in my forties.”

You Can Teach A Fish New Tricks

I didn’t plan to be my age, finding my new lunch table friends or wondering if I know what I’m doing, but here I am. And you know what? It’s actually kind of a relief. Like one of my favorite children’s books, Pout Pout Fish Goes To School, you don’t have to know things you haven’t learned yet. Unlike young Pout Pout Fish, my years of experience learning new things makes learning faster, easier and more energizing than I expected. There is no shortage of new marketing information to consume.

I’ve hopped aboard the fishbowl express, taking my awesomeness to a new context. Nothing is more revealing about your strengths and opportunities than taking your bad self and skills to a new arena. How long would it have taken me to learn these things without this opportunity? Maybe forever. How cool is it that I have put myself in a position of hyper-learning? Very cool. Also, I found a new, tasty Thai place for lunch in case anyone wants to sit at my table.

Sometimes you win. Sometimes you learn.

You are not going to get everything right. I’m back in the everything-is-a-first mode. Sometimes you’re the awkward girl who “carried a watermelon” and other times you’re the star of the dance contest (this is a Dirty Dancing reference, for you millennials). The sooner you stop caring so much about screwing up, the sooner you can make mistakes and learn from then. Winning is winning, and learning is winning, too. No matter what, if you get out there and try anything at all, you win.

Loosen the reins to find the answer

You can hold on too tightly to perfection and to the right plan and the right decision. I’m working with a lot of entrepreneurs, and the “let’s conquer the world” attitudes are refreshing. It can feel messy and uncertain to this long-time corporate girl, but it’s about moving things forward. It’s a scrappy, less-controlled approach with less judgment and more action.

Instead of tip-toeing through the tulips, I’m learning to knock a few things over and say fudge it. Sometimes what I’m stumbling over turns out to be exactly the beautiful “Oops!” I needed (Must-read kids’ book alert: Beautiful Oops! by Barney Saltzberg).

Other days require the walk away strategy: let it sit and see what percolates. Not to get all “the universe will provide,” but I’m learning to like the unexpected gifts of opening up to what comes my way.

Be open to help from others

This one is simple. You don’t know everything. Other people can and want to help. Accept it and seek it out — just like in kindergarten.

One day, One step

One day at a time is a solid mantra for a career pivot. I’m not writing three-year strategic plans yet. Every night I make a list of what went well and didn’t. I haven’t had a day yet when the “what went right” list isn’t longer. Then I go to sleep and reset like Ted Lasso’s goldfish. I’ve learned to quickly acknowledge when situations don’t seem to be going well so I can make adjustments. I celebrate when my instincts lead to a happy client. I’m not trying to climb anything; the only step I have to take is the next one.

Money Matters

My income has been drastically reduced in the short-term as a result of my career pivot. The upside of this budget adjustment is I’m learning so much about what is and isn’t valuable to me. There is freedom in removing certain expenses and more appreciation for the ones I’ve prioritized. I can see clearly the trade-off between time spent making money and time spent doing other things, allowing me to make deliberate choices.

Rebuilding requires patience and faith and butts-in-seats hours. With sharpened priorities for cash flow, I’m motivated to grow my business to contribute to my family. I’m no Johnny and Moira Rose, living in a roadside motel, but I do have an appreciation for the lessons that come with simplifying, and I know how it feels to celebrate getting paid again.

In Conclusion

Yes, there’s turbulence navigating new waters, but my overwhelming feeling is I’m having a great time and learning so much; I’m so glad to be on this journey. It takes time for things to come together. I’ve learned action, experimentation, patience, curiosity and persistence are essential to a successful reboot.

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