Week 11 - Bump in the Road - Samantha Meeker

Nothing like a bump in the road to shake things up again. Well, what about a major earthquake along the business journey? Yes, I’ve been off the radar for over a month now and feeling pretty bad about it. Life has a way of suddenly taking a left turn but it’s okay because that’s what can make life exciting….right?

Since I last posted, there have been some changes in my life. Let me give you a bit of back story so you can understand this a little more clearly. Back in November 2014, the company I was working for laid off more than 2,000 employees and my role was affected. I saw the possibility of it coming but thought I had made it through. How wrong I was. Chop! And I’m done.

Not planning on being out of a job, I let my friends know what happened and one of them let me know that there was an immediate opening I might be interested in. After reviewing the job description, I was iffy but I was laid off and left scrambling to find something else.

I ended up getting the job and regretted it from the very first day. OMGosh, I took a slightly lower salary (don’t EVER do that!) and the commute was horrendous! I live in Atlanta where traffic is a hot mess and it was on the side of town which left me with an 1 1/2 hour commute….EACH WAY! Crazy right? But…when I interviewed for the role, I was very clear about flexible work hours and teleworking.

Several weeks later, none of that came to pass so I began looking at other options. It was on those LONG dreadful commutes that I began to listen to podcasts again, but this time taking a slightly different turn into focusing on my online business. The daily hell was pushing me further into that direction of what I had always dreamed of doing.

I came up with a plan that would get me out of that situation and decided that I would leave the company, no matter what, by the end of April, regardless if I was able to secure another job or not. One day I spotted a job on Linked In that was in line with what I was looking for, so I thought, what the heck, I’ll apply for it. Turns out, they were interested and reached out to me the very next day and here I am now, four weeks into my new job.

Now I will say, I did take off three weeks of vacation time in between jobs to recover from the previous job’s stress and get some much needed family time in. A nice trip to Orlando to Universal Studios to cast some spells and drink butter beer in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, adrenaline rollercoaster rides and chilling on the lazy river at the resort will help a girl like me recover from the four months of nastiness that had weighed me down to misery.

All while on this short hiatus, I kept my online business in my mind but I knew I had to get things right with me first. So why didn’t I just stay home and focus on the business? I have a financial plan in order to make this business a success. There are a few debts that I want to pay off so that I can really pave the way to going off on my own. Things like my car notes and a couple credit card bills while simultaneously saving money towards my business goal. There are other things like plugins, services and courses that will require funding as well.

Now that I’m four weeks into my new job, which I feel fortunate to have because it has given me several hours of my day back to focus on my family, this business and my overall happiness. My salary is where it should be, my commute is short, the hours are great and soon I will be working remotely again.

I’ve learned that these are only bumps in the road and that I must keep moving forward on this business journey because it is what I yearn for, to live a certain lifestyle as an entrepreneur. Life is full of bumps and it’s how we handle those bumps that lead to either success or failure. I choose success.