Why wait until you’re “Ready?”

Do you ever feel truly “ready” to start a new challenge in your life? Along with nearly 20 percent of other people in the U.S. -- I struggle with anxiety. It’s a work in progress, and I work hard to manage it well. (Yoga has changed my life in that aspect, I highly recommend). I tell you that only to say that one of the results is that I overthink to the extreme, and have a constant fear that I am not “ready” for whatever step I am trying to take in the progress of my career/business/life goals/relationships etc. I worked in the beauty industry for more than 15 years, and daydreamed of creating my own beauty brand for most of that time, but never felt “ready.” I definitely never had the funds to start a business I thought, and felt “unprepared” to handle the business side of things. Even though I have seen many people start businesses from nothing, with limited knowledge of what they were getting into (I also watched many fail so that definitely affected me), I felt paralyzed by some imaginary need to make sure that all conditions were perfect before I could start to move forward with creating my own business. It wasn’t until I had worked to change everything about my entire life that I finally felt I had nothing to lose any longer, and if I didn’t try to take the first steps at this point in my life it may never happen. So I took the first steps. And then I kept going. And today I am still working each day on learning and doing more to grow and sustain this beautiful clean beauty brand of mine. For another true example: I had never made soap before, but I wanted to sell organic all-natural soap for GingerGanics because it is such a great sustainable skincare item and a must have for those with super sensitive skin. A truly all-natural soap is so healthy for skin, and so healthy for the environment because it can be produced and packaged without creating waste (if you choose to prioritize sustainability). So I decided to research how to create handmade soap in the most natural way possible, without waste, and creating biodegradable packaging. What I learned is that there is no shortage of soap makers in the U.S., no shortage of ways to make soap, and just like the rest of the beauty industry -- no shortage of bs ingredients and crap companies, yet all of these companies are still succeeding in a saturated marketplace. There is a shortage of options for sustainable packaging, and a huge gap in transparent sustainable sourcing, trustworthy and fast shipping ingredients suppliers. It took me several months of research, trial and error, and obsessing before I finally decided to just go for it and list my favorite formulations for sale on GingerGanics, even though I still didn’t have packaging completely figured out, or final labeling, and I still feel like the soap bars themselves could look more polished or professional or artistic or whatever I feel is lacking at the moment. But all of my friends and family I had shared the soaps with loved them. New customers were ordering soaps. And everyone who tries them loves what I love about them -- they are creamy and moisturizing, all-natural, with clean and beautiful ingredients that make your skin feel good. This brand hasn’t been an overnight success, and neither was soapmaking. Nothing has gone “viral” for me that has resulted in crazy sales success either. But I work diligently every day to create the best products and speak my truth. GingerGanics creates beautiful, healthy skincare that makes you feel pretty freaking fantastic. I did that, even though I wasn’t “ready” and even though I am still figuring it all out. If you take anything away from this, do what makes you happy, or put the steps into place to finally start building the life you want to create regardless of whether you feel ready or not. You’ll figure it out.