Entrepreneurism and Choice – The road is never straight

I was on a call this week with another entrepreneur to discuss an upcoming event we are organizing in his city. The focus of the event is targeted to entrepreneurs and helping them move their business forward. After the call I was feeling charged about the project and my entrepreneur journey.

For me, the path of being an entrepreneur was never linear. I don’t think it’s linear for anyone, even for the best planner. It reminds me of a recent motorcycle ride through the canyon roads of California. The roads were full of squiggly line sign posts that warns of the curves ahead and as much as I could anticipate the speed and lean that was required before getting into the turns, I was constantly adjusting to make it through.

As an entrepreneur, our lives are full of unexpected events and they are not usually what we want. In my 8 years of experience of doing this, the anchor that keeps me grounded is being aware that I have a choice. I choose how I will face my obstacles and what opportunities I will got after.

Being in choice, is a powerful place to be. Knowing that you have an impact on the world around you as opposed to the world impacting you gives you the power to choose what you want to do.

I am in a very exciting and stressful stage with my company. I have chosen to grow and expand to no longer be the solo rider on this journey. It started with a decision about 8 months ago to create something larger that will go beyond what I can do myself. It means growing my team and for the 1^st time in 8 years, I have an employee working with me. I have always outsourced the help I need to contractors and consultants in the past which made the relationships transactional. With a team of 2, I am stretching some muscles in building my team that have not been used in a while.

During my ride a few weeks ago, the idea of choice came to the for front as I contemplated why I enjoy entrepreneurism so much. It is not about being your own boss because each of our clients are a different boss. We don’t get what we want to do all the time and most times we are working through mind numbing tasks that just need to get done. I had to look closer at what drives me and it came down to choice. I get to choose the direction I want to go and how I go about doing it.

To expand my life science & pharmaceutical sales training business into the US, I get to choose the clients I want to go after. I get to choose the marketing message I communicate to them and I get to choose the types of projects I take on with them. I get to choose the team I surround myself with to ensure the best chance of success. I get to choose how I react to the twists that come at me as I go through this journey.

Yes, I get overwhelmed sometimes with the choices that I have to make. One of the qualities of a successful entrepreneur is making decisions and then going for it. Commitment to your decision will help you succeed more so than overanalyzing the decision itself.

Know that you are living in choice, then choose and act on it.