“You’re being admitted to the ER today. The doctor will not perform your scheduled surgery. We will take you back to the emergency room and let the attending physician examine you. They are going to run a series of tests to see if there is any damage to your heart.”
She could see the terror on my face, so she tried to be as calm as possible.
It was on that summer day in 2018 that one of the biggest revolutions happened in my life.
I was faced with the fact that I am not invincible, nor am I 20 years old anymore.
Then it dawned on me that we are provided a life, but we need to decide to live it. At that moment, I chose to take my life into my own hands and listen to the direction that God has given me.
While waiting to be examined, one of the staff members spoke to me about staying healthy for the sake of not only myself but also my son.
The Waiting Room
Being in the waiting room with all those people who were visibly sick shook me to my core. Here I sat, totally unhappy with the direction my life was going regarding my career, but I still had a chance to fix it.
That led to my mind racing with thoughts like, what if today was my last day? What impact did I provide to the world? That pushed me to do the one thing that I had been talking about for over a year: start the business and quit playing.
“But God, suppose I fail?” I cried.
“Suppose you don’t.”
“I’ve failed in business before. It was horrible. I know people laughed at me. The depression I went through after that was hard.”
“If you believe I am behind you, then why are you worried about what they say?”
And with that, I took a deep breath and started planning for NicoleShana.com.
Overcoming the Fear of Starting a Business
I had been playing around with the idea for close to a year. I would start with an idea and research it to death, only to say that it wouldn’t work. The truth is, I had no idea if it would really work. As entrepreneurs and business owners, we tend to project our feelings onto our potential customers.
So, you may be wondering what I did to really focus on starting my business and getting out of my own way. This was the hard part. It’s so easy to just discuss and declare what you are going to do, but when it comes time to get it done, that’s when most people get lost.
Here are the steps I took…
- Prayed and fasted.
- I decided that no matter what, I would at least try.
- I detached my identity from my business. If it was a failure, I was not.
- I learned all I could from industry leaders. I invested in my mindset and my business skills.
- To understand what God says about me, I got into reading the Bible.
- I gave myself permission to be upset and frustrated when I had losses and happy when I had wins.
- Then, I promoted myself as if my life depended on it.
- I would never try to “pick” someone’s brain for help. I would support them however I could if I didn’t have the money to pay for their product or service.
- The last step I took was to become a service to my target audience.
A Work in Progress
In all fairness and honesty, I am still a work in progress. There are times I wonder, why did I get myself into the online business world?
Can I measure up to the big gurus in the online retail space? Doesn’t everybody sell t-shirts?
Just when those thoughts start to creep into my head, I then get a sense of reassurance. I don’t have to compete with other businesses in my market. We all serve a purpose. God does not run out of blessings. When it is my time to become a seven-figure business, I will rejoice and then go right back to work.
Harper Spero went through a similar event like Nicole’s, where she chose to use her diagnosis to start her own business that involved helping others. These stories have taught me that you can decide to take a diagnosis and make it your main focus for the rest of your life or use it to empower you to do more for yourself. My health scare changed my life as well when I learned I became sensitive to dairy. This is obviously not life-threatening, but it made me think about how I fed my body and what I did with the temple God gave me. A link to that story is below, as well as other interesting stories on Tru.Works.