Starting Your Own Business Sometimes Means Just Starting

What about health insurance?

How do you pitch to investors?

Will running a business take over my entire life?

Over the past few months, I’ve taken a non-traditional path to strike out on my own, my mind has swirled with self-doubt. If you’ve ever thought of starting your own business, you know that it can feel like a pretty lonely place. Sure, over the years I’d built a strong network and supportive friendships, but this? Starting my own business? It felt so…solitary. “My own” business. No one else. Just… me.

There wouldn’t be an HR representative to tell me my salary. A boss to give me assignments. A corporate calendar to dictate my time off. On the one hand, those things can feel suffocating. On the other hand, they can free you from a lot of day-to-day worries. Like what to do about that pesky health insurance.?

As fear flared up, I kept remembering my mom. And my female heroes. If I was being honest, I wasn’t really alone. There were plenty of incredible women who’d found the courage to create space in their lives to pursue their dreams.

How did they do it? How did they push through the fear and discomfort and chase their entrepreneurial visions?

Shonda Rimes, creator of “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Bridgerton” and “How to Get Away with Murder” (to name a few) dreamed of creating characters that looked like her and knew the path forward meant saying yes to everything . “A lot of people spend a lot of time thinking of all the things they want to do and talking about it,” Rimes told The Script Lab . “But […] you’re sort of waiting for the big magical moment or some door to open or some interesting or illuminating thing to happen.” Hard work and “day-to-day slogging,” as unromantic as they might be, are Rimes’s key to success.

Katrina Lake, Stitch Fix’s CEO, was a less-than-stellar student who never considered herself a businessperson , but worked her way into Stanford and a consulting firm, where she began to realize she could revolutionize the world of retail through technology - leveraging algorithms (versus personal stylists) to make apparel recommendations. Lake didn’t let her fear of the male-dominated tech industry keep her from starting online surveys and an Excel spreadsheet to capture basic style profiles, eventually founding Stitch Fix, a $250 million startup. To Lake, starting a business is “a lifelong thing” - so you’d better be sure it’s your passion.

Sara Blakely, founder of Spanx, turned tragedy into her motivation, recognizing that all we have is today and we’d better not waste it. After losing several friends in high school, she started listening to Wayne Dyer tapes. His inspirational teachings propelled her into her first business in 1990, a babysitting club for the Clearwater Beach Hilton. Start small and figure it out as you go , Blakely advises. Now, according to Forbes , Blakely is the youngest woman to join the World’s Billionaires list without help from a husband or an inheritance.?

In every instance, these female entrepreneurs:

1. Didn’t work alone, securing the expertise and/or funding they needed to succeed.
2. Held their vision close, even though it challenged the status quo.
3. Just went for it and didn’t give up when things went sideways.

The entrepreneurial path may feel overwhelming and lonely, especially as a woman, but in fact, it’s well-worn and ready for more of us to follow.