Balancing Caregiving and Entrepreneurship: My Journey and Best Practices
In this vulnerable solo episode, I share my recent experience as a caregiver for my father, who underwent major spinal surgery. From managing hospital stays to handling paperwork, I break down everything you need to know about caring for a loved one while maintaining your own well-being and business.
Key Topics:
Important documents & paperwork you need
Self-care tips while being a caregiver
How to keep your loved one's spirits up
Managing a business during family emergencies
Organizing medical information & appointments
Financial considerations & preparation
If you're caring for an elderly parent or want to be prepared for the future, this episode is for you. Let's have the tough conversations now so we can be ready when life happens. 💕
Full Transcript:
What's up y'all welcome back to Banking on Cultura I am your host Victoria Jenn Rodriguez and I'm coming to you live with another solo episode and a life update so if you've been following me on the social media streets you might have seen that my dad has been in the hospital for quite some time he actually had major back surgery spinal surgery on New Year's Eve so right around Christmas into New Year's Eve is when [ __ ] started hitting the fan when it came to my dad brought him to the hospital and he was in the hospital for about 3 and a half weeks he just got home this past week and what what day is today today's January 23rd so he went in on on December 27th and got home January 21st so about 3 and 1 half weeks he was in the hospital this was the first time my dad had any like major surgery or had to stay in a hospital so it was Major and I experienced a ton and I wanted to do an episode kind of walking you through what that experience was like because some of you might have an elderly parent that your caring for right now or you might be a caregiver for a sick family member or you might be just caring for someone else besides yourself I'm not talking about your kids I'm talking about an adult that you might be caring for and a lot of questions have come up when I posted about my dad around how I am managing self-care what the process looks like from insurance standpoint from paperwork from keeping my dad in good spirits bills like just how life exists while being a caretaker for someone else especially as an entrepreneur and so I wanted to do an episode that covered this experience and what it's been like for me and also hopefully give you some best practices and just some things that you should be considering and thinking about as you are looking at your parents or looking at family members who are getting older and more likely than not you will be the person responsible for their well-being and making sure that they are good so first I want to start with why it's incredibly important for you to take what I share in today's episode and begin executing on what you can now it will save you so much anxiety so much stress so much overwhelm even to just educate yourself around how to approach these things because I don't know about you but I've never been trained on this is what you do when you're automatically just become uh the caregiver for your parents normally it happens out of the blue and so nobody really talks about what that process is like and and how to prepare and how to position yourself for Success essentially in those circumstances and so now you're getting the info here because we really don't talk about those things enough and it's incredibly important for us to talk about these things because when you become a caretaker for somebody it can be incredibly lonely because you feel like you are the person who is solely responsible for this other human being and I'm talking about outside of your kids but to be honest with you guys so I don't have any kids and going through this process with my dad really makes me draw so much of an appre appreciation for parents cuz I don't know how you guys do it it is so so much it is so much to think of somebody else besides yourself in such a selfless way and when you're doing it for an adult I think it just makes it that much harder or maybe not it might be easier because you know when kids are first born you know or maybe it is harder I don't know y'all all I know is that your girl has been through the ringer the last three and a half weeks and so I just want to educate my community about my experience so once my dad went to the hospital none of us really knew that he was going to be staying in the hospital that he was going to need major surgery none of us really knew about this so nobody was really prepared right and when I mean nobody I mean me I was not really prepared for this and that is what I'm hoping to help you guys with is is how to prepare in advance and just share my learnings with you so here's what I want to start with I want to start with what you need to make sure that you do to stay happy during this time and I know that might seem like a far stretch because when you're looking at a loved one or you're caring for a loved one who is going through something healthwise who is not 100% themselves it can be depressing for you right because you're used to seeing this person in good spirits you're used to them being able to take care of themselves like it's just a complete shock and so it's incredibly important for you to make sure that you are exercising self-care for you it's it really is like when you're on a plane and they're like make sure you put on your you know mask first before you give it to someone else because if you can't breathe how are you going to be helpful to anyone else it really is along the same premise