It feels like a lot of pressure to write the last Weekly MindSweep of 2023.

You know the moment when your number is called at the Registry of Motor Vehicles, and it’s your turn to step up to the window? The bead of sweat dripping slowly from your temple, and you take a deep breath.

You are praying to the “State Of All Who Is In Charge of the Road” gods that all of your paperwork is in order because this is the most stressful situation you’ve been in last 4 years?

This is the moment you’ve been waiting for.

The perceived pressure of sharing “What’s On My Mind” around Reflection feels a bit like that.

But the truth is, I feel the pressure each time I sit to write, yet I still show up every week. It may seem simple or easy from the outside. I assure you it hasn’t gotten any easier yet. #entrepreneur

I make up this story in my brain that I need to be mindful, inspirational, and educational by crafting a story or analogy and bringing light to your inbox each week. The reality is that you, dear reader, really want me to show up exactly who I am.

I know this is true because it’s precisely what I want from you.

So, as my dear friend and colleague Terri Hamilton would recommend, I take deep breaths in and out. Because focusing on my breath brings me back to the center so I can reflect. Join me on an adventure as I reflect on 2023 and what I’ve learned.

I’ve been on a journey to find home.

When I began Chickbook Creative in 2020, a tornado called COVID-19 swung through the Northeast. I was knocked off my feet, hit my head on the way down, and woke to find myself shaken to the core. What was, would no longer be.

It was time to find my way back home to where I belonged.

I’ve been an entrepreneur before and knew the journey would not be linear and carefree.

Like the Wizard of Oz’s storyline, I woke in a new world with a village of like-hearted humans encouraging me toward where I wanted to be. This village has given me a newfound sense of spirituality, relationships, and community.

Along my journey, I’ve met people with courage, brains, and heart, as well as experience, love, and support. I’m walking alongside people in a quest for self-development and business growth. [1]

There have been peeks behind curtains in my quest for the truth to find reality, and it wasn’t always pretty. But these lessons led me to new opportunities, new ideas, and our community.

Like Dorothy, I didn’t know what to expect once I reached my destination.

What I’ve learned is that there isn’t a destination.

It’s a lifetime journey of entrepreneurship.

There isn’t a particular destination where I will feel like everything is complete and that I’ve checked all the boxes of what society deems “successful.”

If anyone is selling you that, take a look behind that curtain.

In entrepreneurship, there are trials and tribulations as well as allies and adversaries.

YOU are the owner of your business. An entrepreneur is “a person who organizes and operates a business or businesses, taking on greater than normal financial risks to do so.”

We’ll face inner and outer challenges along the way. It’s what you choose to do with them.

We are people operating businesses, and we definitely take on greater financial responsibility to do so. This is why we lean into our natural human need for community.

Our songs beat to a different drum, we design our shapes, and we color outside the lines.

We belong supporting each other. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

I had been searching for a sense of home all these years, and I’ve found it here, with you.

Together, in our community.

The answers you need for your business are already within you.

If you’d like support in pulling them out to build a business you are proud of, I’m here to help.

Book a free consultation

The Entrepreneur's Brain Trust

Supporting entrepreneurs in pursuing profitable ideas.

We begin in THREE WEEKS!

Have you saved your seat?

The Chickbook Creative Entrepreneurs Brain Trust is a membership-based community that creates a safe and inclusive space for entrepreneurs to cultivate new relationships, inspire personal and professional growth, and explore possibilities. 

What members are saying…

A place for my digressions.

[1] Pinch me. I love who I serve and I love what I do!

Was this blog forwarded to you? Sign up!

Where to find me

Collaborations!

In other news…

Feeling #FOMO about Curated Conversations? Join us!