Turning Day-Dreams into Keys:
The Surprising Path to Launching a Business and Embracing Life's Unexpected Twists
Hello friends
Well look, I’m trying not to start this how most conversations are starting right now. Which is something along the lines of …. DEAR GOD how is it November?!!
But honestly it feels like 5 minutes ago that it was August, I was looking forward to hanging out with some of my besties at a conference and prepping for a silent retreat in at the end of September with the plan then to settle in with a nice cuppa and wait for the xmas madness to descend around me!
Didn’t life have other plans.
AND haven’t I enjoyed and been amazed by every millisecond of them.
So let’s see if I can begin to recap in a way that is useful and fun for all of us!
August and the conference is a whole ‘nother article. There is so much that I want to reflect and share upon that experience. I do not think it’s a co-incidence at all that I came home from that weekend and experienced a seemingly sudden burst of creativity. There had been no plan to do all the things that I’ve done in the last 8 weeks so there is no doubt in my mind that that weekend surrounded by all those fab acupuncturists activated something in me that was waiting for a catalyst. More on that process soon.
First though the outcome of that bursting creativity is the launching of a business, a thing in fact that I said I never wanted to do. I’m wondering how many more fabulous things await in my near future that I have dismissed?
It’s a weird thing to try and describe; but I love the feeling of having my perspective altered. I love the feeling in my brain, of space opening where once I perceived a dead end. I wonder if anyone else knows that visceral feeling I’m referring too?
If liberation had a sensation I think this would be it.
Early on in the year, before I moved in with Mark which was a thing I said I’d never do to a suburb I said I’d never live in, there was, as you might recall from my sharing, lots of space in my life.
Lots of space to day dream as it happened.
This is the upside of ill health and giving yourself time to re-evaluate your options.
The day dreams often featured an empty shop (that is still empty) between a cafe and the post office here on Chevron Island. I would imagine a cute little treatment space with a tiny shop front full of candles and oils and bits and bobs that would draw people in. I imagined my friend Ros and I working there sometimes on our own sometimes together, and that we’d have fab little events that spilled out onto the footpath. There would be fairy lights naturally.
One day sitting with Ros at another cafe across the road from this empty shop I mentioned my day dream to her.
“but it would be way too expensive” I said
“you would have to have tens of thousands of dollars to start a business” I said.
“Nah”, I said.
But the day dream persisted.
Driving past I would imagine it.
Driving home from my clinic in Currumbin I would imagine leaving the shop and walking home from work.
I started asking the shops around who the owner was.
This went on for months.
Eventually I had to come clean and tell Mark.
Would this be a thing that I could do?
I kept hunting the owner,
I asked friends what they thought.
They came with me to look at other premises.
Other friends suggested that I rent a space
Here,
or there.
Full body no.
And I realised that I had a VERY exact idea about what I wanted.
Something was wanting to be created through me.
This is how I approach my creative life now … there is so much more I can share on this later.
Now if you’ve known me for a while. You might recall just how stubborn and determined I was before life exhausted me :) This was amplified by my delight at finally feeling lit up by a desire.
To have a crystal clear 3 D vision in my mind of exactly how it was going to look and feel was such a reminder that you can’t force these things and waiting is often exactly what you need to be doing.
So it was only a matter of time.
I’m not even sure how I found the space in the end. I think I finally had a look for commercial realestate online. And there it was.
Spacious, timber floors, brilliant light in two large treatment spaces and a reception area you could cartwheel through.
Would Ros actually want to jump in with me?
Would another friend join us ?
There was a week of a lot of conversations.
Nerves, hopes, sums added up in the middle of the night.
Ros and I have had exactly 23 million and 12 voice memo conversations (and counting) since that week and on the 19th of October we picked up the keys!
Check instagram to see just how giddy I was!
Let me tell you friends that you do not need tens of thousands of dollars to open a business.
You need exactly half the 3 months rent for bond and a month in advance.
And I had EXACTLY (almost down to the last cent) that in the savings account that I had lived from last year.
For those of you who’ve watched our space come together one fiddle leaf fig at a time on instagram you will already know that it’s a really gorgeous space.
I would love for you to check it out here.
This week we finally have a bank account. (thats a long boring story I have no desire to retell here) The signage is going up on Friday and since the first week I have been treating clients!
Yes even before we had a single item of furniture in the reception!
If you’re wanting to book in with me in person or online head here.
It feels like a brilliant gift of an ending for the year but I have a sneaky feeling that 2023 may have a few tricks up here sleeve yet.
How has the last few months of this year been feeling for you?
There is much change happening in the world right now.
And so much heart-ache.
Heartache that not only puts in perspective how lucky and privileged I am but that also invites me to make more meaningful value led service based choices in my life.
I’m still working out how to share this more deeply.
In the coming weeks I have articles on how naps may well be the next step in the feminist revolution :) and a chunk of my book for my paid subscribers.
Sending much love to you all.
I’d love to hear from you in the comments below
x
Keri
Congratulations lovely! What a beautiful dream come true. Well done 💃