One thought delivered me an entirely new life. Here's how.

hey friends!

It’s nearing the end of March, and in business that’s known as first quarter. We have had a wild ride at Cleveland Flea over the last year. I wondered (before I took the leap to stay in business and find my dream team) if I would be able to actually pull it off.

COMMITTING TO A NEW VISION TAKES COURAGE + WILL PROBABLY FEEL TERRIBLE AT FIRST
January 2018 - December 2018 was a pretty crazy time. Meg (former directing manager) and I began to reinvent what it could mean to work at Cleveland Flea- for me and for our potential new team members. I think that’s really where it all began. I did not believe strongly enough that my dream business could exist for me. I think many of us do this. Whether it’s our relationships or homes or jobs or cities or communities, when we really desire something that we don’t have we almost believe it’s impossible.

My impossible dream? To love what I do while being supported by a loving and talented team so that I could live the life I want and continue to deliver growth to my city and business community.

I remember sitting on a couch in my now airbnb (which in itself is a fun story) and having a minor panic attack believing in that impossible dream. I looked at Meg and just said (through tears), “But what if they don’t like me? Like what if they get here and they just really don’t like me.” It was such a painful thought to open myself up back to a team that could reject me. Opening myself up to a dream business that might not happen. It was overwhelming AF.

For those of us who make certain dreams impossible instead of just expecting it, dreaming can actually be torture.

Don’t let it be that way. Realize that your dreams are possible. Your heart is meant to be happy in this world and it’s ok to go for that. On the road to that you might have to take a million detours but it just does NOT mean that you’re not meant for that dream.

Keep it up.

JANUARY 2019-MARCH 2019 (ie, first quarter)
My team is still here! And I am surrounded by so much love. When you decide you’re lovable, people will actually love you. And I know this is a post about business but I just don’t think you can separate your personal thoughts from your business' results. When I believed so many weird things about myself and my business, it directly reflected those thoughts.

Sure- business is about business. In a way. There are formulas and strategies and research and tracking and tools and books and all that stuff. BUT behind all that is you. Are you doing any of that? Are you avoiding the work you need to be doing? If you’re not believing the right things, it’ll be really hard for you to be focusing on the work you need to do if you’re all caught up in thoughts like, “Does my team ACTUALLY like me?” right? This shit is already kinda hard. So, that’s why one of the best things I did for my business was believe I was lovable.

Here’s how that one thought changed my business.

2018 1st Quarter vs 2019 1st Quarter:

• No team vs my team is strong

• No hiring strategy vs I hired 3 amazing new positions like a boss

• Hardly any behind-the-biz structure vs HR Dept, tons of operational documents, lots of tracking and even mission statements being posted inside our office

• Zero true financial planning vs a plan to make $1 million this year (with numbers + plans + products attached to it)

• Looking 1 month ahead vs looking 1-3 years down the road

• A girl who resented having to be a boss vs a boss who likes what she does AND is good at what she does

• No coaching for vendors vs the launch of an entirely new way of working with vendors of Cleveland Flea

• An office space that just didn’t work for us vs an office space that feels so special, efficient, personalized, charming, exciting to come into, etc.

• A general feeling of fear around my business vs a general feeling of love and gratitude and excitement for my business.

• One main product that we could sell vs 10+ products getting ready to launch to our dreamiest customers.

• Running like chickens with our heads cut off vs planning like bosses.

• Zero ability to not be solely responsible for the success of this business to a market schedule and team that will allow me to travel the world.

• Living in a place that I didn’t really love vs launching a dreamy airbnb there and then moving to a more airy space that fits my aesthetic a bit more.

• Believing I wasn’t lovable vs launching my 50 dates challenge- where I’m going on dates (with friends, biz friends, people I want to know, potential love interests) and having fun doing it.

• Not really moving my body much and feeling slightly lethargic vs joining a friend’s fitness challenge and feeling like working out is back to being a big part of my life.

• A really disorganized closet full of stuff I didn’t really like vs completing a closet makeover with my friend and coach Shira Gill and really loving all the things I own.

• Not having a personal coach vs having weekly boss sessions with my coach Charity Funk.

• Not having a real idea of who I would coach vs launching Think Like A Boss Class with so many amazing, ballsy dreamers.

• Not much family time vs spending lots of time with my nephews and even starting a Sunday dinner club with my new super-amazing friend Aubree (who also works for me at Cleveland Flea)

• feeling like I wasn’t really able to be seen for my true accomplishments vs being chosen as one of Cleveland’s 100 most powerful people.

• no space for bringing community together vs a fun new series called Creative Conversations where we open our HQ doors to the creative dreamers and have lunch with my friend Dena.

Honestly, ALL of this happened because I chose to believe something about myself. It did not happen and THEN I thought it.

It happened because I was willing to believe it, despite not having any of this evidence.

That is the thing.

If you’re a human and you’re running a business (or a family or a relationship or whatever) it will only be as good as your thoughts about it and yourself.

Loving myself, believing I was lovable AND believing that I could create a life / business that I loved delivered me these results- along with a ton of discomfort along the way. It’s not going to be easy. But it’s also not as impossible as I was making it.

Believe in the impossible. You just might get it.

I’m a visionary. I see so much of what I want to happen before it gets here.

And what I’ve had to learn is to understand that just because there will be time between my dream and my reality that does not mean that I can’t have it.

I had made it that way.

I saw off in the distance the things I really wanted to create. And I only felt both their extreme pull and their extreme absence in my life at the same time. It created a ton of anxiety for me.

Now I know that dreaming is just the first step. And patience is necessary. And planning is fun.

Getting there is so much more fun this way. When every moment IS living the dream of doing what my heart desires.

Have the best day, dreamers.