In Praise of False Starts.

Screeeeeeeech!  That’s the sound of me putting the brakes on my business idea.

I’d been working on it for several weeks, pulling together a preliminary business idea, mulling over the details as I lay awake in the wee hours.  But I eventually realized that while the idea was good, it just wasn’t workable for me at this point in my life.

They say you can have it all, just not all at once.  As I developed the model for Service Business X, I saw that I would have to be too available to clients and too flexible in my work hours to ever turn a profit.  Meanwhile, there are two sweet children in my house who have come to expect meals and clean laundry.  Of course, the kids remain my first priority.

I’ve been in a funk since I put my business on hold – enough so that my husband is a little worried about me.  I think I’m sad about losing a sense of purpose above and beyond my hausfrau duties.  It was really exciting to have my own project in the works, one that put me in touch with the business gal I once was and the entrepreneur I hope to be.

The good news is that this false start has shown me that I really do want to start my own business, and I now have a better sense of the kind of business that will fit into my life.

It reminds me of the time my husband and I tried to buy a house that had some major roof problems.  We tried to negotiate with the sellers, but the deal just wouldn’t go through.  I was convinced that we lost the perfect house.  But lo and behold, the truly perfect house came on the market two months later.  I’m sitting in it right now.

-Michele Golden, The Reluctant Momtrepreneur