Sitting on a hot pink sofa, so blissed out from a massage that I can barely speak, waiting for my friend Joe to come out of his massage room and join me for our journey home, a graceful middle-aged struck up a conversation with me.
“How long are you here?” she asks me.
“Oh, I live here!” I slowly slur trying to pull myself out of the intoxicating dreamland the massage has left me in.
“Oh wow! I’m visiting a friend here for two weeks. How long have you lived here?” she replies.
“This is my second winter… I live in Amapas, on the south end of town near the beaches.”
She slowly nods. I can see her brain whirring with more questions.
“Do you work here?”
“I have my own business. I have a background in psychology and work online as a women’s empowerment mentor.”
She coos. “I’m a family therapist and I’m so interested in transitioning into working online too. How did you figure out how to do that?”
I reply with a tiny white lie. I want the conversation to end so I can go back to being silent and soaking in the post-massage bliss.
“I kind of figured it out on my own with trial and error. The first 2 years were really hard, but every year it gets more enthralling, affluent and fun. It’s been almost 6 years now and I love it!”
She looks impressed.
Our conversation is interrupted when Joe comes out looking like a well-oiled baby radiating ecstasy after his massage. I hope I look as content and relaxed as he does! I think to myself. We say goodbye and leave.
On the way home I contemplated what I had told the silver-haired woman sitting on that hot pink sofa next to me. It’s true. Building my business took lots of trial and error, but I didn’t do it completely alone and without support. I had a little secret weapon that sustained me through my earliest challenges and hardships of getting started. It was a course called BSchool and the incredible community of women who acted as encouragers and expanders on my online business path.
BSchool is running again this year and to begin with, is giving away this 3-part training series for women like me, who are looking for help to launch and grow their online business as well as a structured framework to follow to give you confidence. Check it out if you’re interested in learning how I really got started. In hindsight, I wish I had told that women the full story.