Tribulations of a reorientation — business coach — n°3 (English)

Entrepreneurship => Never!

I was born in an entrepreneur family. From the outside, one could believe it was obvious for me to create my business. On the contrary, I always promised to myself that I would never have my business, this was not for me: never!

During my childhood and teenage years I saw my father workaholic: days and night, insomniac called in at work during the night. 

When he had dinner with us, he was physically there but his mind was at work. 

He canceled his holidays, went to work on week ends and came back home with dark circles and tons of troubles. 

Of course this was an era without mobile phones and laptops. Worktime was not as flexible as it is today. 

I have definitely analyzed this with the prism I had of the reality. 

That was how I perceived it and my feelings have gotten worse when I grew up. 

Nevertheless I constructed myself with the idea that entrepreneurship ment to be tied up with troubles and suffer those situations. In a way, I thought it was an obstacle to liberty and to my desire to move, travel and discover. 

I wanted to be present for my couple and my family and it seemed to me totally impossible to have my business at the same time. 

Therefore, I always rejected the idea of creating my business. 

I preferred to it the traditional pathway of working in a global company and its benefits: the monthly guaranteed salary, 8 weeks of holidays per year, annual salary increase, regular promotions… I really enjoyed the group-wide emulation, the deep friendship bonds I have weaved, the variety of projects I have worked on, the diversity of profiles I have met, the intercultural work, enriching business trips, and the list is still very long…

And then… wham… a buried desire came back to the surface. My mental tried several times to send it back deep down, and finally let it live. 

I am a coach, and love so much my job than my beliefs, reluctances, fears and anxieties towards entrepreneurship faded away. 

This desire is so powerful than it outshines everything. 

I am not going to lie to myself, fears doubts and questioning are still part of the game. 

But they clearly have a different flavor now: softer and more exiting. Those flavors will probably evolve and I love this idea!

I must admit I have chosen to start my business within an entrepreneur cooperative, to be pampered a little bit more. Therefore, I am able to delegate the technical aspects and keep the focus on what I am keen on. 

The old saying « Never say never » comes fully to its true meaning here for me. 

Aurore