Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway!

by Lori Bell, 2010 Military Spouse of the Year

It starts with a slow nagging in the pit of your stomach. You’ve got a brilliant idea, a product, a service, something that you know all of mankind and their pets need. The nagging grows into anxiety, then into a looming fear, making the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. Suddenly you hear a sound: It’s your heart beating violently telling you this is it, the time is now, the moment is here...start that business!

Well, maybe that’s just my story. When I left active duty Air Force in 2007, I knew it was time to unstrap my boots and get my cute shoes on. I just didn’t realize “cute shoes” sometimes means bedroom slippers, ballet flats, sneakers or my bare feet. Being a stay-at-home mom with a burning desire to serve the world with my gifts and talents just didn’t seem to match up with “business.” I mean, business doing what? Teaching people how to change diapers? How to drive according to traffic laws with Elmo’s Potty Time blaring behind your head? Didn’t seem like a solid plan to me. Until I forgot about the word “business” and thought about “service” instead.

You may not realize it, but you are an expert. Yes, you! Working spouse, stay-at-home spouse, stay-at-home mom. You have expertise and hidden secrets in you that so many like me need to know. I have a cousin who is a whiz at changing the oil in her car, the tires, and believe it or not, her transmission too! But she laments about how to make money from this. Seriously, raise your hand if you’d be interested in a training program for women that coached you on basic auto care? Would come in mighty handy when your man is deployed, right?

That gift you have, that bit of training you’ve endured, whether formally or from life’s hard knocks has qualified you to teach me what you know. And when you choose to serve the world with your gifts and talents, money will always follow. So if you’re faced with the possibility of starting your own business or money-making venture, don’t hide under the covers or sleep with the lights on. It’s your heart telling you it’s time. It’s time to live brilliantly, contribute your best to the world and manifest your true purpose.  

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Prosper Where You’re Planted,

Lori Bell
www.facebook.com/LoriRBell