7 Years Full Time!

The Business

June 21, 2019

7 years ago I was packing up my desk, placing framed photos, cards, notepads, and other random mementos into a worn cardboard box. I nervously watched the clock all day until it was finally time to leave. After logging out of my computer for the very last time, I turned in my security badge and carried the box full of all of the things that proved I once worked there out to my car. Driving away from the office for the final time that afternoon was one of the craziest experiences of my life! I was almost as excited as I’d ever been in my 24 years alive…but also almost as nervous as I’d ever been too. If this was happening in 2019, I’d probably need a glass of wine to celebrate/calm my nerves, but 2012 Katie didn’t really enjoy wine that much. (I know, crazy, right??)

7 years ago was the last day that I’ve worked where I was employed by someone else. That day, I nervously left a secure, paycheck-every-two-weeks, full health insurance and paid vacation kind of job. That job was the kind of job I always thought I’d have when I grew up. It was stable and reliable. Safe. When I left, I wasn’t sure what the future would hold (and if you know me well, you know I do NOT like uncertainty) but I knew without a doubt I was going to hustle to make it work because I was too afraid not to.

The past 7 years have been full of ups and downs. Full of lessons learned (some harder learned than others), victories, failures, scheming, dreaming, and a whole lot of sitting behind my computer doing the less than glamorous work of someone who’s self-employed. But throughout all of the successes and the sorrows and the in-between kind of days has always been a feeling of pride that came from knowing that I built a career that suits me so well!

Although it’s a little hard to admit this, 7 years later I can sometimes get lost in the day to day and forget how desperately I wanted the life that I’m living today. I don’t love that because I think it’s so important to remember not just where I came from, but also how hard I worked to get to where I am now. Hard work is the only thing that’s guaranteed to be a part of owning a small business. The rest of it is all things that can’t be taken for granted.

I don’t ever want to lose the sense of determination…or the drive that left my full time job with me on my last day. This is why I celebrate this anniversary every year…I always want to remember how big of a deal it was to quit a good job to work for myself and to put that kind of heart into everything single thing that I do.

So today, 7 years after becoming my own boss, I want to say thank you. To my amazing clients, to my friends, to my family. To the universe. Thank you for letting me be my own boss. Thank you for trusting in me and hiring me, for listening to me vent, for making time to hang out with me on Sundays and weeknights because my business is busy on Saturdays. Thank you for liking my social media posts, for telling your friends about me, and for reading my blog so that Google will take me seriously.

Most importantly, thank you for believing in me! Thank you for allowing me to support myself (and my cat daughter) with a business built on a skill I learned from spending hours and hours on the internet and a dream.

Leave a Comment

  1. Darlyn Warner says:

    Congratulations Katie, 7 years is a tribute to your determination and hard work. Most new businesses don’t make it a year! You can do this!
    And our family portrait is amazing.
    Thank you,
    Dar

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