9 Truths and a Lie
Rebecca Gunter ??
Now serving: Brand activation for the entrepreneurially spirited. Solving marketing mysteries and content conundrums to deliver the words that work. Bold Brand Strategy | Positioning & Messaging | Creative Copywriting
Twenty years in and here’s what I know, I know nothing at all about easy street.
Once upon a time in 2004 there was a scrappy malcontent asking herself “is this all there is?” after only three scant years O-FFICIALLY using her college degree in the 9-to-5 world.
And when a possible canoe trip in the Everglades conflicted with the production of an association’s membership newsletter—which could have toooottttaaaallllyyy been autoscheduled but my PTO was denied anyway, cue the dramadots ... I saw my exit.
Goodbye stuck-up office culture and fear-based leadership. Suck it policies and procedures that feel like a prison sentence. Sniff ya later, staff retreats, the conference room, and petty politics. From now on, I’m “working from the canoe.”?
I was free!
You know what’s not free, tho? Rent. And so, it came to pass that <checks note> 2.5 nan-seconds later after coming back from said canoe trip, that I hung out my shingle.?
Rebecca Gunter, creative person. For hire.?
Like, any day now. Yoohoo? Clients? I’m here for the if-you-build-it-they-will-come entrepreneurial package??
Oh, that’s not really a thing??
Well, whatcha got??
The be-so-valuable-that-you-practically-pay-for-yourself deal??
Question, tho….do I have enough ‘Wizard Points’ to get the grit and gumption required to figure it all out, essentially building the plane while flying, without ruining my reputation or starving to death??
I see.
So, basically, just go out on these kajillion side quests, many of which dead end in disappointment, and learn the universal lesson that the cost of self-made success is failure and the cost of failure is relentless experimentation and an unwavering commitment to your own ever-upleveling gold standard??
Seems straightforward enough….what’s that? Beware the River of Self-Doubt, you say? And the Village of Nonbelievers and Na’er-do-wells? I mean, when they say “it takes a village” that is not the village they’re talking about, is it Universe? I need a strong network I can count on who can also count on me.?
Ok cool, cool…cool, cool, cool.?
Oh, and brace myself for forces beyond my control ready to bring forth the chaos on a global, societal, and economic level, always changing, all the time? Every day’s a new reality, amirite, Universe? <chuckles nervously>
Alright.
The financial and emotional support of my friends and family and a solid lack of crisis, life changes, or competing personal priorities… I need that, too? Well, what if you don’t have that….per se? Go find it and/or learn how to get it all in healthy alignment, anyway, in spite of obstacles, oppression, and depression. Got it.???
Is that it? Then, and only then, will I have what it takes to make it, like, for real?
Yes, Chef! I won’t forget to track it all. Because you can’t move what you can’t measure <dry cough>... that old chestnut. And of course, make sure I know my ICA better than I know the back of my own hand, get that messaging right, and always.be.closing, but don’t forget to give back to the community, generously and without expectation. Check! Check! Check! How’s my visibility? And my bookkeeping practices? Am I 100% sure I am the right business structure? Have I thought about hiring help or automating? Have I heard about ChatGPT? Well, it’s funny you should ask, Universe, because <trails off…>?
I’d love to end this essay with “and that’s how she figured it all out” ??and roll the credits, but the truth is that I coulda played out that scene yesterday. Shit, I’m playing that scene out right now.?
Because the more you learn about being a founder, a small business owner, and entreprenuer—or anyone who has an ‘eat what you kill, uniquely responsible for their own quality of life and that of those of their families’ kinda thing going—the more you find out that you don’t, actually, know squat. Srsly.
If I’m honest, it’s pretty frickin’ nerve-wracking. And also, I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I didn’t get into this game for known quantities, guaranteed outcomes, or tried-n-true, the way we’ve always done it type a’ work-life. I want to break things, do it better, and give my clients and colleagues mutually beneficial advantages, ad nauseam. I want to make manifest win-win situations and rise the kinda tides that lift all boats.?
In order to do that, I must get smashed against the rocks as many times as it takes until I figure out how to do more than just float and learn how to sail.?
Or should I say sale? Because let’s BFFR, without sales there are no sails. There is only pure, unmitigated panic and one bad decision after another, up to, and including, your dreaded Plan B. (Which, for me, is bartending. Hard pass…lord willing and the crick don’t rise.)
I say all of that to say this: Twenty years in and here’s what I know, I know nothing at all about easy street, but I can tell you what I have learned trying to find it.
9 Truths about the Unifying Experiences of Entrepreneurialism and the (Com)Passionate Pursuit of Professional and Personal Freedom
Life is too short for juicing fruit that isn’t worth the squeeze.?
For me, entrepreneurialism is a genuine way to connect deeply with my own humanity and ability to live life on my own terms and by my own definition of success. The business arena offers me authentic agency and the kind of work/life sovereignty my freedom-seeking ass is tracking.?
Whenever I hear this old adage, I have to laugh: Entrepreneurs are the only people who will work 80 hours for themselves to avoid working 40 hours for someone else. You got that right, Universe. I don’t wanna to be masked, mundane, or mediocre; ain’t nobody got time for that.
??
PS Once upon another time I made the leap from hospitality to brand strategy, and that wasn’t pretty, ‘neither. Read about how skinned knees begat pivot-happy entrepreneurial energy, in “I Failed So You Don’t Have To.”
PPS Watch why Jen Thornton A.C.C. , who taught me the life lesson in Truth #2, thinks that this should be our year to break things.
PPPS From waitress to wanderlust for the entrepreneurial arena, read my Origin Story from roots to Stoned Fruits. DJ, drop those dope drupes!?
?? ?? Shout out to Samira Cook Gaines and Nicole M.A. Eickhoff DC Women's Business Center, represent!
Career Transformation Coach | Influencing Change Advocate | Keynote Speaker | Inner Critic and Personal Branding Specialist | Podcast Host: The Unlock Lab | Former Unilever
5 个月Rebecca Gunter ?? What a powerful post. Moving from survival to getting everything you EFFING WANT is THE work of our lives I think. I love the work you do so much because you help people come more fully into themselves by articulating what's in their heart and mind.
Business Whisperer | Vision Organizer | Connection Concierge
5 个月Love this! You said what I have been feeling
Now serving: Brand activation for the entrepreneurially spirited. Solving marketing mysteries and content conundrums to deliver the words that work. Bold Brand Strategy | Positioning & Messaging | Creative Copywriting
5 个月https://www.dhirubhai.net/company/the-unlock-lab/