as that you really need to make sure that you are doing what you can to stay strong during this process because it is emotionally mentally soulfully tolling right it it takes a lot out of you to be able to remain strong to be able to continue to be a positive light to to just show up right and so here are some of the things that I did to help me throughout the last three and a half weeks to prioritize myself even while prior PR izing my dad right and trying to do both at the same time so first and foremost staying hydrated making sure that I'm drinking as much water as possible and really prioritizing nutrition you know to be frank with you guys one of the ways that I actually um deal with stress is I automatically like want to binge eat I want to Netflix and chill I want to you know go get some chips I want to you know have that soul food right because it is is comforting and that did happen and then I had to remind myself like V like are you really are you really being helpful in this situation if you're not taking care of yourself like 1,000% and so towards the latter half is when I started like being like okay V like stop the [ __ ] like stop this you need to get on point and so I started to prioritize my nutrition more and staying hydrated also let people help you like let if somebody extends help like take it you know for me listen don't don't offer your help to me because I am going to follow up on that like if you say hey I got you you need anything let me know cool I'm going to be picking up the phone when I need something so if someone is offering their help to you and if someone says hey you know reach out I'm here take advantage of that reach out because as I mentioned before it can be incredibly lonely when you become a caretaker for someone so you want to make sure that you don't force yourself into isolation and almost like create this this barrier for other people to interact with you right because you will find yourself in your fields and you will want to just stay in like your hole because you're just like holy [ __ ] what the hell is going on like how am I going to manage this and I knew that was important when right before I took my dad to the hospital guys I was taking care of my dad in ways that I never thought I would before I was I saw every single part of my father's body I was helping him bathe I was helping him get up and out of bed I was helping him you know just stay in good spirits I was feeding him it was just so so much that I found myself in moments where I didn't even have the time I I didn't even have the time to call and ask for help I didn't have the time to like step away because I was just so like on and making sure that I was just taking care of everything that he needed and Catering to him in that moment uh and once I did find a moment to step away I started to realize like wow I need to step away more I need to make sure that I'm prioritizing myself more because you can lose yourself literally lose yourself in these moments of despair right so you want to make sure that you are taking advantage of your tribe and reaching out to people and making sure that you don't just ghost and also try and schedule some spa days try and get away as much as possible and that's why it's important to like if somebody's offering you help say yes can you come and like take over for the next couple of hours so that I can have a break because it is just so frustrating to be in this spot where you feel like nobody gets it nobody understands but that could be just all in your head right because other people are going through a lot of things as well and they might have been a caretaker themselves but you would never know that and never be able to take advice from somebody who's been through that if you are not willing to share and if you are not open to just receiving help all right next I want to get into you know how you can keep your the person that you are taking care of in good spirits you know because part of you keeping them in good spirits is going to keep you in good spirits so for example so my dad had the major surgery on New Year's Eve so well the morning of New Year's Eve so by the afternoon he was out of surgery thank God it was successful but you know he was going to be spending New Year's Eve in the hospital which is a bummer um um you know for me as a loved one but also for him so it was just like okay how can I make sure that this experience doesn't completely suck and that we're celebrating life because the fact that he survived that surgery the fact that he was okay we need to celebrate that right and so I took a whole bunch of decorations and decided to decorate like his bed uh in the hospital I got him like a cute hat I got him glasses it was adorable it's on my social media I IM Victoria Jenna if you guys want to see the video I also got props for like his other roomies and I got props for like the staff the nurses so when the ball dropped he could feel good about it you know even though he was like half passed out off of morphine for the five minutes leading into the new year he was up and he told me he's like Victoria wake me up I know this medicine is knocking me out but wake me up oh my God I'm going to tear hold on let me get it together and so I woke him up right before New Year's and we brought New Years in together and it was dope it was beautiful and it's like a memory and then literally for the 3 weeks throughout his stay at the hospital like he would reference it he remembered and I would be showing the video to the other um nurses and staff and it was just dope so even when you are in these moments I can't believe I'm crying right now but I wanted to keep