The Heart-Centred Apprentice - My own (rocky) path to entrepreneurship

Well, it's one thing to have a good idea or a skill, it's a whole 'nother thing to be able to turn that into something that makes you a comfortable return - especially in the increasingly busy online space.

Clients and students ask me all the time, "How did you end up doing this?" and my answer is usually that I fell into it.

Prior to the Kajabi work we do now, I had a company called BubDesk. A combination of parent workspace and childcare - co-working with a difference.

It sounded like a great idea - the ability to return to work or business with your new baby close by and well cared for while you got some productive time in and could feed or cuddle when needed.

It got lots of media coverage, it won loads of awards, even some grants that kept me afloat, the problem? No one really used it! 🙈

I managed to expand the network in Australia to 28 branches nationwide - micro parent offices set up inside of participating childcare centres, slogged my guts out a million hours a day, sank a small fortune into it and because everyone told me what a great idea it was I found it almost impossible to give up on.

What I failed to realise was that my "good idea" made up about 10% of my likelihood of success, while the way it was marketed and its ability to actually provide parents with something they wanted was the other 90%. 

During that time, my then 2-year-old spent way too much time with au pairs, my husband threatened me with divorce and I lost a close friend who told me I had "just changed". That experience took SO much out of me.

Ego bruised and bank balance destroyed, I walked away with many valuable lessons about what not to do in business. I was even invited to share my story at an event called "F**k Up Night" (#winning 😂).

Not long after someone introduced me to James Wedmore (thanks Natalie!) and his program Business By Design. It opened my eyes to the possibilities of online course creation and the world of digital and leveraged time. It was then that I decided to put together an online course on "What not to do in business". 

I got myself a subscription with Kajabi, I started mapping out my modules and lessons, and then? Impostor Syndrome. Why would anyone starting a business want to learn from someone who hadn't succeeded in business? I was a failure.

And that course? Never created.

Instead, my dabbling with the Kajabi platform led me to a place of pretty solid understanding. Building pipelines that I never used, creating webinar slides that were never seen, writing email sequences I never sent. Hmmm.

And then?

Someone on a Facebook group I was in asked for help in setting up their Kajabi platform.

"Hello! Hello! Pick Me! Pick Me! 🙋‍♀️🙋‍♀️"

That small break snowballed into something I never could have anticipated. One referral led to the next, one service offering evolved into something more, my passion for digital marketing became so strong I wondered how it took me so long to stumble onto this path and finally I had created myself a business that not only did I love but actually made me money! ("Hooray!"....plus my husband got off my case 😉)

The clients I've supported, the students I've taught, the gratitude I've received, has all brought me to a point where I am so happy, so thankful, and ready to help others like me do the same.

For me, the "bull at a gate" approach with my first business certainly didn't work. Instead, a heart-centred, softly-does-it approach was all that was needed. 

If this story connects with you, I'd like to share something we've been working on. A new Kajabi design that we connect with for its honesty and gentle approach. If you'd like a copy of our latest Kajabi template "Softly Does It" you can download a free homepage at this link and get started - I've even included a commercial license with it so you can use it on your client accounts if you're in the biz 😘