Thursday, February 17, 2011

How To Take The Plunge & Do What You Love


Are you doing what you love? I don't know if its the Valentine's Day Effect but I've had several people ask me this month how I got started doing what I love.

Seems there are quite a few people out there who have a passion (other than what they are currently doing) and are looking for a change.

The truth is I'd been toying with the idea of how I could make Chai my job for quite sometime before I actually took the plunge.

The thing that held me back was fear "What if it doesn't work?" and security "How can I leave my secure job for the unkown?". What if? What if? What if??? Eventually I decided to balance the risk by starting part time on the weekends and just going for it.

Turns out that was the secret! Just going for it - simple as that. Taking action (even small action) made the fear disappear. The longer I hesitated the scarier things seemed. The more I acted the easier things got. Before I knew it the business had a life of its' own and now my only regret is "why didn't I start sooner!?"

But we all do things when we are ready and that's totally ok. My point in sharing my little story is to hopefully encourage anyone who might have been sitting on an idea or is almost at that point where they are ready to go - to jump in and just go for it. I can honestly say following my passion has been the most rewarding thing I've ever done. That's not to say it hasn't been challenging but it's overcoming these challenges that makes it even more rewarding.

As well as amazing support from my family, friends, partner and fabulous staff, I've had incredible support from a number of industry experts. These people have helped me turn what I love into an actual business that works.

If you are looking for someone to help you - here are my top 5 recommendations of people who have made a huge difference in helping me set up and grow my business.

1) Michael Griffiths Secrets of a Super Small Business . Michael is an expert in social media and online marketing. He knows what is about to happen online before it even happens!. He'll help you stay on top of the latest technological developments and the best part is he genuinely cares about your business and helping you succeed. There are sooo many companies out there that make big claims about what they can do for your business - Michael is someone you can trust. On top of all things social, he's also helped me get organised and come up with a fabulous planning system to help achieve my goals.

2) Todd Wright ThreeSides Online | Marketing | Training For anyone operating or thinking about operating a small business in the Canberra Region, you have to call Todd. I'm pretty sure he's a genius. He'll understand what you are trying to do in an instant and then just as quickly he'll have great practical ideas (that work) to help you achieve your goals. Another genuine, caring professional at very affordable rates. Perfect for someone starting out.

3) Andrew Lawson Best Practice Consulting Andrew has had a huge influence on our team. He has provided excellent, enjoyable training that everyone on the team loved and has taken on board an implemented. Andrew has taken an already excellent team and helped us develop shared values, solve problems and create a really positive culture. If you are looking for a trainer Andrew's your guy!

4) Perry Mardon Mardon International Ok, Perry is without a doubt the most influential support I've had along the way. Perry is a business/marketing coach with a twist. Perry provides volumes of training about marketing strategies, recruiting, advertising etc but what made his program so influential is, that he specialises in personal development as part of business development. He helps you uncover what might be holding you back. You'll uncover limiting beliefs you didn't even know were getting in the way of reaching your dreams so you can take responsibility for them. Essentially I learnt that business is a reflection of where you are at personally. If something's not working you need to look internally and see what you can do differently. Perry teaches you to work on your business rather than in it. This means giving yourself time to do big picture strategic things that will grow your business - rather than getting stuck in the day to day running - which will burn you out! If you look at his website, it says he specialises in helping "wellness industry" people but what he teaches applies to ANY business so don't be put off if your idea is something completely unrelated.

5) Candice Edye Daisy & Dandelion My Goodness! If you live in Canberra and you are a Mum wanting to start a biz and you don't get along to one of Candice's events - well... you're crazy :-) Candice is a lovely, lovely lady who goes out of her way to help Mum's (in particular) get their businesses up and running. She runs workshops and does one on one coaching. If you are wanting to do what I did and start your idea small at a market she even runs a fabulous workshop with other existing and budding stallholders so you can learn all the best tips. It's a really supportive, peer learning environment. I did the course last year and got soooo much out of it. Plus, there are always a number of fabulous guest speaker sharing their secrets to get your inspired. We are really blessed to have Candice in Canberra. What are you waiting for - call her today and see how she can hep you get started Ph: (02) 6292-5669.

If there is something you'd LOVE to do and I can help at all, in any way to support you, in getting your idea off the ground please give drop me an email at thechaigirl@live.com. I'd love to have a chat and pass on any info that's helped me along the way so far. I can't emphasise enough how worthwhile it is giving what you love a chance.

Bye for now :-))

Anthea (aka the chai girl)

1 comment:

  1. And your biggest secret to starting your business was not being satisfied with the 9-5 of the public service, finding an idea that you were passionate about and having a belief that it would work. Have enjoyed working with you over the years.

    Our house now has a collection of 6 Real chai tins on the shelf at home. We know you sell refills but the tins are a designer addition to our kitchen!

    Keep the Real chai love flowing.

    ReplyDelete