it real with you guys because this is has been so hard and um so challenging and we don't like I said we don't vulnerably share in this way so I want to lead by example which is why I'm doing this um but it was a dope moment for us and it'll be a memory right so figure out those little things that you can do to continue to celebrate life even though life might look incredibly different now that my dad's out the hospital you know I'm on his ass I'm making sure that he's staying hydrated I'm making sure that his nutrition is prioritized cuz you know hospital food sucks so of course he's outside now he's like oh get me you know get me desserts get me snacks get me this and I'm like did you have your seos today did you have fruit today right and you know when he would snap back at me I would be like well do you want to get better quickly or do you want to prolong this process and that usually like got him back into the swing of things but nutrition is super important and is the root of many of the ailments in our body so just making sure that you are constantly pushing that and keeping them in good spirits especially when they're in the hospital and when they're home another thing that I did with him was um I said affirmations with him so you know when he was in the hospital when I visited we said the affirmations together when I wasn't there and we were on the phone I did the affirmations with him we did breathing exercises together and it really really made a difference for him but also for me because as I'm speaking to him I'm speaking to myself right and keeping myself positive throughout this experience so affirmations breathing exercises let me take a drink of this water because honey I did not anticipate that I was going to have such a difficult time talking about this but this is what it is this is the real life update right now guys Okay so breathing exercises affirmations keeping nutrition um they also will need we interrupt our program to bring you this important message ooh this is really good you should know about this so I don't know about you but I've been known to procrastinate especially when things scare the hell out of me the fear alone would have me stuck overwhelmed confused and all types of self-doubt and don't even get me started on the impostor syndrome okay after getting laid off not once but three times honey I realized that the security blanket that I made up in my head was just an excuse because I didn't really want to bet on myself the corporate benefits that had me in that headlock girl they went out the window once my job decided that they no longer needed me it turns out that I'll save a whole nickel if I cut your salary completely the truth is the only security blanket guarantee is the one that you create for yourself in other words until you start a business you will always be at the mercy of a company's headcount and you will never have complete control over your time which means you'll be renting out your thought leadership and helping build someone else's dream instead of your own if you've been waiting for a sign this is it don't you think it's time you stop playing small and tap all the way into your PO s click on the link above or below this video to learn my three-step process the exact three steps that I took to make the transition from corporate to entrepreneurship and this is helpful even if you don't know what type of business to start and have only one source of income and this is absolutely free it is my gift to you I want you to win it's winning season in fact what's that it smells like winning season okay so tap in and I'll see you inside the training let's go extra TLC during this process so you need to just have more patience empathy and compassion that you ever had in your life really this experience you know I say that God works in mysterious ways because it's like my dad going through this experience has forced me to like have such an appreciation first of all for staff at hospitals nurses just everyone in the medical field um but also just have grown such a deep compassion and my empathy for just anyone who is struggling with something as it relates to their well-being and health that is going to fold over to me as a friend me as a leader me as a partner you know me as a business person all the things and so you have to find the things in these type of experiences you have to almost look at it as like the glass um half empty versus half full or is it the other way around you have to look at the glass as half full versus half empty I think it is anyway you guys you guys know what I'm saying because you have to almost like force yourself to think about okay like what is the positive out of this like what am I learning from this what how am I growing from this experience and constantly like reminding yourself of that so that you can continue to evolve because you're going to evolve regardless once you decide and sign up to do the selfless task of being a caregiver you have to think about things in that way like what is the learning here how am I growing okay so that's super super important and there will be moments when you feel helpless when they feel helpless and so it's important for you to do whatever you need to do to continue to be the light continue to show them that there is a light at the end of the tunnel and constantly remind them that they will be okay again while you are telling them hey you're going to be okay you're also like giving yourself that reaffirmation as well like you're going to be okay right and so it's really important for you to do those things also I would say that if you have someone who is staying in the hospital and they're there