July 15th, 2011 is the birthdate of my business, Rumore Has It, LLC! Already I am so proud of what I have created that I find it appropriate to give the business a "birthdate." In the same way I made people, I made a business! Say what?? I know. I can't believe it either.

I can't take nearly as much credit as I would like, however. It wasn't even my idea. My former supervisor who was let go the same day I was from my corporate gig tossed it out there at lunch one day. I thought about his suggestion that I become a professional assistant with great hesitation, knowing deep down I wasn't going to pursue it and I was going to nab another "real" job.

Still, the idea nagged at me for the remainder of the day and eventually into the night. I stole Dylan's iPad at around midnight and started researching starting my own Virtual Assistant business and to my astonishment, I started to get excited about going off of the beaten path and doing my own thing.

By the time I got up the next morning I was comitted to learning more and introducing the idea seriously to Jared, who was immediately 100% supportive. And so the journey began!

Truth be told, the set up was harder than I thought. The easiest part was getting a company name becuase I didn't have to do it. The lovely and endlessly talented Tara sent me the text that really set me on fire and motivated me to tackle this! "Rumore has it" should at the very least be your tagline."

I looked up at Jared and said, "That's it! She's a genius!"

So basically, my experience with starting my own business went something like this: Get laid off.
Get super, super depressed because you poured your lifeblood into a company that laid you off and made you pack up your office which had an embarrassingly large pantry of food and two floor lamps. TWO!
Wallow around in sadness for three days. Eat icecream at the community pool and openly cry.
Enjoy all the time you have with your beautiful children. Drink iced coffee at 10am at the park.
Apply everywhere. Include excellent references. Have everyone tell you that you're overqualified. Murmer, "I am not overqualified to TAKE YOUR MONEY!" under your breath at every interview.
Let your old boss come up with your business model.
Let your close friend come up with your business name.
Start working from home.
Cry tears of joy as you hit "send" when emailing your very first invoice with your company logo from your company email.
Nearly faint when you tell people that you have clients. With an s! PLURAL!!

So far the most difficult hurdle, aside from the depression, was all the legal mumbo jumbo and buying the equipment to get started. It made me feel so vunerable to invest in something when I had no steady income. I believe in what I am doing, but even so, self doubt and annxiety plauged me the most the day I bought my office equipment and paid for my licenses. "You have to spend money to make money," I told myself half-heartdely. The other part of my brain screamed, "YOU HAVE TO MAKE MONEY TO FEED YOUR FAMILY, YOU IDIOT! PUT THE DEBIT CARD AWAY!"

But, before I had the chance to suffer at the county tax collector's office getting my occupational tax receipt, or take the time to visit three of my bank's branches to properly set up an account in an LLC, I had clients that wanted to pay me to do things that I am very good at doing. Knowing that there was not only demand for my skill set but demand for me personally gave me so much confidence and is a source of comfort when I do deal with doubt.

It's wonderul and terrifying to know that everything is on me this time around. I trust me as a person and as a professional to do an outstanding job for my clients. I am very excited to grow my business and I have a beautiful vision of what this will mean for our family.

I feel so blessed to even have an opportunity to start this adventure and even though if I'm honest I haven't shaken off all of my nervousness and anxiety yet, I am excited and confident that I will succeed.

Tomorrow I am signing another client contract and I also am interviewing with a potential client. I still can't believe how in control I feel!

I'll leave you with this. So far the worst parts of having your own business is:
The stress
The stress
The stress

The best part of having your own business is:
Being in charge of the thermostat
Eating pizza rolls for breakfast without being judged
Working outside in the breeze or inside in the recyliner
Spending so much more time with what recharges me: my family

Here's to me writing "How I Became a Ridiculously Successful Business Owner in One Year," on July 15th, 2012.

-Kel