For when you are deciding if you should start your own business.

One of the most common reasons my clients seek me out is to provide support as they make big career decisions.  We have a common saying in our culture that you ‘don’t want to regret your decision.’ This phrase is super problematic if you are using it as a guidepost to making a decision.  

First it raises the stakes so high.  It makes the choice result in either lifetime happiness or lifetime regret.  But decisions rarely are that way.  Most decisions we make aren’t permanent. It’s true that for many we can’t change our minds and go back, but we can continue making new decisions until we have found what we want.  

Second, it presumes that ‘regret’ is something you have no control over.  That it just spontaneously happens to you and then follows you around forever making you feel terrible. But that’s not the case either.  Every moment of every day we can choose how we want to engage with our own thoughts. We can decide if we have regret or if we have life experience and learning. 

One of my favorite tools when working with clients – and one that helps preemptively protect against regret – is to decide ahead of time what you will think when your brain tells you that you have made the wrong decision.  As it inevitably will at some point or another. 

One of my clients wanted to leave her corporate job and start her own brand.  She decided that regardless of what happened she wanted to think: ‘I’m glad that I bet on myself and went for it’. Because someday she’ll have a tough day in her business and think why did I do this? And she already decided what the answer to that will be. 

More from my client on her experience with coaching: 

‘’The biggest transformation I had while working with Kelsey was truly a mindset shift. I have been considering leaving corporate America and starting my own business since 2020 but I’ve always felt like the downside and fear outweighed the upside. With Kelsey’s support I shifted from feeling overwhelmed and confused to a place where I feel it is possible for me to start my own business and successfully get it off the ground. 

Coaching has enhanced my self confidence in my decision making and my willingness to pursue my business. I realized if I can do this in my day to day job, what is stopping me from doing it on my own? Nothing really - I was the one holding myself back. I definitely see it as possible now. 

I realized that there would always be risks associated with starting my own business.  Before I was letting that stop me from getting started.  Now I see that it’s part of the process and I’m willing to accept it because I know I can handle it.’’