I would like to share with you how my greatest success is becoming a business owner. My goal is to motivate you to achieve your dreams, whatever they may be.
Define ‘Success’
I find that as I get older, I notice things I didn’t pay attention to in the past. For example, society’s perception of what success is and how it’s achieved.
There are certain professions we associate with success such as lawyers, doctors, celebrities, investors, and politicians. Next we associate our level of education with our ability to achieve success. While I don’t completely disagree with the validity of these perceptions, I think we need to consider another way of defining success.
Steve Jobs of Apple and Elon Musk of Space X and Tesla are known around the world for their success, but neither of them graduated college or university, nor are their professions perceived to be successful. So how did they become a name everyone is familiar with? Their ability to transform an idea into a reality by persevering even when it seemed impossible. That’s how I define success.
When one door closes another door opens
Similar to Steve and Elon, I also didn’t graduate from college or university. Instead, I landed in the insurance industry where I dedicated myself to learning, gaining experience, and proving my worth through hard work and perseverance.
Although this journey transpired into a rewarding 33 year career, it wasn’t always a walk in the park. I encountered many challenges that tested my dedication, but I remained committed to my growth. Eventually, my hard work paid off and I landed my dream job in business operations.
My dream job came crashing to a halt when I was wrongfully terminated for unjust cause. I was left shocked and heartbroken.
In the aftermath of my departure, I faced a challenging and uncertain future. Despite my increased level of skills, experience, and knowledge I consistently received rejections, even for entry level positions. It was a struggle not to allow my circumstances to define my self-worth. I knew I had a choice: succumb to despair or rise above and reclaim my power.
After countless days of personal reflection, I recognized that my experience, skills, and knowledge are valuable assets and this realization changed my future completely.
With a new sense of purpose and excitement I started EP Insurance Solutions and created SMART Solutions; the only available cloud-based sales and marketing software solution designed specifically for the insurance industry, which improves process efficiencies, increases performance and productivity, and delivers critical data to brokerage owners so they can have a deeper understanding of the operations which impact company profitability and success.
Although entrepreneurship was not my initial goal, when one door closed another door opened and it has given me the opportunity to make an impact on the industry which provided me with the experience, skills and knowledge I needed to succeed in this new chapter of life.