It’s not personal, it’s just business.
Really? I’m not buying it for one second. Never have and never will.
I started Moxie Trades in 2006. In 2008, I appeared on Dragons’ Den. In 2009, I totally lost who I was. I won retailers, lost retailers. Won business partners, lost business partners. Hired staff, fired staff. Lost money and lost money. Obviously, I struggled and survived Moxie Trades as I’m still ticking away in my Moxie footwear world.
At the time, Trump’s opening line on the Apprentice was “it’s not personal, it’s just business.” Huh?
As an entrepreneur, if it’s not personal, what is it? I have cried, thrown temper tantrums and been emotionally depleted. Financially… my personal finances took big hits as we re-mortgaged our home AGAIN. I hired staff that were cheap and incompetent as I could not afford to hire the best. I feared taking someone away from a stable job to join my shaky start-up. As a result of an unskilled team, the 250 hours of staffing I paid for every week was a waste. I would get up at 4am, go into the office or work from home, then off to meetings, have dinner with my family and back to the office until 1 or 2am to finish up the work that my team was not able to complete. I tried to coach and created system after system to catch mistakes but I failed miserably. I could never understand how I could get it done and they couldn’t. To this day, I feel like I was robbed of money and time.
Personally, my life was on the brink of complete deterioration. I don’t know how we hung on; it must be love.
I gained an education; it’s been expensive but I have experience that I am grateful for.
I have traveled the world; China, Germany, France, England, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Bali, Singapore, Thailand, Hawaii and many other states in the USA. I know Canada from coast to coast and love every city in our awesome country. I worked with a Federal Minister in 2014 and enjoyed another tour across Canada this fall with StartUp Canada.
Today, I am in Sosua, Dominican Republic. I get up early before my babies and my husband. I wake up, hearing the ocean waves hitting our beach that is steps away. I make my morning coffee and work away on the veranda. This week is about planning and writing.
It couldn’t be more personal than this. My business has afforded me the opportunity to travel the world, fail big, live wholeheartedly, meet the best people on the planet and work from the beach. It’s pretty personal. I believe that if it’s not personal, then you won’t be able to stick through it. The privileges of entrepreneurship are gifted to those who have made it personal and stayed in the game long enough.
For the next 12 weeks, I will be sharing my insights and my recommendations to get you into a place of personal success. My tricks and tips for starting up and staying up, happy and peacefully.
Hope you join me.