Coming up for air

My first year running my business solo, I felt like I was being pulled under the surface of the water, only able to come up for a breath of air when my lungs were about to burst... and then going right back under again. I was surviving off brief, gasping breaks of air.

That is only sustainable for so long.

I have never been good at asking for help. Definitely a character flaw I’ve worked hard at correcting. I’m the oldest of five, and I spent most of my childhood “in charge.” We didn’t have money for extras, so if I wanted something, I learned to figure it out myself. At the time it felt unfair, but looking back, it taught me how to be resourceful and it planted the seed for entrepreneurship (long before I knew what that word meant).

One summer when I was 14, my best friend and I brainstormed ways to make money. We landed on starting a dance studio out of my garage. We made flyers, went door to door, and got seven girls to sign up at $20 a month. We felt rich and empowered.

We cleared out my garage, rolled out a piece of carpet we’d salvaged from a neighbor, dragged in some lamps, and set up my boom box. It wasn’t fancy, but it was ours.

We built something out of nothing, we were proud and we loved it.

We even held a recital in the local church gym, charging a little extra for solos and duets. The parents were thrilled. The kids had built so much confidence and a love for dance. And just like that, we had our first “real” business, rooted in passion and built on grit.

Fast forward to my first year running an actual business…with employees, expenses, and all the stress that comes with it. That same grit was still there, but the air felt thinner and the passion was overcome with anxiety.

How do you get back to what you’re passionate about when you feel like you’re drowning?

You ask for help. You have to ask for help.

You admit you can’t do it all alone.

You find good people and let them stand beside you.

You learn that leadership doesn’t mean doing everything, it means building a team that helps you breathe again.

Could I have made it without the key people who helped me move the needle? Not a chance.

Business ebbs and flows and at times I feel the current starting to pull me under again…. But now I don’t wait until I’m out of air, I turn to my people.

Asking for help isn’t a weakness, it’s the oxygen that keeps your vision alive and allows passion and creativity to flow.