It's a leap year. I've never really thought that much about it, or given it any significance. But this morning, I woke up to this rather poetic and timely sentence in my inbox:
"The existing power structure wants to maintain the status quo, and is generally opposed to the concept of leaping. In fact, if you want to make change happen, if you want to give others a chance to truly make a difference and to feel alive, it's essential that you encourage, cajole and otherwise spread the word about what it means to leap."
~Seth Godin
So, on this leap year, I'm sharing my leap.
Three years ago, I was working for the Charleston Police Department, managing their Criminal Intelligence Unit. A series of seemingly unfortunate events brought about quite a bit of change, and within a matter of weeks I was working for a company called BoomTown in their tech support department. This has actually turned out to be the least unfortunate thing that has ever happened to me.
I've spent the past 2 years at BoomTown, and they've been wonderful. Three weeks after I started working there, my house caught fire, and the company was nothing short of amazing to me throughout the entire process. The company is one that supports you, believes in you, and wants to help you find what's best for you, however they can.
I've been running my wedding planning business, A Day at the Beach, since 2009. Since I've always worked full-time in addition to that, I've never really had the time to dedicate to growing the business, or generating leads. This year, I've seen a decent uptick in the number of bookings I've had, and I'm already booked for 8 weddings for the year. This has made the juggling act a bit of a struggle, and I've been trying to make sure I'm as responsive as I can be to my clients while still trying to find the time for everything else.
Last week, I wrote a proposal to BoomTown to allow me to transition to a part-time role with the company. I didn't feel like I could provide my clients with the attention they deserved and dedicate myself to a full 40 hour per week job at the same time. While they didn't accept my proposal, they've offered me something that I think in the long run will be so much better.
Starting in March, I'll begin my transition into moving out of my role at BoomTown, and into a role as both a business owner and a contractor with a few other ventures. This morning, I mailed off a contract to work for the Dating Divas website for the next 6 months, then went directly to our CrossFit gym to get oriented with the booking system for training my own clients.
I'll be working to grow the Divas Referral Partner Program. I'll be expanding my own business into some new ventures (stay tuned!) that will involve both the Divas and the CrossFit gym (not together...that would be weird). I'll be working with clients at the gym, hopefully coaching a few classes, and trying out some new programs with the gym to help generate new clients moving forward.
And in this mix, hopefully, I will have the time to dedicate to this blog, Paleo Scaleo. I have so many ideas and so much I want to do with it, and just not enough hours in the day. While BoomTown couldn't offer me a part-time position, they offered me a 3-month transition period. The details are still being worked out, but they are going to allow me to work part-time, remotely from my house, for 3 months as I transition out of my role there and into all my new adventures.
I'm scared, but as my husband said, it's good that I'm scared, otherwise I won't make it happen. The amount of scared I am is equivalent to the amount of hustle that's going to have to go into this if it's going to work. And despite being scared, there's this little thing in the pit of my stomach that actually feels more like thrill and excitement.
Whatever that thing is that's nagging you, that you've been wanting to get after, but just "can't?" Just go do it. Stop making excuses, and take the leap. Make the jump. Find a way to make it work. You'll never know if you don't try, and my guess is that you'll probably surprise yourself.
Here's to leaping.
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