Team Espinoza

Last week Amanda and I had a chance to encourage a friend contemplating quitting her job and starting her own business.  We shared anecdotes about running a business, confirmed the fear and uncertainty that comes along with venturing into something new, and overall tried to convey the fact that it can be done.

When we left the restaurant, I remembered that this week marks the anniversary of my last day working for the Bank.  I recalled all the emotions of the time: exhaustion from months of working non-stop as I tried to make sure that what I was moving into was viable, fear of not being able to provide for my family, and excitement of fulfilling a dream by embarking on something new.

I feel very fortunate that over the course of the year I was able to work on several fulfilling projects, meet some great people that have become friends as well as clients, gave myself a raise over what I would have earned at my former job, all while being able to eat almost every meal with Annabelle and Amanda.

The year wasn’t void of missteps: taking on too much work and having projects fall months behind schedule or the project that just fell apart due to a lack of a coherent outline.  These all proved to be non-fatal failures and became valuable teachable moments.

Here are three things that I took from my experiences in business in 2008:

You Need Boundaries
The first few months of working from home were difficult for Amanda and I.  We didn’t have a schedule of when I would be “working” and when I would be “home” since work was now at home.   Although we have a room in our house that’s a designated office, Amanda would often come into the room, screaming toddler in tow, to check her email while I was trying to concentrate.  Plus, I worked long hours to finish projects and didn’t have a consistent end of day.  After several conversations and trial and error, we now have some boundaries that have helped make working from home a joy:

• We bought Amanda a laptop so she can check her email and blog from anywhere in the house.  She no longer feels shut off from her digital life because of my inability to multi-task or handle small screaming people.

• 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. is family time.  No matter what’s going on, I stop working at 5.  This allows me to help Amanda with end-of-day-Annabelle (which is totally different than just-woke-up-Annabelle, or just-ate-some-yummy-food-Annabelle) and with dinner.   It is also important so that we have family time.

• I don’t work on Sundays.  I even try to stay away from computers; save the emotive/reflective/soliloquy of a blog post.  This one sounds silly, I know, but even the Sabbath was falling prey to my desire to “just be caught up.”  Nothing can replace good rest.

Plan for the low months
I charted out my businesses revenue over the year and it looks more like a world-class roller coaster than a straight line.  Even though the the year trended upward, there were months where clients would read “Suggestion” instead of “Payment Due”, projects would run over, or strange cultural happenings would occur (Christmas is in December this year).  Each of these caused revenue ripples that brought stress due to not having an adequate cash cushion.  One of my goals for this year is to have enough of a cushion to handle the ebbs and flows of my biz.

God is Faithful
Last week I updated my business’s website.  Not a monumental event in itself.  Until I told Amanda, “That was the fist time I updated my website – in over a year.”  When we started down the road of living off of Grow Development, Amanda was strangely confident.  It didn’t bother her that we both were quitting our jobs within 9 months of each other.  It didn’t bother her that she couldn’t write a line of programming code or that I had a client list of one.  She had peace about it and it showed.  We both did.  In our marriage we had learned to see God as Provider.  When we were dual income, it wasn’t the Air Force or Frost Bank that were our provider.  It wasn’t our intellect, wit, education, skill, or good looks that would clothe and feed us, it was and still is God.  Doing my annual changes on my business website made me chuckle because it reminded me that I haven’t done any considerable marketing since I started and I have more work than I can handle.   That’s in no way to laude my abilities, but to say that God once again showed himself faithful to provide everything we need.

We’re thankful for an amazing 2008 and are excited about what’s to come in 2009.