top of page
Katherinebw(58)_edited.jpg

Entrepreneurs  Journal

DAILY ACTIONS & LIFE LESSONS TOWARDS SUCCESS

Welcome to my personal journal of the experiences and lessons I've learned from 20 years of entrepreneurship.  Here we'll discuss:

>What worked and what didn't<

>Facts vs Feelings<

>Working through the highs and lows<

>How to become better every step of the way<

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Instagram
  • TikTok
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
Katherine(73).jpg
Writer's picturekraible

I grew up in an era where supporting other people/businesses may not have been the most popular way to go about things. You certainly shouldn’t be helping your “competition” right? I’ve worked in environments where you most certainly do not collaborate with the competition. It’s an old fashioned view. It’s an old fashioned way to lead as an entrepreneur.

Nowadays we are expected to help one another. To like, comment, share. But is it really that easy? Does support really exist? Do people actually want to help others… I’m not so sure.

During these past 2 years it was encouraging to see how people would purchase from local and small businesses to make sure they stay afloat during all the COVID shutdowns. I would intentionally go and buy various things locally for that reason.

With the “world wide web” it certainly makes sense that there should be in theory more than enough business to go around but finding the right clientele or the right network is still something that takes time and effort. It doesn’t come easily for most. Hearing the word “no” can be debilitating for most people, especially when it comes from the people who are closest to you; those who know your heart; those who we rely on, day in and day out.

The playing field has grown exponentially and so has the learning curve. We need to trust the process and be consistent in whatever field we find ourselves in.

Being able to build trust with people you don’t actually know, who would never “walk by our shop” is more possible than ever before. We have the opportunity to be providing a service for way more people than would be physically possible in the past. But that requires help to break through the noise.

You need to be providing a service that is quality.

You need to be consistent with your communication.

You need to be relative to the people you are targeting.

You need to love helping people.

You need to want to be the best and do your best.

And you need support from others.

When we support one another it means that we understand what is required to be seen. It means that we are not just in it for ourselves but for the betterment of everyone; that we all deserve a fighting chance. Referrals go a long way! It’s not about competition. It’s about support.


When we support one another it means that we understand what is required to be seen.

I’m so thankful that in my business there are numerous women and men who are supportive. They may be in the same business as myself but we help one another. It’s not about competition because we know that developing a business is built on trust and that is built on hard work and dedication. You have to do the work.

You can certainly go at it alone. But what I’ve realized is that when you have a team of people who will help you, hold you up, push you and encourage you, the reasons why you’re “doing it” gets a whole lot clearer and the noise from the naysayers or uncertainty gets a while lot quieter.

If you don’t have that kind of support, we should chat 💛



Who surrounds you? Who are those very special people who always encourage and motivate and push you forward?

There are a lot of different people surrounding us and they all seem to play a role in our lives somehow; consciously or unconsciously. We have the encouragers, they are the ones that cheer you on. We have the naysayers who tend to bring up all the reasons why you can’t do something. We have the “realists” they are the ones who have a hard time dreaming and think their realism is not negativity at all but facts! (I used to be that person). We have the “dreamers” who have great ideas but most have no follow through. We have the victims who may have had a bad experience at some time but instead of learning from it and pushing through they decided to make camp at the pity party. It’s a lot easier to remain scathed by a situation than to move past it and make life better because of it… Then we have the controllers. They need to have all their ducks in a row before doing anything. They tend to get stuck in all the organizing that they rarely move forward unfortunately. They have a hard time with other people infringing on their territory of success and even failure. And we have those that are fearful. They fear failure, what others think, making mistakes, looking badly, looking like they don’t have it all together all the time and especially anything new.

Who surrounds you the most? Who do you give the most voice to in your life’s decisions?

I believe that we all have the tendency of wanting someone to talk us down… We have a great idea, or want to take a leap of faith but we know it’ll require a lot of effort and growth and we just need that certain someone to talk us down so that we can remain at the same place, never moving forward, “happy” with where we are, living in complacency. I say happy loosely, because we are never truly happy when we know that our full potential hasn’t been realized.

As I mentioned earlier I used to be that person who considered herself to be a realist. “I’m not negative, I’m realistic,” I’d say. Someone would tell me something and I’d say, “ yeah right, that’s never going to happen.” It came from a feeling of uncertainty and insecurity and receiving some hard blows in my life. It came from my inability to take the steps of faith I needed to get to where I wanted to go. It came from my brain being bombarded with what everyone else wanted me to do, instead of standing on my own two feet and doing what I knew I should do.

Once we take the steps and disregard the noise then we can truly be whoever we were meant to be in that moment. The more you do it, the easier it gets and the stronger and wiser you’ll be.

Even though all the people listed are probably amazing people. Friends you’ve had since the beginning, family members whom you love! I get that. They are all wonderful people, I’m sure… The problem is that those we give the most voice in our lives will dictate the direction of our lives.

So ultimately it comes down to you deciding who do you want to be? If you had no restrictions in your life whatsoever what would you like to be doing? Where would you love to go? Who do you want to be like? Then take a look at the voices that surround you and realize if they will help you get there, or not.

Surround yourself with encouragers; people who will pray with you and for what is best for you. Find people with a likeminded goal, who will be taking the same kinds of steps in that direction. People who get it. People who have been there and have life lessons to help make your road a lot easier. Surround yourself with people who want you to succeed in everything you do, genuinely. Surround yourself with good people.

Writer's picturekraible

I hear it time and time again when I talk to people about starting a second stream of income, that they just have “no time”…

We all have the same 24 hours in a day. There is no difference between us in that regard. We’re all busy… whether it’s because of our 9-5; maybe it’s because we have young kids at home who need our “undivided attention”; perhaps it’s because we are a taxi service for our older kids that need to be driven absolutely everywhere (LOL - been there, done that, bought the t-shirt)

The fact is that this life is filled with all the reasons why we can’t do something. Excuses are never in short supply. The problem is that regardless of how busy we think we are, there’s still a lot of time available to grow a second source of income.

We complain about all the things we don’t have, wish we had, wish we could do, if only…

If we continue believing that we don’t have time, then we will never get ourselves out of the situations we find ourselves in… we can continue to live with a victim mentality, hoping that somehow something will magically happen to change our lives…. Maybe we’ll win the lottery; maybe we’ll marry someone rich; maybe we’ll somehow have all the savings we need without actually saving… We could do that but honey, I’m sorry to say that that is not realistic. What is realistic though is that you can use consistent effort towards something that will bring change and growth, instead of wasting time on pointless things. It doesn’t have to take you away from your family… but as we all have heard before (I’m sure) if you’re willing to make the sacrifices you need to do now, you will be able to live a life that is yours and will more than you ever hoped for!

And when I say sacrifices, I mean not watching Netflix until bedtime after the kids are in bed. I mean not wasting time scrolling on your phone but using those moments for your benefit. Like right now for example, I’m on holiday writing this blog… I could convince myself that, hey! I’m on holiday! I’m not going to do anything but relax! I deserve it! I’m going to spend every waking moment with my hubs and do nothing else! I work hard every day… I don’t do that though because I know that consistency is key. That what I do is important to me and my family. And I can absolutely spare some time to show up today and every day for the life I want for myself and those I love!

You have the time you just need to organize yourself and prioritize every moment. If you’re willing to stop making excuses and start maximizing your time for YOUR benefit, I’d love to chat with you.

bottom of page