These past few weeks have been challenging for me, to say the least. My family and I experienced a house fire a few weeks ago. When it first happened, I tried to act as if I could still go on as usual because as a good friend of mine once said, “We don’t work from home, we work from Wi-Fi.” This means my work is wherever I am. Another reason I felt I could go on as normal is because my family is healthy and safe; and my home is not completely destroyed and is in the process of being restored. But you know what? About a week after the fire, it set in. That was a serious event and my life has been somewhat altered.
I was in the middle of setting up orders with vendors in preparation for a new product offering from My Color of Beauty. I was also busy with another side project: Mommying and More. These two were taking all of my energy and time. So, the house fire obviously threw a wrench in my whole game. The week after the fire as my family and I were settling into our temporary normal, I had to asses what was priority and how to move forward with it. I knew after assessing the situation, I had to press forward. Here are three ways I’m pushing past adversity.
1. Be honest with yourself and everyone else.
My workspace is at home on my kitchen table and sometimes at my desk in another room. Occasionally when I need a change in environment, I go to my nearest coffee shop. These are my comfort zones. At the moment, two of them are out of commission. Therefore, my “work” vibe has been thrown off. Yes, I work from Wi-Fi but I kick butt from home Wi-Fi. Right now it is hard to get acclimated to kicking butt from anywhere. I had to let my family know that I need space within our small hotel suite to do my thing. I had to let my partner/sister-in-law with Mommying and More know that I am off my game. I had to contact all of the My Color of Beauty vendors I had been speaking with a week prior to the fire that I needed to asses my situation and get back with them later. This seems simple but to me it just seemed like a failure to launch. I have been hard on myself and have had to often remind myself that this “thing” that happened to my family and me is not my fault.
2. Set up new expectations.
Upon getting real with myself and everyone else, I sat down with pen and paper to draw out a new plan to move forward with all of my new projects, which now includes restoring my home. While I had plans to have the new product for My Color of Beauty ready for sale in October and ship in November, my home is priority and I need it back in order to get this new product ready to launch. So, I pushed my launch back by a month to be realistic with what is now my circumstances. I also had to pull back on Mommying and More. I want to place more energy there but I physically and mentally cannot right now.
3. Keep working against the pressure – push forward.
While my family and I may be displaced for a short period of time and my startup is taking a hit to a new product launch’s timeline, I have to keep working. There is pressure and frankly it’s what motivates me to keep moving forward. If I had no pressure, my projects would probably never see the light of day. I believe every startup needs to face some adversity and pressure to have something to fight for and motivate everyone involved to want to win. Pressure can be healthy and challenging as well as help build character.
I am working to push past this minor setback and keep my head on my shoulders at the same time. By being honest with myself and others about what has happened to me and my family, setting new expectations and allowing the pressure to push me in a healthy way, I plan to come out on top. For anyone else facing any type of adversity, take it easy on yourself. Sometimes things happens that are out of your control. All you can do is adjust and push forward.