Advice from a 29-year old entrepreneur

Today I turn 29. Now if you've been following Project Vanity and my old personal blogs for a while, you might have already pieced together my story - how, as a poor college student, I started blogging and turned my hobby into the beauty company it is today. I'm not particularly rich or famous (and I might never be), but it's a point of pride for me that I'm able to run my own business, employ an amazing staff, and pay myself my own salary all before I turned 30. I stay in my own place and I can afford to travel occasionally. 

But how did I get here? And why do I want to talk about this now? The latter question is easier to answer. I know many women who were or are currently in a situation similar to mine when I was younger. They feel like their dreams are impossible or just too hard to even look at. They feel like they're not rich, pretty, smart, or confident enough to go after the thing that they know would make them happy. Not for lack of trying, they fail. Eventually it hurts too much to try again. 

I'm writing this because I'm a good example that with some luck - that is, when a person works hard enough and takes enough risks that she is able to maneuver herself into a position to be lucky - anything is possible. Take it from a crude girl from the province who could never have imagined writing something like this in a fancy tea restaurant in the middle of the day because dammit it, she's the boss. 

How I got here has a longer, more complex answer. I started working full-time two weeks after I graduated college, but I've actually been freelancing since my third year at university. I left my full-time job after eight months - I liked it well enough, but I wanted to be able to blog more. Can you imagine how ridiculous that sounded at the time? I was 22. I didn't know jack shit about anything.

Fortunately, due to my blogging connections, I was able to score freelance projects from different media and ad agencies. Eventually I grew my own list of clients - still blogging almost everyday all this time! I would do community management as well as marketing and PR for them on retainer. That's fun but I had to scale up. Should I open an agency or can I turn Project Vanity into something else? The answer was obvious. In late 2015 I raised money from investors, incorporated a company, and now here we are. 

I was - still am - afraid every step of the way. I often feel inadequate for the job and the goals I set for myself. I make a lot of mistakes and I fail often. But I also succeed often and I do many things right. It's all part of the process of learning to navigate the next stage of my personal development!

I have so much advice I want to write down but since this is getting long and I don't want to repeat all the things I've said before, let me just say one thing. 

If you already have a goal but don't know what to do to get there, find someone who has already done it or is in any stage of doing it. I would use the word mentor but it doesn't have to be so formal; the relationship could be as simple with you being curious and your friend being willing to share his or her experiences. 

Ask them a lot of questions. Ask them for their story, their opinion, the things that keep them busy day to day. I was fortunate enough to work with amazing women early on in my career, and I was able to observe how they solve problems and how dedicated they are to their businesses first hand. If you have someone that you work with and look up to, learn from them. If you don't work for them yet, well, what are you waiting for? (Kidding, I know it's not always an option. But if it is, stop dawdling.)

No dream is impossible until you exhaust all means of making it possible. Dreams are like Schrödinger's cat - they're both possible and impossible until you actually open the box to check. The sooner you accept this, the less time you waste on meaningless distractions and pointless what ifs. 

So, do something for yourself today. Ask someone you look up to for coffee. The worst that can happen is they say no or ignore you. Otherwise, you might just pick up a new idea that will inspire a change in the way you think or go about your life. That's priceless and worth the risk of rejection.