I don’t talk about personal stuff very often, but everyone has a big turning point at least once in their life. Sometimes life gives you lemons, here’s how I made my lemons into lemonade…
The truth is, I have been chronically ill for over 20 years. You wouldn’t know it to look at me, because mine is an invisible illness called Fibromyalgia. It leaves me with chronic pain (a deep aching soreness in my muscles) and debilitating exhaustion. It’s like having the flu, but it never goes away.
Despite the bad news, I am grateful to have a diagnosis that is not life threatening and is treatable with a regiment of medication, exercise and vitamin supplements. I can function at 70-80% of my previous normal function and energy.
But, the illness definitely has taken a toll on my daily life and still does. Years ago, I realized that continuing to work at my full-time job as a college marketing director was no longer possible.
For a career- driven, type-A person like me, this was a devastating blow. I’d had a great career in higher education, but living with a chronic illness deprived me of the energy and strength to keep up with the demands of a fast-paced career. I was broken.
Enter Entrepreneurship…
Over 15 years ago, I took a leap of faith and left my job with plans to start my own freelance marketing/PR business on a part-time basis while working at home so that I could take care of my health, my family and build my career based on my needs. I was so excited that I leapt into my new venture without regard for research, planning, funding or realizing how tough it really is to start a business. I just knew I was good at what I did. For the first several years in business, I really struggled.
I did all the traditional things I thought I should do to market my business – direct mailings, letters, put an ad in the Yellow Pages (a very costly mistake!), advertised in local papers, had expensive full-color brochures printed, etc. Yet, nothing I did was brought in clients.
As I was slowly building my business, I was asked to start a local chapter of a national women’s networking organization. Starting this new chapter from the ground-up was quite a challenge, mostly because I had absolutely no marketing budget or funding of any kind. Other people told me I was crazy to accept such a position, but I followed my gut. I knew that running a networking group would get me out in the community in a big way.
It turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life because it opened me up to a new world of possibilities and connections (authors, speakers and business coaches).
I started to implement creative, no-cost marketing methods and within months, my chapter skyrocketed. My monthly networking events sold-out and the number of new members soared. We attracted prominent, six-figure corporate sponsors and multiple media partners. In six months, we were the fastest growing chapter in the nation.
It was so successful I had to turn people away at our events! Even the CEO of the organization, as well as other chapter leaders, started asking me what I was doing to become so successful, so fast. I trained other chapter leaders in my marketing and publicity tactics and they started to see the same success.
And the best part… I didn’t spend a dime on advertising.
I loved what I was doing and became very passionate about helping other women to market and promote their businesses. Soon, women started asking me for coaching and advice on how they could use marketing techniques to build their businesses and attract clients. I knew that I had found my calling as a business coach and knew what I had to do.
I signed up for a coach training program and became a certified business coach. A year later, I joined a marketing coach training program with a very successful business coach and best- selling author. And no, I couldn’t afford it, but I also couldn’t afford NOT to do it. I immersed myself in learning from him and the other members of the group.
I also started learning more about online marketing. Facebook and Twitter started to boom and I found that there were much easier ways for me to leverage my time and get the word out about my business in an even bigger way by using the power of social media. I was amazed at the ability of social media to rapidly spread ideas and messages to a much bigger national and global audience than anyone could ever imagine.
Recognizing that social media was the future of marketing, I sought further training (again!). In 2009, became certified as a social media specialist, personally trained by the immensely talented and widely recognized social media guru Mari Smith (marismith.com), I was mentored by Mari and others in the social media industry and it has helped me to help my clients achieve some amazingly positive results.
I have always been a marketer and that’s what I do, but my unique gift is inspiring women to do big things in the world by helping them tap into their own “Inner Celebrity” (or what I like to call your unique brilliance). I help them become the #1 expert in their niche and leverage that fame to make an even bigger difference in the world.
From the deepest core of my being, this is what inspires, drives, connects and reconfirms my commitment to overcoming my illness and doing the hard work it takes to make a difference and be successful in the world. Beyond money, what really matters to me is impacting women’s lives for the greater good.
Why am I Sharing This With You?
Having fibromyalgia is not something I usually talk about. I tell myself I’m tough and fight through the symptoms; acting as if I am 100 percent healthy like the people around me. I’m in denial a lot of the time because I want my body to function as it used to. When I work too much or am too physically active (like planting bushes in my flower beds last weekend – whew!), my body always reminds me through the searing pain that I am not my former self and I’m a little different from everyone else.
Why am I sharing this with you now? First, I really want to spread awareness of this illness and how it affects 6 million people in the US alone. One whom I admire most is the author Martha Beck (you may have seen her on Oprah or read her bestselling self help books) who has been an inspiration to me as an example of thriving with fibromyalgia. She is not shy about talking about her illness and has a fabulous career as a writer, even thought she suffers with fibromyalgia like I do. Hey, if Martha can do it, then I can too!
It’s time to become radically transparent, to tell my story of loss, grieving, pain and suffering, yet ultimately triumphing over this illness. I don’t let it keep me down even though there are days that I just can’t get out of bed or summon the energy to get through the day. I push through because I want a life with meaning and freedom, and part of that for me is helping others become all that they can be in creating businesses that allow them to live their purpose.
So instead of sharing a story of “woe is me,” I’d rather tell you a story of transformation and triumph! For many years I thought that having fibromyalgia was a curse (and some days I still do!), but now I look at it as a blessing/ I’ve learned so much and really have grown into the person I want to be, despite my physical limitations.
For example, I never would have thought about having my own business before fibromyalgia. Being forced to quit a job I loved as a college administrator was so crushing to me, but I simply couldn’t keep up with the pace. I knew I couldn’t work full time anymore, but my creative side wanted an outlet. So, 10 years ago I created my first business. I’ve been on a joyful ride ever since. Now, I can’t imagine living any other way. I’ve been able to build a career around my illness which provides me the freedom to work when I want, where I want, spend more time with my children and family, and have time to rest when I need it most.
Before fibromyalgia, I never really appreciated the little things in life…the stuff that really matters. I recently read an article about the regrets of people on their death beds written by a hospice nurse who found commonality among all dying people. They all had the same regrets. They wished they hadn’t worked so hard or spent more time with friends. They wished they had spent more time with the important people in their lives instead of working for the corporate machine. I do not want to have those regrets! That’s exactly what pushes me to live my purpose though my work.
Each one of us was put here for a reason and despite illness, loss and limitations; each of us has the power to create the life we want.
Choose happiness over sadness. Find out what we love to do and create and income out of it. Live life to the fullest and fulfill your purpose, no matter how hard life is sometimes. In her last show, Oprah said something that really stuck with me, “You alone are enough. Each one of us was put on this earth for a reason. Your job is to go find your purpose and live it.”
Although still a work in progress, I strive every day to live my
purpose to help others build businesses that fulfill their purpose and feed their soul. You alone are enough! You have gifts to share and you have a choice to live a happy life. Having a happy life really is a choice. It took me a long time to realize that. I choose to live my purpose through my business. I’m doing the work I was meant to do.
How about you? Do you consciously see the lesson in every thing that happens in your life, or do you blame others for your unhappiness? Are you living your true purpose, or are you grinding it out, day by day in a job you hate. You have a purpose to live, are you seeking to find it, or accepting your life the way it is and settling for being less than happy?
You have to power to turn it around. There is a lesson in everything, you just need to find it. I’ve learned so many lesions from having this illness that I almost can’t imagine not having it. Is your burden to bear a blessing or a curse? Choose blessing and the Universe will reward you with more than you ever imagined.
What challenges have you overcome to live life on your terms? Comment below…