You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem and smarter than you think.
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read the full disclosure here.
Last Updated on October 15, 2020 by ELLEASHThe topic of this post is why there’s no shame in being proud when you succeed at something.
Hey hey my lovely entrepreneurs,
I thought I’d share a little more about my journey on becoming who I am, and why I have chosen the path I am currently on, and why YOU can start believing in your dreams and attaining what you may feel now is, actually, unattainable.
Don’t get me wrong, it takes hard work, motivation and did I mention a lot of hard work? (lol)
But, the climb is pretty dang great!
Not many may know, that my motto Be the Entrepreneur of Your Life, really, and truly, encompasses the person that I am – an entrepreneur, but more importantly, a person who has decided to take charge of their life.
The meaning behind it is quite simple. Life has to be lived fully, but YOUR life can only be as great as you want it to be.
You cannot live fully if you are not in control of your life. To enable this, you need to Be the Entrepreneur of Your Life.
Consequently, when you are in control of your life, you will undoubtedly attain successes and you should never feel ashamed of them. Ever. You should feel no shame in being proud when you succeed at something.
This leads me to another significant element in my life – mental health. If you are interested in mental health, check out my related posts here or by clicking on one of the posts below.
[tcb_post_list query=”{‘filter’:’custom’,’related’:|{||}|,’post_type’:’post’,’orderby’:’date’,’order’:’DESC’,’posts_per_page’:’6′,’offset’:’1′,’no_posts_text’:’There are no posts to display.’,’exclude_current_post’:|{|’1’|}|,’rules’:|{||}|}” type=”grid” columns-d=”3″ columns-t=”2″ columns-m=”1″ vertical-space-d=”0″ horizontal-space-d=”0″ ct=”post_list-43459″ ct-name=”Image & text 10″ tcb-elem-type=”post_list” pagination-type=”none” pages_near_current=”2″ element-name=”Post List” css=”tve-u-1753a9af290″ no_posts_text=”” total_post_count=”24″ total_sticky_count=”0″ posts_per_page=”6″ featured-content=”0″ disabled-links=”1″ article-permalink=”|{|tcb-article-permalink|}|” class=” article-tcb-events=’__TCB_EVENT_|{|{“t”:”mouseover”,”config”:{“anim”:”bob”,”loop”:1},”a”:”thrive_animation”}|}|_TNEVE_BCT__’ article-class=’tve_evt_manager_listen tve_ea_thrive_animation tve_et_mouseover tve_anim_bob’ ][tcb_post_list_dynamic_style]@media (min-width: 300px){[].tcb-post-list #post-[tcb_the_id] []{background-image: url(“[tcb_featured_image_url size=medium]”) !important;}[].tcb-post-list #post-[tcb_the_id] []:hover []{background-image: url(“[tcb_featured_image_url size=medium]”) !important;}}[/tcb_post_list_dynamic_style]
[tcb_post_title link=’1′ rel=’0′ target=’0′ inline=’1′ static-link='{“className”:””,”href”:”https://lp-build.thrivethemes.com/leo-vel-orci-porta-non-pulvinar-neque/”,”title”:”Leo vel orci porta non pulvinar neque”}’ css=”]
[tcb_post_content size=’words’ read_more=” words=’18’ css=’tve-u-1753a9af29d’] More[/tcb_post_list]
Why I am a mental health advocate and why I am proud of my successes
I have lived with a parent who suffered from depression, and I have learned to navigate around the turmoils, yet, unfortunately, I haven’t been completely immune to its blood-sucking tentacles!
I do suffer from bouts of great anxiety, but I have also learned to live with it and be stronger than the anxiety itself.
It hasn’t always been the case, nor will it truly ever be rid of my system. However, I believe that thanks to the help of amazing mental health experts, I am the Entrepreneur of MY Life!
I have managed to create a wonderful life for myself, for my family and I am very proud of this. There is no shame in being proud when you succeed at something.
Nor, should you feel embarrassed to admit, that there are days where you find it incredibly hard to get out of bed, and you need to really dig deep into your resilience, to just roll out of bed.
And this is why, I truly wish that all people I encounter, really do take charge of their life, become their true master and never let their mental health be an obstacle to the greatness they can achieve!
Your mental health shouldn’t hinder where you want to go.
Set the bar higher than you think you could ever reach, and just go for it.
So, in order for you to understand how I have landed here, y’all need a backstory, right?!
