Let’s recap the past year in my life:

I closed my business. Defeat. I tried to figure out what to do next. Hopelessness. I considered moving to a new city for a fresh start. Desperation. I decided to stay in the same city to prove that I could be successful there. Stress. I tried to figure out what to do next. Depression. I went back to my previous career for some temporary consulting jobs. Shame. I’m still trying to figure out what to do next. Confusion.

There seems to be a common theme in my life recently. I don’t know what to do, so I settle for “good enough”.

I Read More

Since I closed my business, I’ve been trying to move on and look toward the future. The problem is, when I look into the future, I see nothing but a big, blank space. I have no idea what I want to do with my life.

I temporarily slipped back into my comfort zone and accepted two short-term consulting jobs in my old career field of tax and accounting. When the opportunities came up, I had no other job, no other business, and no other plan. I couldn’t think of any valid excuse to tur Read More

After much anticipation, stress and a little desperation, I finally did it. I started my own business! And it failed (as is painfully documented here). After learning my background, someone asked me how I decided to start my new business. I replied, “I closed my eyes and jumped.” While that is a good way for adventures to begin, I wasn’t cliff diving off the Hawaiian Islands. I was making a decision that could impact the rest of my life and risking my career, life savings, and professional reputation. Was I naïve Read More

In a grandiose attempt to get as far away from my old accounting career as possible and to prove that I could be a risk-taker (the anti-accountant, I told myself), I started a business doing something I had never done before and knew very little about. Smart, right? It was definitely not something a conservative, practical accountant-type would do, but I think that’s what I was going for. This was a rebound job.

Much like a rebound relationship, a rebound job is something you jump into impulsively, shortly after the bitter end of a long-term job, while you’re feeling emotionally Read More

I want to be one of those people who learns from bad experiences and doesn’t make the same mistakes again. Apparently I’m not one of those people. Once again, I had believed that someone was serious about buying my business, and once again, they had wasted my time. But I suppose I was partly to blame since I let it happen… over and over again.

January 2014 – After receiving that out-of-the-blue message from the medical spa manager about buying my business, I quickly, yet cautiously, responded. I received no response in return. Was I surprised? Actually, yes! Read More

I had been excited to start my business.  I had been ecstatic to sell my business.  But now I was just angry.  Why would the gym back out of the sale and not tell me?  Why would they string me along and waste my time?  Why would they let me close my business if they weren’t going to buy it?  It wasn’t right.  It wasn’t fair.  Now I had no money from the (cancelled) sale and no income.  I needed to find a new buyer… fast.

December 2013 – After the initial shock and subsequent anger, I managed to calm down enough to think more clearly about what to d Read More

It was crazy to think that venturing into new territory and opening a medical spa could lead me right back to my previous career in tax and accounting.  But that could be exactly what was happening.  My medical spa was now located inside of a rapidly expanding exercise facility, and the owner wanted me to take over the accounting functions for his organization.  I was just waiting for approval from his business partner.  For now, the fate of my new career was out of my hands.  But I was about to have bigger problems to deal with.

October 2013 – It was nice of Read More

I started my own business.  Yay!  But my business location was a disaster.  What do I do now?  I couldn’t give up on my dream of owning my own business after only seven months.  I had to keep going and try again to make it work.

July 2013 – I searched the city for a new location.  I was frustrated that I had to move so soon after opening the business, but I couldn’t stay at a place that was negatively impacting my business.  So I moved forward, optimistic that this change could be the key to making my business a success.

I still liked the idea of Read More