Curation + Inspiration

My sister is a fabulous nurse  — the kind you want to have at your bedside if you’re ever sick. But right now, instead of patient care, she’s locked in a mid-management position in a home-health care office tearing out her hair.

You would be, too, if you had to do reams of paperwork without a computer. That’s right. Her branch of one the largest home-heath care agencies in our country is processing their paperwork by hand.

Couple that frustration with this morning’s phone call from her 10-year-old daughter, who accidentally inserted a camera disk into their iMac’s DVD slot and then attempted to fish it out with a paperclip, and you can understand why my sis is so desperately longing to work from home.

Now mind you, she has already built a moderately successful website on home organizing. But as a divorced mom with three kids and an ex-husband who lives in another state, it’s a H-U-G-E leap of faith to quit your day job and fully embrace the entrepreneurial lifestyle.

And I can’t help but wonder how many other American women are sitting in their offices today, just like her, longing for a way out.

Ladies, I know you’re out there!

But it’s scary, right? I mean it’s SCARY!

Getting out requires not just a good business idea, the proper skills and a hefty slush fund but immense courage and, ultimately, a leap of faith.

And it’s that leap of faith that gets you every time.

Sure you may hate your job. You have a great idea. You want to serve the world in a new way. You feel confident your business will succeed. You’re willing to work long and hard at it. You’ve weighed the pros and cons. You know you should leap…

…but instead you get up the next day and go right back to that job you hate.

And while others may say that it’s fear of failure that keeps you on the precipice, I disagree.

It’s not fear of failure. It’s fear of humiliation.

We can accept failure. Failure is just a teacher. Something didn’t work out and you learned from it. There’s no shame in that.

What you’re really afraid of is facing all the people who doubted you from the beginning and hearing their spoken or unspoken “I told you so’s.”

But as someone who finally made the leap from a job with a Fortune 500 company to the freelance life I enjoy today, I can tell you that humiliation turns to joy very quickly when you are doing something you love that inspires you.

When your vision of you and what you want to accomplish is big enough, you will gladly accept all the humiliation the world can dish out. You will fail. You will hear the “I told you so’s.” Then you will dust yourself off and do it again, over and over, until your vision becomes a reality.

And I firmly believe that the world needs women willing to risk humiliation.

The world needs YOU!

It needs intelligent, thoughtful, caring, visionary women to help lead it to a better place.

Whether you choose to do that in your own company or by working for someone else, please don’t ever let the thought of being humiliated stop you from sharing your brilliant idea or venturing out on your own.

Ask yourself, is it time to take a leap?

Is there a class you always wanted to take or a skill you always wanted to learn? Sign up for a class TODAY.

Is there somewhere you always wanted to visit? Even if it’s in your distant future, start planning the trip TODAY.

Is there a big vision you have for yourself? Take one small step TODAY.

You can make a donation to feed a family of four, for instance, even if you’re not yet ready to start your own food shelter yet.

But when you’re ready to make the BIG LEAP and start your own business, why not grab today’s powerful VPOD and then go give your boss the news.

This vintage 1970s bold animal print dress was designed by the great Norma Kamali, a woman who knows a little something about owning your female power.

And it’s one fine find for a brave vintage fashionista!

Available at Vintage Seekers.

(To receive the VPOD free via email with detailed size and price information, sign up for the growing email mailing list here. Your information will never be sold or shared and you can easily unsubscribe at any time.)