What’s your unique brand of courage?

Take a moment to consider this image. At first, I gravitated to it because of the cerulean water and high-energy motion. As I pondered the image, it made me think about courage in the context of starting a passion-led business.

I’ve met so many people who have expressed lingering boredom and dissatisfaction with their job. Working toward retirement, which is often filled with retirement-type activities such as grandkids/family time, social interaction with fellow retirees, joining a board, playing mahjong, golf, pickleball, you name it, retirees are great at filling their daylight hours with activities. But for those of us who are in pre-retirement or have a sense they want more creative self-expression in life, we can take action toward making it a reality.

But it takes courage.

It takes believing in yourself.

Or, it takes getting riffed from a job out of the blue. (riffed = Reduction In Force, corporate-speak for a layoff, which is often role-agnostic.)

That’s what happened to me, twice now, and each of those times was an awakening for me. An awakening to do something I wanted to do under my own power. My own business. My own design. My own way of earning income and providing value in the world. The freedom associated with designing an offering and going out and meeting people who need help. Contributing my experience, talent and attention to create solutions.

Oh, and then I learned what it really entailed, and it’s hard-ass work that takes courage.

Courage to stick with it. Courage to hear “No” a lot when you offer your services. Courage to face fears of whether you’ll make it or not. Courage to be who you’re really meant to be in the world and realize you do have something of value to offer in your own way.

That’s what builds business. That’s what gets people to go out on their own and do their thing. Follow their passion. See an opportunity to do it their way.

When I was laid off my six-year-long job at Marriott, I was a hot mess. It was less than two years after my husband died, I had two mortgages and no prospects of a new job. It was the dawn of an economic downturn, and I lived in a market that was challenging for the work I had been previously paid to do in a corporate setting.

I thought about going back to school as many people do when presented the opportunity, but school wasn’t what I wanted to do—I wanted to run my own business. Entrepreneurship ran deep in my family, back many generations. It was in my blood. But I also yearned for more freedom to do what I enjoyed and build on my interests, talents and experience.

That’s when I started my creative agency. It took a lot of courage, and yes, I was terrified, alone, and without support or income. I had to make it work, or I was gonna be in trouble.

And I did it—since 2006, I have been able to support myself and create a powerful offering through my work at Better3. I’ve refined my product offering, how I work, who I work best with, and how I attract new business.

Throughout those 18+ years I have pivoted a good bit as I went through economic downturns, a global pandemic, shifting my audience prospecting, learned new selling skills as well as adding to my craft along the way. The latest pivot you’re experiencing now—a pivot to passion-led businesses but the core services I offer are still going strong.

There’s definitely a movement—and no better time—toward entrepreneurship in passion-led work where many are becoming conscious to “Life is too short to be doing something you’re miserable doing” attitude and making big changes.

Which takes courage.

So let me ask you, before the universe forces your hand, what’s it going to take for you to leap into a passion-led business? And if you’ve already leaped, where is your passion for it now that you’ve been doing it for a while? Has it waned? Has it become diluted due to the weight of the responsibilities associated with running your own business? Are you just dabbling in passion-led work as a small part-time hobby or side-hustle you’ve not monetized?

It’s time to grab some courage off the shelf and explore where you’re at with your work, how you’re expressing yourself in the world, and if it truly fits leading a passion-led life.

This video captures what I want to offer now: a path toward financial freedom doing work you love. When you do a self-check on where you’re passion-led work is today, use this video as something to consider and plan your escape to a joy-filled way of expressing your greatest gifts, talents and experience: passion work!