Say yes – how we started
Say yes – how we started
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As I reflect on our journey so far with Inspiration Outdoors I often come back to the moment when it all started for us. There’s one lesson from that time that I hope to always remember and that I want to share with you.
Say ‘yes’ before you are ready – it was the best thing I ever did.
In late 2010 a friend posted something on Facebook like:
“if you wait until you’re ready, you’ll never do anything, because you’ll never be ready”
It struck a chord with me and I decided it was a motto I should embrace. I’d typically been someone who let fear of failure rule me, which of course meant that I was getting pretty good at playing it safe. But it was time to embrace some risk in life.
I’d recently finished a year-long research project at university and was starting to look for work. I knew a few important things. I didn’t want to go back to any of my old jobs – cook, waitress, gardener or local government environment officer. And I wanted three things:
1. Adventures;
2. time in nature; and
3. to make people happy.
A couple of weeks after I read my friend’s post I emailed Pam, the previous owner of Inspiration Outdoors, and asked for a job as a guide.
To my surprise, an hour later I got the following reply:
“I’m actually winding up the business – retiring. You’re not interested in taking on a business are you??”
When I read that question, I just stared at it. Then I read it again. And again. Surely it was a throw-away line, not meant for a proper answer. It was Friday night – maybe Pam had been drinking.
But what if it was an actual question? What if this was a chance to create a life that I was in charge of? And that gave me fulfilment, rather than just a pay cheque?
The Facebook post started playing on repeat in my head. If you wait until you’re ready you’ll never do anything, because you’ll never be ready. Well I wasn’t ready for this! But if Pam was serious, then what an opportunity.
So the next day I wrote back:
“…Yes I’m interested in taking on a business.”
That was the best sentence I have ever written. This is what happened after I wrote it:
1. Pam and I agreed we were both serious and decided to meet.
2. Simon, my partner (now husband), said that he was keen to quit his job and be involved in Inspiration Outdoors. I was surprised but very happy (as a Regional Manager for a major Australian logistics company, Simon had been taking way too many phone calls at dinner time for my liking).
3. Simon and I met Pam, we got along, and she entrusted us with the ownership of Inspiration Outdoors – her baby.
4. We worked really hard to make sure we didn’t stuff it up (and we haven’t).
5. We learned that ‘job satisfaction’ doesn’t begin to describe how we feel about running Inspiration Outdoors. We meet wonderful people on every one of our walks and we get to share with them the trails and places that we love.
I’m extremely thankful that I said yes to something I wasn’t ready for back in 2010 and the journey it has sparked.
So, if you’ve been putting something off because you’re not ready, I encourage you to say yes and do it anyway. You never know where it will take you.
