Has anyone told you that nothing easy is worth doing? I want to cringe when I hear it.

Does it really have to be that way?  …..probably so.

What that really means is that the crowd thins at the top and you have less competition (which is great when you know the world has less original ideas than most people think)…but of course, competition that probably has a lot more money than you do…to knock you off, etc. Big companies have deeper pockets.  Maybe they are slower to approve new lines, etc. That’s where having a smaller business comes in handy.  All WE have to do, to get something approved, is I suggest it, my husband seconds it and then it’s just logistics.  The yeas have it!

The hard part is the time and the financing of all that work. It’s a LOT of work.  I honestly want to cry about every other day (from stress).  Mistakes are inevitable.  You want to jump off a bridge (don’t worry, nobody is jumping off a bridge).  Costs add up.  Stores take you and you feel like you finally are “in”, but you have to wait for the shelf reset (oh that’s 8 months from now).  And you want to jump off a bridge (don’t worry, nobody is jumping off a a bridge).

Sometimes, it’s so much that you have to keep your other job and then you work two jobs…and every weekend.  Meanwhile, your OBGYN says you’re getting “old” and need to hurry and have children and your sister rubs it in that you don’t have kids and she has 3 of them, so she is a success and you’re a flop (by her measurement).  All this goes on while you’re building a new business.  Wait, didn’t those Google execs freeze their eggs?

I majored in food science and packaging engineering (somehow knowing I would eventually do something like this).  I moved to Colorado Springs for the Olympic Training Center, met a gold miner (with a heart of PURE GOLD),  got married and started hanging out with the natural foods people in the state.  I’ve met the most wonderful people in the last several years and it’s been a real blessing. 

I like the road I traveled.  I can’t say that I loved it.  I dropped out of West Point (and was called a failure), when I saw it as just knowing what I wanted in life as a 20 year old.  I like that I moved to other cities to train for the Olympic Trials and I moved around without knowing ANYONE, ANYWHERE, other than coaches and teammates (mostly male).  I’ve seen a lot.  I’ve experienced a lot for a 38 year old “old” person.  And I’ve taken a lot of risks;  some failures, some major successes.  You learn that everything really ends up being okay, no matter if it feels like it won’t.

I love the person I’ve become because of it all.  I have no problem looking in the mirror and asking myself, what I can do better and what do I need to fix.  It’s a gift.

I don’t take Frau Fowler back either.  I love what I’m up too.  I love that I can use all of my medical knowledge, my academic background and my creative background to make valuable products that add real VALUE to peoples’ lives.  I love that I’m for sustainable agriculture and doing the right thing for the environment.  And I love that I married a man that can do all the parts, I can’t!  (It just so happened to work out that way).

So no, for now I’ll be okay with the struggle, because I know what the possibilities are.  It’s all part of the journey.  What a cliché!