Walking The Line Between Bravery & Stupidity

I was just about to graduate high school when I decided to open my first-born business. About a week’s worth of thought went into the concept before I decided to jump in and give it a go. I had no money, recently quit my job I had planned on working for quite some time to come, and graduation was just around the corner. I was working toward obtaining my AA Degree in Graphic Design from a local community college and had an open road ahead.

“Many said it was brave of me to start my own business at 18 years old. I feel it was an even mixture of bravery and stupidity that turned out well!”

After having a change of heart about the job I had been working for years, I decided to quit without knowing what the path ahead would have. It was the right thing to do. You could say it was a brave choice. My health and happiness were being traded for stress, toxic people, and a paycheck. I was no longer happy and needed a change of pace. What could be a better change of pace than starting my own business with nothing more than a lot of shadowing experience of entrepreneurs I had spent time around during my teenage years?

And with that, I jumped on an opportunity to begin this adventure accepting the help of a local business that had offered assistance for my start-up. You know that old saying, “if it sounds to good to be true, it probably is”, this was a good example of that. I learned very quickly that they had trapped me in a situation where I would never actually be my own boss with my own set of rules to run my business with. The arrangement had never been put on paper and the terms of the verbal agreement changed daily. This could give a tick to the list of stupid choices I’ve made. I should have known to put the agreement in writing to avoid misunderstandings.

I knew I needed to exit, but felt stuck. I was a recent graduate with no money, no regular pay check I could count on. But I had grit. I refused to give up and run a business being dictated to as to how and when I would run it. I wanted my profits to go back into the business to grow it to its fullest potential. I found a small location on Main Street in our little community, found a way to pay off the initial investors and moved out without having anything more than prayers this would work out. The decision to make the move goes in the category of brave choices.

Looking back, I’m still not sure how I survived that first year, or two. It was rough. There were many sleepless nights, skipped meals, and zero social life. If this is what it was going to take to succeed, I was all in. Failure was not an option. Growing up in rural Iowa on a farm taught me to be resourceful. When things get tough, figure it out. I wore the hat of the designer, accountant, marketing manager, customer relations, inventory manager, production and many more. I lived and breathed my business for the foreseeable future pouring in every dollar and ounce of energy I had to keep growing it into something bigger and sustainable.

I had to learn fast and absorb information like a sponge to gain much needed knowledge to survive. I attended free seminars, chamber meetings, read every book I could get my hands on about sales, marketing, managing and expanded the business every chance I got. Within that first year, I outgrew my space on Main Street and moved to a different building just a few blocks away on the next busy street in town. At this time, I also decided I wanted to have my own residence rather than living with my mom; so, I decided to rent the apartment above the space my store was located in.

Apparently, I just really like struggle. Every time I felt a tiny bit of comfort along my way, I made changes that flung me right back into survival mode. But I knew I wasn’t ready to settle for what was, but rather, to work hard for what could be. I am going to count this as a brave choice to focus on growing the business every chance I got. I remained in that location for about a year and then once again, I decided it was time for another growth spurt. I moved three buildings down into a larger space that, rent was over double what I had been paying; but the display window and retail area were a better fit. I now had the space to expand into screen printing as well as storage area for growing level of inventory and production. For these reasons, I give a tick to each the brave and the stupid list. Both ticks would be brave IF I had saved money to have as a cushion to handle the first few months of higher expenses; but remember how I’m apparently addicted to survival mode?

By this time, I had brought in friends, family, and a very low wage employee to torture as they helped pour their energy into my business. It’s amazing how people will chip in to help you survive while growing a business if you allow them to. I learned each growth spurt came with its own challenges and the business would always feel a bit like raising a child. I always thought my perspective would change once I actually had a child, but it didn’t. I’ll share more on that later.

I was self-taught in most of the services I offered. I’ll put this on the stupid list of choices. At the time, it seemed like a good idea to figure it out rather than paying money to have someone train me. The mistakes, reputation damage, stress, and pure exhaustion that came with this choice later was recognized as more costly than paying for a trainer or class to do it the right way out of the gate. Although, when I screwed something up so badly that it could have sunk my business, I made the brave choice of owning the mistake and fixing it.

“Over the decades, I’ve had many opportunities to walk the line between bravery and stupidity and have done so like a staggering drunk.”

This all took place within the first three years of operating and growing my business. Throughout the decades of being self-employed, I’ve had many more opportunities to make stupid choices and brave ones. I’ve walked the line between the two like a staggering drunk! I have learned that some choices will be hard to define as brave or stupid and the more time one spends thinking about it, the harder it is to jump in and trust in the process. As long as you make calculated choices, have a plan and the energy to pour into the business, and maintain your grit to see the stupid choices through, you can survive and thrive.

When figuring out what side of the line a risk lands on, I encourage you to evaluate the impact of the risk. If it can sink the entire ship, it’s too big. Figure out a way to secure lifeboats or wait until the waves won’t sink the boat if it doesn’t go as planned. This was a piece of advice a fellow business owner shared with me years ago and it has helped me make so many choices along the way both personally and professionally.