A year ago today I was starting my first full day of self-employment.  I was so scared at the time, wondering if we would make it with this little thing called our business.  Sure, I convinced other people that I was 120% sure everything would be just fine; totally confident that it would all work out.  But inside, I had my doubts and worries and fears.  I wouldn’t be my mother’s daughter if I didn’t.

Would we really be able to do this?  Would we be successful?  Would we make enough money?  Could I still get a mortgage?  What about supporting an entire house? Had I completely lost my mind?

I left a great cushy job for the unknown.  Some people (like my mom!) thought I was crazy.  Melissa, she would say…you don’t leave a job where you are making 6 figures!  You don’t just pack it up one day and wing the rest of your life.  You have it good, don’t mess with that. 

I knew where all of that was coming from for her.  She had the same job for 30 years.  A job that didn’t make her happy, but it paid the bills and that was the most important thing for her.  But as much as we are the same, we are also very different.  My mother didn’t get her driver’s license until she was 31 years old, divorced, with 6 kids.  She didn’t hold her first real job until that time and she stayed in it for the next 30 years.  That was all she knew and in her mind, when you find something that works, you don’t change it. 

My old job didn’t work for me.  Sure it paid the bills but there was nothing about it that made me feel good. I needed to do something that I was passionate about; even if that meant failing miserably.  I spent 10 years making someone else filthy rich and in the end, I had nothing of real worth to show for it.  I had experience and I had a nice savings account, but nothing else. 

Today, one year later, I have so much more than I had in the 10 years before.  I still don’t know what the future holds for us, and I’m sure it’s not paved in gold, but so far this move to self-employment (and to the Carolinas) has been one of the best decisions we have ever made.