Business lesson of the week - All great entrepreneurial stories are born out of pure and utter chaos, right?

Although I’m framing this as a business lesson, it’s really more of a business story and one I think is pretty relatable for many entrepreneurs, especially in the start up phase. It’s hard to predict the perfect moment to go completely independent and take that entrepreneurial plunge. You calculate, you wait, you plan but really, none of that actually defines when your entrepreneurial journey is going to truly begin. As crazy as it is, this decision is usually defined by things beyond your control or in other words, pure and utter chaos.

That is definitely how Digital 55 started.

Before moving Digital 55 into full time ops April 1, I was chugging along, checking off my career goals and thinking, yep, I got this but little did I know, I was in for a nasty surprise as well as a very dramatic push off the proverbial career cliff. I had started a position for a company that I was jazzed about but the rose coloured glasses came off pretty damn quickly. I was over the moon about the company vision and the fact that they had a primarily female leadership team that I would be a part of. Fantastic I thought, this is gonna be great. I will be respected for my expertise, treated equitably and compensated appropriately for the value I am bringing to the table. No, that is not what happened. Toxicity happened and major marginalization. It was one of the most disempowering experiences that I have ever had in my career and there were layers of toxicity and favouritism that I would not wish upon anyone professionally, ever. The things I loved about this company on paper were things that turned me into a complete insomniac, borderline alcoholic, and had me questioning my value when I knew full well what my valuation was and why it was so coveted in the digital world, outside of this company. This sort of culture and business practice is not okay #nobueno

BUT, this story is not about that company, it is about the beginnings of a really exciting journey that happened to rapidly jump start by the chain reaction of that company’s unravelling. I have technically been an entrepreneur for ages; started 3 companies to varying degrees of success over the years but I was always afraid to make it official. Like relationship statuses, it was complicated. So I kept my day job, worked around the clock, played it way safer than I should have and made other people a lot of money. What was stopping me from doing this for myself? Why was I so afraid?

When it comes to start-ups and the entrepreneurial life, there usually isn’t a “right” time to start. There’s no one to hold your hand and send you off with kisses (although that would be nice). It’s hard to predict the perfect moment to go completely independent and take that entrepreneurial plunge. Sometimes, you just have to hold your breath and jump..

Everything you’ve been through leads you to where you need to be and sometimes that means turning lemons into lemonade. But you don’t even have to settle for lemonade when life throws you lemons. You can turn that s*%t into a very fancy lemon-based martini drink - thankful to be reppin’ Digital 55 full time now as Founder and Chief Creative Officer.

Big Goals, Big Vision - Can’t wait for the short term things, the long term things and everything in between. Even in the wild, gritty moments, entrepreneurial life is truly the best!

Author - Lauralee Sheehan, Chief Creative Officer (CCO)

Blog Cover Photo - nikolai-chernichenko-699335-unsplash

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STRATEGY_All Great Entrepreneurial Stories are Born Out of Pure Chaos, Right?