My Entrepreneurial Spirit Animal is a Phoenix

 

There is just something powerful and mystical about the phoenix.  I am intrigued by the idea of it being reborn from the ashes of its predecessor. In fact, I strongly believe that my (entrepreneurial) spirit animal is a phoenix.

*NERD ALERT WARNING*

For all you HP fans out there, if we wanted to talk about casting spells, my patronus charm would be a phoenix.

If I was an aspiring wizard at Hogwarts and stated “Expecto Patronum”, I truly believe a phoenix would rise from a pile of ashes and glowing embers and would gracefully fly off into the sky.

According to Miranda Goshawk, author of the standard Book of Spells, “This ancient and mysterious charm conjures a magical guardian, a projection of all your most positive feelings. The Patrons Charm is difficult, and many witches and wizards are unable to produce a full, corporeal Patrons, a guardian which generally takes the shape of the animal with whom they share the deepest affinity. You may suspect, but you will never truly know what form your Patronus will take until you succeed in conjuring it.

As weird as this may seem, what Miranda is saying makes total sense to me. This is how I feel about aspiring to be an online entrepreneur. I know in the past, I have blogged about coding and wanting to take a coding bootcamp, but I’ve come to the realization that I don’t have the desire to pursue this profession. Despite the fact there is a growing need to fill a huge gap and it is a lucrative career.
 

You can’t force yourself to like something.

You have to want to do it. You have to enjoy doing it. You have to believe in the service or product you’re selling. You have to want to promote it.

As much I enjoyed being active, I don’t believe I was really putting an honest effort during my very brief stint as a personal trainer.

Even though I liked the clothing, I didn’t actually like the traditional retail environment and selling the product in the retail environment.

So with each pursuit, I tried and gave up because I felt it was the right thing to do. The flames died out over time.

And the critics, (myself included) may ask, “What makes you so sure this flame won’t die out?”

Truthfully, I’m not sure. But I’m willing to give it a shot when the time is right and say at least I tried. I’m not all talk and no action. More like no talk, and mostly action.

All I know is that this entrepreneurial flame is burning a lot more brightly than the coding flame and seems more realistic.

 

 

After reading story upon story about the entrepreneurship journey of people from all walks of life, I’ve finally come to the realization that the entrepreneurial spirit is not something that is necessarily innate.   

But can be developed and encouraged by those who see the potential in you.

It’s okay if you didn’t have a lemonade stand in your neighbourhood or didn’t sell the most Girl Scout cookies. I certainly didn’t.

For the longest time, I had the idea in my head that you had to be a “people person” or some sort of natural extrovert to be successful in creating and running a  full-time or side business.

I’m an offline introvert, online extrovert. In order to make your mark no matter what size at this given point in time, you have to be extroverted online and make the terrifying attempt to be extroverted offline. But it can pay off.

Even though you don’t have to meet with them face to face in person, it’s still scary.

At least to me it is.

Just asking someone you don’t know for help, advice, or a favour is scary. Yes, the worse they could do is say no or not respond but I still find it scary hitting that send button each time I send a long, detailed email about myself and the blog.

But I keep on seeking out opportunities. Ironically enough, I also find it scary when they respond back and express interest.

I think I’m just scared of the possibilities and opportunities I am trying to create for myself. I’m scared of the potential opportunities to come.  I’m even scared of the amazing people I’ll meet. If you had asked me even a couple of years ago about the idea of being an entrepreneur, I would have thought you were riding the express version of the crazy train.

Just to be clear, this isn’t an “I’ve Made the Jump” type post. I’ve still got quite a way to go. I’m definitely not ready. At least not this year. Not even sure if I’ll be ready in the next one. But during these past few months, I’ve had these feelings start to arise and they’re constantly present in various forms. Sometimes it’s the intense burning desire and other times it’ll be more subdued.

Perhaps it’s the next phoenix preparing to rise? Another cycle of rebirth? Preparation for the next stage in my life?

And there are times when I ask myself

Why am I feeling this way?

Why am I always trying to challenge myself?

Why do I have so many interests?

Why can’t I pick one thing and stick with it?

Why am I always asking myself so many questions???!!?

And my answers to my questions are even more questions.

Why not?

Who says I can’t change my mind?

Who says I have to follow the rules?

As someone who has followed the rules for the majority of her life, I’m a bit tired of following them. If I want to change the world and make an impact in a miniscule way, I’m sure I’ll have to change my mind from time to time.

 

#unconventional

What do you think your spirit animal would be (entrepreneurial or not) and why?

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