over weekends what I noticed is like over the weekend there was less staff than during the week and there was a shift in the type of care that my father was getting so you have to make sure that you're advocating for your loved one while they are in the hospital because listen these nurses they're like catering to like 50 patients per one nurse same thing with the doctors and so you have to sometimes remind them that hey you know my loved one needs this or you have to just be an advocate like listen I reached out to patient services I was on their ass and I was calling like every day everybody knew my name my name was on the file because I was like we need to make sure that my dad is getting attention okay and you need to have you need to be an advocate you need to be an advocate cuz there's just so much going on so just make sure that you are being an advocate for them while they are there because that will also keep them in good spirits knowing like okay I got somebody who cares about me I got somebody who's going to hold me down you know one of the other things that I thought a lot about um during this experience that kind of had me like really scared and still does is like you know I don't have any kids I'm single and I think about like wow like who's going to take care of me if God forbid something happens to me because wow I do so much for my dad like I couldn't even imagine if he didn't have someone like me in his life right now like how how he would be okay uh of course there could be people that you can hire but nobody's going to love you nobody's going to take care of you the way that you know someone who knows you intimately would you know there's a difference and so those are some of the thoughts that I've been thinking about and I know I'm kind of like jumping around in this episode it is because it's incredibly hard for me to talk about this with you guys because it's so fresh but I wanted to do this because we don't talk about it enough and I want you to know you're not alone if you are dealing with this so bear with me as I'm like jumping around y'all I promise there's there's good nuggets in here but yeah I think about that I'm like okay who who the hell is going to take care of me if God forbid something happens to me and you know I'm talking to my sister and she's like listen as long as I'm alive you're going to be good as long as your nephew's alive you're going to be good and then my cute dad who's like my best friend so obviously I'm talking to him about it and he's like honey what are you talking about you're going to figure it out you're going to have people who take care of you cuz he's cute like that but yeah these are the things you think about when you are dealing with someone in this situation you start thinking about yourself and you're like holy [ __ ] like who's going to hold me down or who's going to take care of me which leaves me to some of the other stuff that comes with being a caretaker outside of just being emotionally and mentally prepared there are a lot of other things that go into this um that you need to also wrap your head around so that you are on top of your game and your loved one is getting the best care and that you are just paying attention so getting your Affairs in order and important paperwork this is stuff that you should actually start getting now don't wait until someone gets sick like start getting this paperwork together now start getting organized now so that if God forbid something does happen to a loved one you're prepared all right so I'm going to list some of what that paperwork is so that you guys can start preparing or gathering this together if you're in this situation right now so you want to get a power of attorney and essentially a power of attorney gives you the right to like their bank records gives you the right to make financial decisions for them it gives you the right to do a certain amount of things um because you're acting on their behalf right if let's say for example they can't talk or if they're immobile you're able to do things so for example I have a power of attorney for my dad so I can go to the bank I can pull out money I can put in money I can make financial investments on his behalf Etc so power Tony you want to have a hippo form a hippo form basically gives you the right to have insight into your loved ones medical history and just all that uh information as well as um possibly make some decisions for them if you need to from a medical perspective also this hippo formform is helpful so that if you need to take your loved one to follow-up meetings or if you need to go see other doctors and they can't speak for themselves or you just want to inquire about information you need that hippo form in place in order to have access to the information and also share the information with other doctors on your loved ones behalf right so for example my dad has his neurosurgeon who did his spinal surgery then we have to go to his primary health doctor then his primary needs to know okay this is what happens so that they keep that in mind so I wouldn't be able to share that information directly with the my father's other doctors unless I have that hipper form okay you also want to see if there's a living will right a living will is basically um someone who is still living and they designate certain things that they would like to have handled or how they would like things to be managed while they are living any trust documents you want to make sure you have um Access to Health Care proxies property D's do they rent if not how much is their mortgage like Gathering all of this so that you know is going to be incredibly helpful for you any