The story goes, a famous trapeze artist was instructing his students on how to complete a performance on the high bar. After finishing his talk, he asked his students to demonstrate what they had learned. One of his students stood looking up at his precarious perch, pictured himself falling, and become completely frozen in fear.

“I can’t do it. I can’t do it.” he gasped. The instructor put his hand on his shoulder and said these words:

“Throw your heart over the bar and your body will follow.” 

For a year and a half now, Michael and I have been on this adventure of entrepreneurship and praise be to God and a LOT of hard work we are doing it!

Well, the time has come for me to embark on another adventure; to throw my heart over a new bar.

Since we started our business I have kept my part-time job at an orthodontists’ office. However, I have been longing to doing something entrepreneurially on my own.

Two months ago, I handed in my notice at work. You see, I have been working on a book (A guidebook for braces) for quite a few months now. It is in the last stages of completion and next month marks the launch date.

How did I decide to do this?

I evaluated my current skills and knowledge and chose a project that was both scary and simple, as Seth Godin recommends. I realized I have an abundant amount of knowledge in the orthodontic field and, therefore, decided to write a guidebook for the process of wearing braces.

I am going to self publish and will be keeping you updated on both the process and my progress (how I am doing what I am doing, and how the process goes as I move forward.)

For any of you curious about the writing and self publishing process, you have come to the right place. I will be learning and sharing with you what I am learning as I go!

So, to start off this series of posts and to give you a little glimpse into the head of someone jumping into something new, here is a recent little interview between me and my head:

An interview between me and my head

Head: “Who says you can do this?”

Me: “Well, I do!”

Head: “Are you sure this is going to work?”

Me: “No”

Head: “Then why are you doing it?”

Me: “Because I want to see how high I can fly and if I never jump I will never find out!”

Head: “But isn’t it unwise to do something unless you are sure it’s going to work?”

Me: “I view it a little differently than you, head. Risk and reward are on opposite ends of the balance beam and you cannot have one without the other. They travel as a pair. ‘This might work,’ or ‘this might not work’, are two phrases which are the fascinating part of becoming an artist and doing something that matters.

If it doesn’t work, I win as long as I learn from it and move on. If it does work, yay! I will have a little party and then move on. The whole idea is to keep moving, keep trying things, and figure out what works and what doesn’t work.

I choose buoyancy as my motto, have you ever tried it head?”

Head: “No, and it doesn’t sound fun.”

Head: “So, what if you fail?”

Me: “You see, head, ‘change’ has a twin sister and her name is failure. The possibility is always there for failure, yes, but there is also the possibility of success. I choose to focus on the fact that change, as a whole, brings growth. Whether I fail or succeed, I grow.

I can’t help but move towards change if I want to keep growing.”

Head: “This is going to be scary!”

Me: “Yup! Isn’t it fascinating?!”

Head: “I can’t do it; I can’t see anything; it’s dark out here!”

Me: “Yes,I know, but it will be ok. Just put one foot in front of the other and don’t stop moving. Oh, and don’t look back.”

Oh, and by the way head, would you mind putting some duct tape over your mouth and blinders over your eyes? It will help us out a lot. Thanks!”

adventure to be continued………..

“You can risk being wrong or you can be boring” – Seth Godin 

p.s Here is some more encouragement about the “The Roller Coaster of Shipping ”