“What if I fall ? , but my Darling what if you fly?”
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This photo was taken last summer , when we went to Italy on holiday, it was such an amazing place !. I came back from that holiday and knew it was time – time to take a giant leap of faith and believe in myself as much as my family and friends did .
I believe the universe sends us signs and helps guide us to where we are meant to be and it was definitely sending me plenty signs to tell me the time to flutter my butterfly wings was now.
I had spent 8 years building my fitness business alongside working part time as a senior business travel Consultant ( sounds proper fancy doesn’t it 😂) .
My dream though was always to make my fitness business my full time job.
Taking that step though was so scary – I lived on my own , so all the bills were solely my responsibility. Could I really make it work full time ?.
My business was growing and It was getting harder and harder to juggle the two and I was exhausted. Whenever I get run down , I lose my voice . Since my early twenties , this has always been how stress manifests itself within my body. I’ve had the cameras down my throat , I’ve been for speech therapy and learned that when it happens , it’s my body’s way of telling me to slow things down and it was happening a lot.
Travel work was getting more stressful, we were being bought by a rival company and the simple fact was I just did not want to be there , I wanted to be running my business full time.
My first day back at work after that holiday , I handed in my 12 weeks notice and left last November.
That was 6 months ago now and during that time I have not lost my voice!!! ( hopefully not tempting fate 😂). Is it easy – no! , is it worth it? – absolutely!!!! . My fellow entrepreneur friends all said to me – “you will do it and never look back”. They were spot on .
So if you sat reading this and are in a similar position thinking about taking that step of taking your side hustle full time , don’t be afraid to at least try – even if it didn’t work out , I’d much rather have tried then always to have wondered. I have more time to focus on my business, and as a result , it’s continuing to grow which is amazing . It has also allowing me to create a better work/life balance again too.
Its just about putting a plan in place to get you there. I knew I had to give 12 weeks notice which seemed ages, but I also knew that was 3 months pay checks I could try and save as much as I could to give me that little safety net at the beginning. I worked long hours fitting my clients and classes in to my week around my part time 9-5 job. All the time I just kept focused on my goal and that kept me going through the tougher days.
so go do it – spread those wings and fly toward your dreams .
Lots of Love
Joanne x
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