Reflecting on my last day before I turn a twin digit…
Reflecting on my last day before I turn a twin digit number that feels unreal. If you were like 22 Kate? Yep, let’s go with that 👀.
Just kidding. I earned these 44 years and I am not ashamed of that number. It took me 44 years to understand why nothing ever felt exactly like the right fit. But I’m here now and I am excited.
There are years of your life that alter you entirely. There are sad years, joyful years, weird years where you just don’t know what happened.
But rarely do you get to have a year like 43 was for me. It’s been transformative. My whole life, self, mindset, everything has changed.
How did it start? With a big work acquisition that turned my life entirely upside down. I did not anticipate being out on the market in April.
And in true trauma form, I actually kept putting off talking about it directly here on LinkedIn because frankly, it just hurt too much and I couldn’t find the words. I was beyond devastated when I found myself in a space to look for a new job.
Contrary to what people might think, I wasn’t ready to be on my own yet.
But, I had done some light consulting and fractional work as far back as 2014, 2017, and 2019 and been doing this career and performance coaching for years: part time nights and weekends. And it had picked up a lot of steam over the last few years.
I was lucky enough to have a partner who said, ok, now’s the time, even though I personally wasn’t sure, fighting through my risk aversion and self doubt all year to do this.
But, this year I grew a full fledged functional business with zero initial spend and I became the person someone should have told me years ago I should be.
I learned all those ideas other people ignored or told me to stay in my own lane about for all those years… I didn’t have to anymore, I got to test them all out right here, use my instincts and you know what?
I am not just a coach and people ops leader, I am also pretty damn good at building and driving business.
Gasp!!! Did she just say that, how dare that pushy woman say that.
Well I’m going to say it because all the men out there are saying it and oozing confidence all over LinkedIn.
I crushed business in my first 3 months, double at 6 months and 4x at 9 months. I helped a lot of people build their businesses, create their next step, find the perfect job and regain confidence in who they are.
Now I have different segments of my business, a team of people working in/on the business, amazing fractional and coaching clients, a fledgling podcast, a group coaching cohort, a collective of consultants about to launch, hundreds of hours given away for free and I am not even 9 months in (but also really tired and anxious sometimes!)
So yeah. All of that this year, with the help of a million incredible people who supported me and this LinkedIn community that doesn’t stop. Partnerships, purpose, people are the answer. I did NONE of it alone.
I have heard Sarah Blakely say “DO IT SCARED”.
100% agree. LFG!
#reflecting #doitscared #buildingabusiness