My backstory and why it’s okay to be proud at what you achieve
There comes a time in every woman’s life when being an employee, a partner, a mother, sometimes just isn’t enough.
I have always had the entrepreneurial bug, ever since I was very little. As a child, I grew up in a happy and safe bubble, but always wanted to make an extra buck.
I mean, there was just so far $1 could go at my local corner store!
Even as a child of the 90’s, when candy was cheap, there never seemed to be enough $1 could buy me – especially those heart-shaped strawberry candy!
So, I would line up a few toys, I no longer wanted, nor needed, and would have my own little yard-sale.
Of course, the money that I would receive, were from my parents’ friends and our lovely, and understanding, neighbors, who would purchase the items.
Or, inevitably, my parents would give me a few more dollars, just so I could go back inside!!
As a teenager, I created a babysitting-club, which lasted all through my high school years, as well as all throughout university!
Whichever country I was living in (I moved around a lot and grew up in numerous countries – but that’s another story!), I managed to always find families to baby-sit for!
This awesome side-hustle, enabled me the freedom to no longer rely on my parents to give me pocket money.
And man, was I super proud of this achievement!
I also had an after-school job in a discount-store. I did what I wanted with my money (in hindsight I was pretty damn save-savvy!) – which mainly consisted of paying for my travel-bug.
Obviously, I would juggle school, work, friends and my various side-hustles, but it was then that I realised that I could never be truly happy with a boss breathing down my neck.
I would have to be my own boss!
Nevertheless, upon finishing university with a teaching degree, from a great school, like any uni-leaver, I got myself a job in my field.
I loved teaching (still do!), but I just didn’t fit well within the hierarchy …
The rebellious and nostalgic side of me, knew that I couldn’t ever finish my career working for a boss.
Unless, I was that boss and, only then could I be happy having a boss 🙂
Once my contract ended, I flew back to Europe and used my teaching degree to create my own business. I was finally my own boss!!
The ups and down of being your own boss
In the beginning, the mere fact that you have to get yourself known to the community and prove your worth is down-right scary!
You no Ionger have the backing of an institution, and you have to throw yourself out there.
I knocked on so many doors, pestered future collaborators, before even being asked back for a meeting.
One person finally gave me a chance, and I started building my portfolio slowly, but surely.
The old adage that word-of-mouth will get you farther than you can imagine, is so true!
After a couple years, building everything from the ground up, I was finally in a place in my life where work was stable and I was starting to be known and my services were appreciated and word-of-mouth helped my business grow.
I was working a lot – long hours and creating and innovating programs, and doing lots of traveling (for my work).
What’s in store now?
It was a few years down the track, that I decided I wanted something to challenge my capabilities, not only in being an entrepreneur but something that was completely out of realm of experience.
As a teacher, instructor we are always creating and I wanted to explore more the creativity side of my skills.
My family and partner were worried that I would burnout, by trying to juggle too many projects in the air.
But, us women, we are able to juggle, and boy do we do it well.
As Lucille Ball once said, If you want something done, ask a busy person to do it. The more things you do, the more you can do.
Celebrating women & all our achievements
The journey I am currently on, really started after my outing with my girlfriends, when we were meant to be having a fun day out of shopping, lunching and drinking (in moderation y’all!) – but we all had so many other things on our mind, that it really struck me at how much we can actually do in one day!
Not only do, but, be.
We were girlfriends spending a fun day out, but we were also the Mommy organizing the after-school pick ups for the next week, we were the boss trying to figure out how to get the damn budget in by X date, we were the chef organizing our grocery shopping list in our heads, we were the friend trying to pick out a cool gift for the next birthday … we were ALL of these things and more.
I wanted to celebrate my women friends, and all the other women out there, who are doing their best at juggling life!
What better way than to do it by combining what I love? Designing, words and paying-it-forward. Add a dab of fashion and I had mapped out my future side-hustle.
Well, the fun part only.
The idea of my side-hustle, came to me so easily that I, albeit naïvely, thought the other-not-so-fun part, would just fall into place.
Honestly, it isn’t always fun. I am learning that I can delegate and reign the troops in when needed. And also alleviate the workload and just enjoy every new day and experience, that running a business entails.
Sometimes, just believing in your capabilities and just going for it, without truly being prepared for what can emerge from this leap, is just the right thing to do.
I will be going into more details of this new journey I have embarked on and will be giving you all the ups and downs of what it’s like to start your own business from scratch.
Elle Ash xo