retirement accounts um who are the beneficiaries on those retirement accounts marriage papers or divorce pap papers a birth certificate state issued ID Bank info making sure you're on the account any financial investments do they have retirement plans a 401k and Ira their social security card any rural information meaning like what how do they want to be buried do they want to be cremated do they actually want to have like a stone if so what what would that say like all of these difficult conversations that we tend to like not want to have when someone is in good health cuz we think like why do I need to have this conversation and it's kind of uncomfortable like who wants to talk about death like who wants to talk about okay this is what I want to happen if I die right nobody really wants to talk about that but it's so important for you to talk about it now when your loved ones are in good health so that they can make sound decisions around how they want things to be managed if they find themselves in a position where they can't talk for themselves or they pass right you want to have those conversations now don't wait have the conversation now okay guys have the conversation make it as natural and as fluid as you talking about something good that happened in your life at the dinner table like literally bring it up and you might get some push back right because again this is uncomfortable but if you approach it with some TLC and love and say hey it's important for us to have this conversation because God forbid something happens to you I just want to make sure that I'm able to fulfill your wishes right position it that way who's going to be like I don't care about my wishes no they're going to be like oh my God that's so kind yes okay let's try and have this conversation right so have the conversation also um the hippo form and should give you access to any personal medical history but if your loved one can still talk for themselves like ask them hey what has gone on like what's the latest I have learned conned about my father's health and so many things that have happened that I had no idea about going through this process because you know life be life he's not telling me every single thing that he's ever experienced right but now he is because now it's like I need to know everything I need to know everything that's going on so if a doctor's asking me a question like I know like I have that information some other paperwork you want to have is any government benefits your loved one might be receiving SSI are they getting a pension any Social Security benefits right so that you have all of that information at your disposal all right and this includes their insurance what type of insurance do they have um what is their insurance card information what are their ID numbers what are their prescription lists this is very very important what prescriptions are they currently taking let's build out the scenario God forbid one of your loved ones gets into a car accident and and they're incoherent or they go into a coma how are you going to know hey don't give them this because they're allergic to that or hey they just experienced a major surgery so keep that in mind they might not want to be under anesthesia again like you need to know what people are going through and you need to understand their prescription list so that they aren't given medicine that they shouldn't be given right super super important um to have have that information and my dad has a list honey I have like a running list of all his medications when he takes the medication why he takes the medication and all the things so I'm able to present that if I need to to any one of his doctors right because not all doctors are able to communicate with each other right that's why you need the Hipp ofor there are laws against that and so you just need to make sure you're armored up this is about you being armored up so that you're able to be prepared and you're able to present this information when it is needed it's also important to have this information if for some reason you need to get a homemade so a homemade is basically someone who comes to your home to stay with your loved one for a certain amount of hours throughout the day you might also need a nurse to come to the home and stay with your loved one for a certain amount of hours throughout the day so that prescription list and their medical history is incredibly important so that you can inform people of of what's going on and how they should cater to your loved one in addition to that bills you need to know what are the current bills that they're paying how much are those bills is it rent when is the rent due are they renting a car they leasing a car are they financing a car right all of these things my dad thank God he's so sharp his mind is so sharp that he literally got out of surgery and he's like hey um my rent is due on this date or my C Bill don't forget to pay it cuz he love his TV okay he's like don't forget to pay it you know my electricity bill is due in this day like he knows when everything is is due um but what if he couldn't talk right what if he couldn't talk then we would be asked out we wouldn't even know like what he currently bills what he currently pays like what his bills are so you want to just make sure that you are informed and the best way for you to keep all of this information together because it is so so much information is you want to have um kind of like a folder so I have a folder of all the important paperwork that I need so like the power of attorney social security card I have the paperwork of you know any documents that I need like his lease any Social Security that