So Greywave Senior Care Consulting didn’t get Gold, Silver or Bronze at the Halifax Chamber of Commerce 2020 Business Awards, but I sure didn’t feel like I lost.
Before the winners were announced, I scanned the room of 650 other attendees (while listening to the amazing Sarah Ellen Morrison performing – love you Sarah) and I had overwhelming feelings of pride, gratefulness and humility.
I was reflecting on how I got to this a room full of business people, and Greywave Senior Care Consulting was one of the top 29 of 300 nominees out of 7,000 Halifax businesses.
Five years ago, I was a 50-year-old social worker in a government job – the only kind I ever had. I had absolutely no business knowledge or experience. I chose with the full on support of my life partner to leave a full paying job, risking our retirement and our children’s education funds to venture off into entrepreneurship solely with the idea that I had the knowledge and experience to meet a huge need in our community – navigating care for older adults and their families.
If you’ve been an entrepreneur you will know that without start-up money, you have to do everything: book keeping, accounting, legal, web design, branding, marketing, tech support, admin support, social media guru, etc. You would also know about waking in the night and worrying about anything and everything and making some mistake that will undo everything you have worked for. It’s 24/7, 365 days a year. At the awards on January 23, I felt proud that I did it! I created, launched and built a viable, successful business that is helping relieve the stress of caring for our older loved ones.
Then came the feeling of gratefulness and humility. I did it, but I sure didn’t, nor could I ever have done it, alone. Firstly, I couldn’t have done it without the support of my family. I can’t even tell you how it’s not possible to do this without their support and their belief in me. A business affects every aspect of our family life.
I had video reel running in my mind of all the friends, entrepreneurs, businesses and organizations who gave of their time, their expertise, their wisdom and encouragement to help me succeed. People taught me Quickbooks, wrote my text for a website/pamphlets/cards, did photo shoots, fixed my laptop, my printer, passed my cards along, shared a Facebook post, taught me to use Canva or connected me to someone who could help me. I felt humbled because they gave of themselves from a place where they really wanted to see me succeed.
When the three top awards were announced, as I sat beside my life partner and four of my long-time supportive friends, I didn’t feel like a loser at all. I was feeling very proud, grateful and humbled. My only real disappointment was not getting to give the winner’s speech which would have been everything you just read.
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