Burn Out or Pivot?

Ugh. Why is this so hard?

It's what I have always wanted to do... and yet, here I am. Nearly in tears.

The roller coaster of emotions with business-hood.

We've been taught, if we are't growing we're dying. And y'all, I subscribe to that 1000%.

'Cept, here's the deal.

When is enough of enough?

When does one go, "Ok, you have enough projects, venues, aspects of your business. Now let's just stop."

But if you stop... then you can't grow, and here we are again. Back on that hamster wheel.

Or maybe you've started some new projects, additional avenues of income, or grown an aspect of your business and you've gotten some traction. But not the traction that will pay the bills, or not all of them. Maybe you're thinking, "Um, this is fun and all. But I'm doing a lot for free right now, and I'm not sure I want to do this for another year."

You know, 'cuz those goals that you wrote down 4 weeks ago that seemed so doable - now seem totally daunting! Because let's face it, the real work has started.

Or maybe you HAVE been doing the work... head down, focused and driven. Exactly like your'e suppose to. And it's been 18 months, or two years, or 5 years?

May you're at the cross roads

"Maybe I should throw in the towel, I gave it my all. It just didn't work."

Ugh.

Anyone?

Last week I had a friend share with me this video. She texted, "I immediately thought of you. It (this video) talks about being profitable while giving away so much away free."

The video was titled "Giving to Receive" by Adriene Mishler. I kinda dismissed my friends text at first. Thinking, yea, I know. You can have affiliates, or get paid through ads so you can give your ideas, methods or systems away for free. Many people do it. And of course Ms. Adriene Mishler can speak to this. Um, she has over 4.4 million YouTube Subscribers.

Over 4.4 MILLION!!!

Well, my curiosity got the best of me, or maybe that nagging voice. Whatever it was, I caved and watched the entire video over my late lunch, and I'm so glad I did.

You see. In this Instagram, Insta-pot, Insta-flippin-make-it-happen-now world, we forget all too soon, that 4.4 million subscribers didn't happen overnight. Adriene spoke very plainly about how she wanted to put out a high quality yoga class for free.

So she did.

One yoga class for free.

Every week.

For 12 years now.

And the Juiciest Part? (for me?)

For the first three years of offering these FREE classes, nothing happened!

NOTHING!

No huge following.

No money.

No movement.

Wow. and OUCH!

One of my favorite mentors Mel Robbins says, "Give it 10 years."

Do you have it in you to do this for 10 years?

Day in. Day out.

If the opportunity was slapped in your face as a solid NO, would you be relieved? Or would it make you want to find another way to make it happen?

If there are a ton of people already doing "your amazing idea," do you have the sassy, brave, underpants on to say, "Yea, but they aren't me!"

If you could you earn $$$ today or $$$$$$$$ 10 years from now, would you do the work to make it happen?

hmmmm

yes?

YES!

AWESOME... You're my people!

And it kinda brings tears to my eyes.

Because even though the emotional roller coaster of this all is so hard, I STILL choose to keep going.

I started my own dance studio with my class called BoogieFit. It didn't have a name back then. It was basically, come to my studio, get some mama time and a great work out in. I offered it for a $1. YES! $1 almighty dollar. I was testing it out on people, and lucky for me, they came.

Then I kept it going throughout the years of more kiddos and a divorce. Offering BoogieFit every week, sans some summer months in the very beginning. Every week I prepped and taught this class. And many times only 1 or 2 people showed up. Here's the proof!

So then I learned a little bit more about marketing and advertised a bit more, because I believed in this class. And the attendance grew.

Then after 7 years, I decided to bring my dance classes online, through TDH Virtual Experience. With BoogieFit being the most requested class.

Then in year 8, I thought maybe I could maybe offer a course or curriculum for other studios, so that they could also grow their businesses by offering BoogieFit to their studio. So I started learning, creating and growing that effort.

Now -

Wait for it...

10 years since that very First BoogieFit class

my live classes are packed full, my membership for my online classes just doubled last month, and the BoogieFit Curriculum is being used around the world!?