Words can’t describe how much I appreciate my Mom and her support, especially over the last 5 years of starting my business.
Last Friday we celebrated her birthday and I found this picture from 5 years ago, which we took when I told her my business plan.
I was so excited to share all the details of who I would be helping and how I would be successful in business and after describing in detail the plan for 20 minutes, she said “Lucas, I have no idea what you’re talking about, but I know you want to do this, so do your best and you’ll be successful in it.”
What Unconditional Support Is
As a Mother, seeing your son leave a safe job to decide to pursue starting a business, which he never done before, to focus on Coaching, which he has never done before was tough.
My parents only wish was that I be happy in what I do, but from their perspective, I had a good job and promising career, so why would you risk it all to possibly fail?
In the starting stages of my business, it was extremely overwhelming. I had close friends tell me that switching from working for someone else to starting a business in the same industry is hard, when you combine having to learn the craft and how to run a business at the same time, it’s just asking for struggle. It was a combination of knowing this going in, being somewhat naive to the upcoming challenges, and being willingness to immerse myself in training and coaching to success.
But in the early days, what I appreciated most was my parents, especially my Mom in not sharing their concerns for my future. Don’t get me wrong, my parents are Italian, I did often hear “How’s business coming along?” followed quickly by “Have you thought about going back to your old job and getting rid of all this stress?”
A few questions are expected, but what I appreciated was that they didn’t try to crush my dream with negativity. When starting out, you’re filled with enough of your own questions and doubts that having others compound theirs, especially when you don’t have a consistent system yet can lead to people abandoning their dreams.
I often wonder, how many people have viable business ideas that stop because of the pressures faced by other people’s doubts and fears. When receiving feedback from others I appreciate constructive feedback, but I’ve found that asking myself this question provides clarity:
Is this valid feedback or is this a projection of their fears/doubts that they could accomplish this goal?
This questioning process has been essential for my progress because in my experience, a lot of what is phrased as “feedback” is really a projection of fears from others that if they were in your position, they don’t believe they could accomplish that goal.
We’re all different and the only question that matters is what are you willing to do. So when you’re pursuing a goal, others may doubt if you can achieve it, but if this is something you actually want to accomplish, focus your energy on creating a plan to succeed, instead of wasting energy on why people are doubting you.
“Everything’s talk except results.”
At the birthday party, the cake came out and it was funny because one of my cousins turned to me and announced, ok Lucas, time for a speech.
It was interesting because from speaking with potential clients, speaking in these types of spontaneous situations often are a major source of anxiety.
Being in that moment, it was good to see how I was completely comfortable and instead of nervous, was actually excited to give a quick speech.
This is what’s possible when you’ve trained yourself to have the confidence to speak with confidence because it’s a process of knowing the techniques to ground nervous energy and also speak from the heart in any situation.
If you’d like to learn more about this training, click here: Training info
One thing I’m appreciating more as I get older is the impact the people closest to me have on my life and success. I used to think that I was a “lone wolf” with a me against the world mentality, but in reality, everyone we interact with has impact.
Take a moment and let someone that impacted you, know the positive effect they’ve had on your life.