he's getting any pension any of that I have it all in a folder his medical history everything is all in a folder so that if I ever need that information boom I have everything everything in the folder and I'm organized and I'm good to go I also keep a running list in my notes app of everything that I am covering for him right now because when you become a caretaker you're also their secretary right I am yielding calls on a daily basis you know for this man regarding Insurance regarding doctor's appointments follow-up appointments that we need to do right keeping family members informed of hey what's going on all the things so you want to have that running list in your notes section so that you are just keeping yourself organized and you have important numbers right of people that you need to reach out to um agencies that you need to call and work with all the phone numbers for the hospital that they might be staying at like y'all I had the phone numbers for all of his nurses I had the phone number I have the phone numbers for all of his physical therapists I have the number to all the major department ments at the hospital I have the number to his insurance I have the number to his casew worker I have the number to the person at the insurance that's handling the case like there's just so many moving things happening at once that you want to make sure that you are super super organized because it will save you so much anxiety and time while you are going through this process and you're also going to be asked kind of like the same questions over and over again so what I also include in my notes app is like my dad's social security number his date of birth his complete address all of these you know the pins for his debit card access codes like all of that so that I don't have to continuously ask him CU I know these questions are going to come up also make a copy of the keys for your loved ones apartment if they're living on their own have a copy of the keys like I have a copy of the keys for my dad's place I have access to his garage I have access to his mailbox like literally everything so that I can have everything coordinated and managed in his absence so get those keys now because you might need to pick them up when they fall I've had to have people go to my father's home and like pick him up because he fell right before he had the surgery and if we didn't have a spare copy of his keys how was he going to let us in he can't get to the door right how is he going to let us in he can't get to the door so you want to have a copy of keys at your disposal so that you are able to just have everything and I think I I covered pretty much all the things but I'm pretty sure I'm leaving stuff out I'm actually looking at my notes right now cuz I was like okay I want to make sure like I cover everything for these folks and make sure I don't leave anything out because there's just so many details that went into this so in summary you want to make sure that you just get your Affairs in order and you have all the important paperwork that you need that is associated with anyone's life basically so everything all the paperwork that you have for your life use that as an example you're going to need the same things for your loved one so that you have all that information Insurance bills and making sure that you're staying organized and most importantly making sure that you are exercising self-care and you are getting your escapes right and finding time for you I am really looking forward to when I can go on vacation because I actually was supposed to be out of the country for New Years that was the plan the plan was to be out of the country for New Years but you know all of that got pushed the side once Daddy went into the hospital and all I can think about now it being three and a half weeks later is like I cannot wait to go away I did snat tickets to The Bad Bunny concert shout out to my girlfriend Liz who stayed in the queue for hours in order to lock in um our tickets for the Bad Bunny concert in August in Puerto Rico so I am very much looking forward to that but that's all the way in August and I told my dad I'm like listen I need you to get good and I need you to get good quick h Mone okay cuz your girl need to be outside all right she need to be outside and I know that may feel like yucky and almost like you begin to feel a little guilty cuz it's like damn how am I going outside when my loved one is suffering so much or or they can't go outside like how selfish of me you will feel that guilt it is a very normal thing to feel the guilt but you have to remember that you are not good to anyone if you are are not good to yourself and you deserve to still live like you deserve to still live even though your loved one might be experiencing this like if they're bed bound it doesn't mean you need to be bed bound if they have to you know stay inside the home all day doesn't mean you need to stay inside the home all day you know if they can't walk doesn't mean you're not walking right if they can't eat certain foods doesn't mean you can't eat C certain foods like I found myself almost like adapting to like the things my dad couldn't do just so that he wasn't alone or just because I was there with him right so you kind of like whoever you're spending the most time with that's kind of like who you begin to emulate uh and I had to like snap out of it cuz I'm like wait like I'm not bed bound like I could still walk like why the hell am I not getting up and taking a walk you know what I mean so you want to make sure that you are constantly prioritizing yourself and reminding yourself to prioritize yourself and I got to shout out my