I’m Proud of You
Pride is a funny thing - it’s important to be proud of ourselves and we desperately try to reinforce that self pride pretty much all the time. However, we still crave hearing ‘I’m proud of you’ from others….or at least enjoy hearing it if and when it does come up.
But do you ever find yourself feeling annoyed at what is deemed ‘worthy’ of someone's pride? Why does working your ass off to be a successful entrepreneur not enough for some? Why is the amount of money you make so often the only factor on if you are successful or not, or if you're worthy of someone else's pride or not?
All too often, we take a huge risk to leave our job or sacrifice the little time we can find and allocate that to starting your own business. That’s huge. And people don’t understand how much being an entrepreneur requires you to put yourself out there. It’s hard. It’s lonely. And there are constant peaks and valleys. And whether or not you made a significant amount of money, that doesn’t mean you aren’t doing what you’re supposed to or doing what makes you happy or making an impact.
So where is this stemming from?
Without getting too overly personal, I’ve been working day in and day out to make it on my own. And the dollars just haven’t been rolling in. If you ask me, these last 8 months have absolutely not been wasted. I’ve learned a TON of information on topics I never even considered. I’ve found a new willingness and ability to ask people for things - for recommendations, for reviews, to cold call and ask them for a chance, I’ve asked countless people that I do not know at all for advice, time, coffee, and their consideration in the future. And that’s worth something.
But, knowledge doesn’t always pay the bills and I’ve been back on the job hunt. I recently received promising feedback that will potentially lead to a really well paying job. I say potentially because I haven’t received the formal offer and still have an interview left to go. But just this promise of a well-paying job was deemed ‘worthy’ of someone close to me saying they are proud of me. Now, ask me how many times that same person has told me they were proud of me during my entrepreneurial journey vs. how many times they asked me how much money I had made?
I’m not trying to turn this into a vent session, but I would bet that this experience isn’t unique to just me.
So if you’ve read this far, I want you to know that you don’t need anyone else to affirm the pride you should have in what you’ve done. BUT, if you just want to hear it, I am proud of you. And you should be proud of yourself. You should be proud for putting yourself out there, for taking a risk, for asking people you barely know for something.
Be proud of where you are right now - even if it’s not your end goal.
-anon
