Expansion n. the action of becoming larger or more extensive.
Last night, I went to my twice-monthly meeting of women entrepreneurs. It is truly an amazing group of women. Between us, we offer services in fashion, marketing, life coaching, “coming into your greatness,” seduction coaching, nutrition, yoga, acupuncture, and Pilates. We can fix you up from the inside out and send you on your way in style! 😉 Each of us believes wholeheartedly in the others’ visions for their businesses and lives. Less than eight weeks ago, we were strangers…until our worlds began to expand.
My friend Karen told us about her tendency to keep her social group close to the vest, allowing others in only when they had earned a place at the table. She went on to say that she’d noticed a new openness in herself the past few months, a loosening of her “new friend restrictions.” What I didn’t have a chance to tell her (and what she’s probably reading now) is that I think a softening of boundaries is a natural extension of the entrepreneurial experience.
Karen has chosen to pursue her passion, put herself on the line for her business, and be open to the path that will help her achieve her goal. Allowing new people into her life in both her professional and personal spheres is the best and fastest way to realize her vision. She’s not being purely opportunistic though. New people are coming into her life – and she’s letting them in – because she’s shifted her perspective of the world. It’s now a place of creativity in its purest form, a place in which Karen sees things that weren’t there before and makes connections between the seemingly unconnected (my new favorite definition of creativity) and CREATES.
So, to those of you on the brink of losing your job or voluntarily leaving it to start your own business, I offer this: Your world will not fall apart. Your world will expand if you let it…with new people and new opportunities and new experiences and new ideas and new EVERYTHING if you just take a deep breath and see. Even if your new venture (or more accurately, adventure) doesn’t pan out the way you’d hoped, your world and your vision for it will permanently grow in ways you can’t imagine.
