A cowgirl’s guide to business

I’ll let you in on a little secret love of mine – western movies - the more cowboys, tumbleweeds and horses, the better.

So the other night for some hard-earned R&R I finally watched the movie Appaloosa. In the opening scene, Everett Hitch (Viggo Mortensen) tells the story of how he left a second-generation career as a solder and graduate of West Point to become a peacekeeper for-hire, shoot first, ask questions later style. In his words, “the thing about soldierin’ is that it didn’t allow for much expansion of the soul, so I rode away to see how much I could expand it”.

His simple statement sums up the essence of what makes many of us turn away from the so-called security of a corporate position to venture out into the vast expanse of self-employment.

However just like Everett Hitch, our journey is not without peril (even though we’re not getting shot at!). I have been thinking about this a lot lately as I prepare for our twice weekly calls with successful business owners for the Corporate Entrepreneurs Unplugged telesummit.

Last week my co-host and I Marcia Hoeck talked about the common mistakes ex-corporate people make when they start out, and how we will approach each of these mistakes throughout the next six weeks. If you want to hear the interview where we discussed this, you can listen to the preview call on the event home page.

Yesterday we spoke to Marie Forleo who shared her story about leaving the New York Stock Exchange for the world of fashion magazines, professional dance and fitness, and then self employment. Marie has a unique style of her own and she teaches other business owners how to live in the moment, expand their possibilities and be their own best support system.

Funnily enough, she talked about surefire ways you can make a decision that’s right for you, and also how you can simply not make a mistake in your life or business if you tune in to certain things that only you can know. Which leads me to my next quote, from my cowboy Everett:

“Life has a way of making the foreseeable that which never happens, and the unforeseeable, that which your life becomes.”

So for those of us who think we have to plan perfectly and know everything before we start (Mistake #7, by the way), listen to Everett and Marie, and look for that which expands your soul.