Six Assumptions That Shaped The Early Stages of My Business
I often think about December 2022. On a day like this, I sat in front of the television, my right leg propped on pillows to ease the swelling and pain from foot surgery. I felt restless—I am never in one place for long, and sitting down made me also feel lazy. I was unemployed, resistant to returning to a system I had long questioned, yet I was not ready for retirement. I needed income, social engagement, and a sense of reinvention.
In those moments, I began asking the questions that led me to start my business. Those were also the moments when some of the mistakes I share below were born.
I Understand How to Run a Business
I understand business. I hold degrees in business administration and have spent decades designing, implementing, and evaluating programs and systems that support organizations. I recognize that every business carries a rhythm aligned with the founder’s energy, visibility, and clarity.
When it was my turn to build my own business, I approached the journey with intention, expertise, and a deep desire to serve. However, along the way, I encountered unexamined patterns, assumptions, and choices that created roadblocks in areas I thought would find open highways.
These experiences taught me the value of foundation, strategy, aligned business values, and energetic coherence in shaping offerings, programs, and brand presence.
The Six Pivotal Assumptions That Shaped The Early Stages of My Business
Below, I share six pivotal assumptions from my own journey, along with aligned alternatives that might help your business flourish through clarity, authority, and presence. This list is not exhaustive, and you might not see your experience reflected fully in it. But each story holds a lesson and provides an alternative path that supports stability, growth, and alignment.
May my experience serve to help you avoid some pitfalls. There will be others, of course, but let's avoid these ones.
1. I entered entrepreneurship from a place of urgency rather than from a position of clarity and power.
I stepped into business during a powerful personal transition, assuming that my years of experience were enough to hold me. I built my business's foundation while my life underwent significant change. This beginning shaped my early pace, financial rhythm, and internal landscape.
Aligned Path for You
Keep an ear to the ground: observe shifts in your industry, economy, and the broader world that might impact your work and livelihood.
Use this time to explore possibilities, including entrepreneurship, without the pressure to act immediately.
Reflect on your skills, energy, and resources, and imagine paths that align with your values and capacity.
Check your foundation for areas of growth and bridge those gaps during the preparation stages of your project.
2. I did not know what I did not know.
I entered entrepreneurship carrying decades of experience, expertise, and insight, yet I underestimated the gaps in my knowledge about building a small business from scratch. The systems, structures, and practical considerations required for sustainable operations remained invisible to me until I stumbled into their absence. I learned that experience alone does not guarantee readiness; awareness of the unknown is the first step toward mastery.
Aligned Path for You
Approach entrepreneurship as a learning journey: assume there are unknowns you cannot yet see, even if you are an expert.
Invest time in research, observation, and exploration before committing fully.
Build knowledge incrementally, allowing each insight to inform your next step and strengthen your foundation.
3. I underestimated the importance of professional networks.
While I was well known within the behavioral health field, I had limited connections in the coaching world. I lacked the relationships that could amplify my presence, provide guidance, or create collaborative opportunities. Recognition within one professional context does not automatically translate to another. I learned that influence and visibility require intentional cultivation of relevant networks.
Aligned Path for You
Begin exploring communities, professional associations, and peer groups relevant to the field you wish to enter.
Observe and engage with others in your industry to understand norms, opportunities, and collaborative potential.
Recognize that influence is cultivated through presence, contribution, and connection—not assumed from prior achievements.
4. I assumed my forty years of professional experience would create immediate demand.
I carried a deep lineage of leadership and behavioral health expertise. I expected recognition to appear instantly. I later understood the importance of visible work, intentional messaging, and patient introduction to a new audience.
I remember sending my first batch of emails, highlighting my credentials and experience, and expecting inquiries to come in. Silence taught me the value of visibility and intentional introduction. Expertise carries weight only when it is seen, understood, and contextualized for the audience you serve.
Aligned Path for You
Present your experience with clarity and intention.
Share your perspective, your voice, and your lived expertise through consistent visibility.
Invite your audience into a gradual understanding of your leadership.
“Expertise becomes influence when it is visible, understood, and experienced.”
5. I organized my business through personal values rather than foundational business values.
I made decisions based on personal ethics and principles. I designed offerings that reflected my personal integrity. I discovered misalignments when client interactions, messaging, and business decisions conflicted with the systems a business requires. I eventually realized that a business thrives on a distinct value structure that defines service, leadership, boundaries, and long-term direction. I learned the importance of separating personal principles from those that sustain a professional ecosystem.
Aligned Path for You
Create a value system for your business.
Define the principles that shape leadership, decision-making, and the client experience.
Let these values serve as the spine of your brand, your offers, and your internal structure.
“A business thrives when its values extend beyond personal principles to operational integrity.”
6. I treated every inquiry as a client prepared for deep transformation.
I offered my full presence to every expression of interest. I approached curiosity with the same energy I reserved for committed clients. This experience revealed the power of discernment and pacing. I recall evenings of reflection after long conversations with people who were curious but not ready to commit. My energy stretched thin, and the depth I could offer to committed clients diminished. I learned to read readiness signals, to invite exploration without overextending, and to honor the alignment that leads to meaningful transformation.
Aligned Path for You
Cultivate a clear understanding of client readiness.
Offer gentle orientation to curious individuals and deeper engagement to those prepared for the journey.
Create an interest matrix for your organization. At Soulful Sojourners, I have created a matrix that divides prospective clients into four categories: Sojourners (ready to embark), Seekers (know they need something but need more time), Wanderers (just checking the waters), and Stationaries (not going anywhere).
Let discernment guide your energy, your boundaries, and your impact.
“Discernment ensures energy flows toward transformation, not curiosity alone.”
Conclusion
I continue to reflect on that December when my restlessness and curiosity intersected with a need for income and purpose. You could say that my 'Why" and my "Purpose" collided on that day. Each early choice, each misstep, and each insight became a teacher. These lessons clarified the value of preparation, visibility, strategy, and discernment.
As mentioned above, every business carries a rhythm that aligns with the founder’s energy, visibility, and clarity. Entrepreneurship emerges as a practice of presence, structure, and alignment. By identifying the approaches that align with your business and intentions, you move through your business with steadiness, confidence, and authority. You build a presence that attracts the right clients, clearly expresses your expertise, and sustains your energy for the long journey ahead.
“Your business becomes a field of clarity, impact, and enduring transformation when you honor alignment, strategy, and energetic integrity.”
Join the Conversation
Leave me a comment below and tell me what you dream of creating. If public discourse is too public for you, send me a note at [email protected].
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And as always, be safe, dear sojourner, until we see each other again on these pages or in a Complimentary 30-minute Insight Session.
Blessed be.