health coach Maris who is like has just become an incredible safe space for me because like when I don't talk to him for a couple of days he'll reach out and be like why are you not talking to me like don't disappear what is happening and you need those people in your life to remind you like hey you're still alive and well like what what's going on like don't stop paying attention to you like what's happening because it's really easy again to just sink it really is easy to just sink because it is an incredibly depressing experience you know like to have someone who is so full of life to no longer be full of that same life it kind of like uh it kind of like like a stab in the heart a little bit but thankfully daddy is getting better each day you know I knew my dad was getting better when we were in the hospital and he was telling me how the nurses were telling him that he was a papy chulo back in the day that they can tell and that he looked sexy with his beard like that's what I knew like okay little by little he's coming back to himself and that was making me feel good but of course he's not 100% but he still has his personality he still has his um you know gravitas and energy that he brings to spaces like all of the nurses fell in love with him all of them uh he got so much love and that has even carried over at home like all of his neighbors are checking in on him making sure that he's good like Daddy is loved and that really makes me happy uh to know that and I can't wait until he is back to him old self again as far as the way that seems but he will be back to him old his old self again and you know imagine what it's like going through that experience like yourself like when you know like my dad is 82 now and you know obviously him going through this major thing he's thinking to himself like holy [ __ ] like is this the end like is this is this is this what it's boiling down to or also just the realization that one day he may be completely dependent on other people in order to just survive and continue to survive and that's like really really scary so knowing that it's even that's why it's so important for you to take care of you so that when you are around them like you just have this energy like you're just positive you're just you know a light you're just reminding them like hey it's going to be okay you know telling them they don't need to apologize if you know they need you to you know wipe their booty like you need to make sure that you're making it as easy as possible for them to heal and for them to get better because in the long run that's just going to help you right because you're going to be have your your ease of mind and heart knowing that they're okay so you just want to do everything in your power to Fast Track fast track to okay land so that you are able to keep going the other thing I wanted to touch upon was you know dealing with this while also running your business cuz nobody talks about how to run a business while also being a caregiver that [ __ ] is hard it is so so hard and you have to make tough decisions like there were moments where I had to cancel meetings I had to push back meetings I had to let people know like hey I'm not okay this is what's going on I will Circle back with you once I'm in a better head space and you know entrepreneurship is one of those things where you know what you kill is what you eat and so when you find yourself no longer killing because you're stuck on taking care of someone else right you're not hunting anymore it's kind of like oh wow it forces you to think about your business model thinking about how you spend your time it forces you to think about your processes and systems that you have in place because it really pushes you to the Forefront of what of what happens to you right what will happen to your business right if something happens to you what will happen to your business right and so this has really like forced me to think about those things I've always thought about those things before but now it's like getting real real you know what I mean now it's like okay how am I really going to do this if I still you know have to be a caretaker for my dad in this time and shout out to all my clients who have been incredibly understanding and just so supportive and just beautiful people during this time and that's how I know that I'm talking to the right people in my marketing and in my branding and just the people that I choose to work with that's how I know that I'm I'm on the right path because they are so understanding and because they are so supportive but it is a business at the end of the day so I also know like I can't drag this out like I have to have Solutions right but at least I have the space to think about okay what are those Solutions and I'm also very thankful to be financially in a position where I can take the time to think about these things where I can say no I'm not working today right and really uh manage my time however I want to or however I need to and it's incredibly important for you to consider this especially right now with this new Administration with the next four years and and what life is going to look like and the life that you want to live and how incredibly important it is for you to really focus and think about okay how am I making money in this moment how am I making the most money in this moment how am I saving the most money in this moment because it's one thing to make money but it's another thing to save the money for a rainy day right which is what's helping me right now right I had a I have a stash that's holding me down and I'm like all right like I'm good I could take some time I planned for this rainy day