TGIT, is that a thing?! This week has been a long one, and kind of an emotional coaster with work and beyond – so I’m pretty excited that the weekend is just one sleep away! We’re so close friends, I can feel it 🙂

Last night I had the most amazing time speaking on a panel with a few super talented ladies from around the city to talk about entrepreneurship and it was a truly incredible experience. Jen from Girl Meets Party organized the whole thing (she’s a planning wizard, I swear…) and it was so fun talking about my career journey (both with work and the blog) and some of the things I’ve learned over the years.

The panelists were so incredible, and I managed to not totally embarrass myself – even though I made some accidentally inappropriate comments about letting balls drop (and maybe emphasizing ALL THE BALLS a little too much, whoops!), and mayyyybbbeeee dropped one F bomb during a moment of weakness. But all in all, it went well and I feel super fortunate to have been asked to talk to a group of so many kick-ass women. All warm fuzzy feels over here 🙂 Across the panel, the female entrepreneurs who spoke gave such amazing advice – so I thought I’d highlight a few of my favorite tidbits below. I can’t do all the advice justice (or take credit for most of it!), but I thought a few of the nuggets were too good to not share.

• When you’re ready for it, burn the ship! 
  • If you’re looking to become an entrepreneur, you sometimes have to burn the ship. Meaning, you can’t have half of yourself married to the paycheck and half of yourself married to your hustle forever – you need to know when to burn the ship and take the leap!
  • For me, it’s important to have a day job as I continue to build up my blog and side hustle, and I haven’t gotten to the point where I’ve needed/wanted to make the decision – but for those who are looking to make their side hustle a career, it’s important to figure out the right time to jump in head-first, and 100% go for it!
• There’s no such thing as perfect balance – so sometimes you have to drop the ball. 
  • As Jen said, some balls your juggling are glass, and some are made of rubber. Some will bounce back, but a few will break. You have to understand which of your priorities are glass (and need to happen) vs the ones you can deprioritize because you know they’ll bounce back eventually if they drop.
• Always listen to your gut
  • There’s a fine balance between listening to your gut and balancing facts/analytics. Know that it’s important to consider both when making big decisions with your career or business.
  • While there are some things you can track/map out (what business streams are giving you the best return on your investment of time), there are some decisions you just have to go for when you know they feel right.
• Make sure your business is relationship-focused, and not transactional 
  • The best, most long-lasting business relationships are real relationships, not transactions. Think of every client or potential client as a new relationship that needs to be cultivated – not a paycheck.
• There’s always enough room for others, so build each other up
  • We’ve all heard that here’s enough room for everyone when it comes to success, but how often do we put that into practice? So many of the successful women on the panel cited someone who was a mentor and took them under their wing to give them tools to be successful – and how important it is for strong women to support other women!
• Do the WORK. Success is possible when you put in the work
  • Many people asked what the secret to being a successful entrepreneur, and honestly – it’s putting in the work first and foremost. You can’t just build a business by expecting people to come, you have to put in the work to make yourself successful.
• Diversify your business. See what works. Rinse and repeat. 

Especially when you’re starting out – try a few different things to grow your business! Whether it’s consulting, passive income with an online class, products or services, etc. try a few different things, see what works, cut out what doesn’t, and continue to optimize Sometimes you don’t know what’s going to take off until you try a few different things.    Anyways, I was super inspired – so much so that I stayed up ’till midnight on a “school night” to write this post to share some of the inspiration with you! A big thanks to everyone who came out to join us for the panel session. I needed a little burst of inspiration to get myself excited about the possibilities of this little blog, and chatting about goals and what I’ve learned definitely gave me the little kick in the pants I needed 🙂 xx