right so shout out to entrepreneur rship to you know really allow me to make those decisions I don't have to ask a boss hey can I take time off you know my loved one is in the hospital or I need to take a sabatical I don't need to have conversations I don't want to have or share personal details of my life that I don't want to have unless I want to do it right but if I was working for an employer like I would have to provide some type of explanation but what if I didn't rock with anybody there and I didn't want to tell them my personal business right so we interrupt our progr to bring you this important message ooh this is really good you should know about this so I don't know about you but I've been known to procrastinate especially when things scare the hell out of me the fear alone would have me stuck overwhelmed confused and all types of self-doubt and don't even get me started on the impostor syndrome okay after getting laid off not once but three times honey I realized that the security blanket that I made up in my head was just an excuse because I didn't really want to bet on myself the corporate benefits that had me in that headlock girl they went out the window once my job decided that they no longer needed me turns out that I'll save a whole nickel if I cut your salary completely the truth is the only security blanket guarantee is the one that you create for yourself in other words until you start a business you will always be at the mercy of a company's headcount and you will never have complete control over your time which means you'll be renting out your thought leadership and helping build someone else's dream instead of your own own if you've been waiting for a sign this is it don't you think it's time you stop playing small and tap all the way into your PO s click on the link above or below this video to learn my three-step process the exact three steps that I took to make the transition from corporate to entrepreneurship and this is helpful even if you don't know what type of business to start and have only one source of income and this is absolutely free it is my gift to you I want you to win it's winning season in fact what's that it smells like winning season okay so tap in and I'll see you inside the training let's go shout out to entrepreneurship but also what if they only gave me you know 2 weeks yes we'll give you two weeks so you can handle all your family matters and then you have to return to work like that wouldn't work right it's been three and a half weeks so far that I've had to you know kind of cater my life around my dad shout out to entrepreneurship but mainly the key takeaway here is position your life in a way where you can truly live life on your terms and you can move as you please and that only comes with you being financially secure and you being mentally emotionally physically healthy and you being smart about how you are showing up every day how you are extending your thought leadership how you are making money how you are inserting yourself in certain rooms Etc really think about it y'all really think about the life that you want to live and really think about these scenarios in business they think about these scenarios right like what if the world goes to [ __ ] what's going to happen then what if Trump gets elected what's going to happen then okay what if this Bill gets tossed out what's going to happen then what if there's a tsunami what's going to happen then right you play out these scenarios in business all the time you have to do that for your life too play out the scenario what if I get sick what's going to happen what if I become a caretaker for someone what's going to happen what if I lose my leg what's going to happen like playing out the scenarios so that you are prepared which all that paperwork that I was telling you to get in place for your loved one like get those in place for yourself as well right like who's going to make decisions for you if God forbid something happens right who's going to have that Authority who should be in your living will what do you want them to do right who is your beneficiary for your retirement accounts like getting your own [ __ ] together is just as important in getting all the information for your loved one all right y'all this was a heavy episode and I really appreciate you listening and for you tuning in I hope you found this helpful I hope that there were things that you can pull from this to apply to your own life but please don't wait don't wait until something happens for you to really pay attention and I'm speaking from experience because I knew all of these things like for the paperwork I knew some of the things that I needed to have in place and I would talk to my dad about it but I just didn't do it and if I had done it I wouldn't have to do it now right I could have done it then and then I would have been good like a power returning you can get at any time a Hipp ofform you can get at any time right there are certain things that you can get access to and just have paperwork in place so that you don't have to worry about it when your loved one is suffering you can just focus on that and focus on yourself and getting making sure that you're prioritizing you versus like the administrative stuff like the paperwork and all that jazz so just get it done that is the theme for today's episode just get it done just do it okay y'all I love you thank you so much for tuning in and I will see you in the next episode bye hey guys if you enjoyed this video I'm pretty sure you're going to love the next one so make sure to click right here and tap in to the next episode.
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