From the Valley to the Mountaintop and Moments in Between
I looked up at my Dad as he stood at the top of our stairs. I was standing on the floor below him, dejectedly explaining how discouraged I felt. I was miserable. Actually miserable. I felt lost and uncertain about my future in a way that I imagine most twenty-somethings feel. The problem was, I thought I had no time.
I could see the compassion in his eyes as he spoke to me, “You know, Anna… sometimes we labor through the valley and sometimes we triumph on the mountain top. And we can’t always live on the mountain, sometimes the valley is where we’re called to be.”
I recall this memory often; it was only three years ago but I remember it like it was yesterday. How timely it was that I stood at the bottom of the stairs. I think it must have been a testament to my journey through the valley of uncertainty.
I’m sure many of us recall a time where we didn’t know what would come next, when the world seemed bleak and uncertain, or where our plans turned sour or obsolete.
As I transition into my second year of business and celebrate another round of Personal Brand Accelerator, I stand humbly on the mountaintop. I rarely feel this way. The nature of entrepreneurship is, after all, uncertain. I suppose the secret is in loving where you are when you get there: be it the valley or the mountain top and all of the resting places in between.
So how did I get here? How is it that my team and I have enrolled 14 new students into a program that was merely just an idea a short time ago?
I still remember sitting on the floor of my best friend’s (@erinkjasper) apartment, mapping out our product suites and talking about all of the programs we wanted to create. We called ourselves the “dream team.” Need a brand? Call Anna. Need a body? Call Erin. I drew a diagram on the whiteboard and carefully listed all of the things I wanted to accomplish in my 10-year plan, 5-year plan, and 1-year plan.
It was that same weekend I left Erin’s house, pulled up to the gas station, and discovered I didn’t have enough money to fill up my gas tank. What a fraud, I thought to myself. I sat in the driver’s seat and sobbed into the steering wheel. There was so much shame wrapped up in that moment. How could I even call myself an entrepreneur? How could I continue on this way? I had no money, few clients, and no clear picture of the future.
It was time to make a choice. Was I going to continue moving forward? Or was I going to throw in the towel, call it a good run, and go get a job that would give me the security I felt I needed? Ultimately, I chose the former.
Deep down I knew it couldn’t be any other way.
In just a few week’s time, everything in my life began to change for the better. My hard work began to pay off and I could finally see the fruits of my labor. I had dozens of inquiries landing in my inbox and more money in my bank account than I had ever seen before. It was miraculous. Over the span of 3 months, I moved to Oakland, joined a female co-working space, and wrote the curriculum for Personal Brand Accelerator. My business took off like a rocket ship—I now have a team of 4 incredible women supporting me and we’ve enrolled almost 50 entrepreneurs through PBA. The results have been fanatical:
“There are few people you meet in this world who you can truly say changed your life. Anna is one of those people.”
“PBA has helped me prove to myself that I’m capable of a lot more than I think. Most importantly, I’ve discovered my identity.”
“PBA is the most transformational course I've ever taken.”
“The best thing about PBA is that the transformation is all-encompassing. You gain emotional clarity and self confidence, but you also build tangible digital assets that transform your business and brand.”
”I believe that PBA has allowed me to truly step into who I am made to be and has empowered me to show up as authentically me.”
I often look back at the moment at the gas station and feel immense compassion and empathy for that girl. My old self. I acknowledge the fear she felt. I can name the anxiety that laid heavily on her chest. Why didn’t I quit? Why didn’t I throw in the towel?
I didn’t know then what I know now, it comes down to one thing:
Purpose.
When you’re living and working in the name of your purpose in life, fear does not control you. Fear is not what drives your decision-making. Instead, purpose is. This doesn’t mean that fear doesn’t exist. It just means that you have the will to move forward anyway.
The other day, one of my team members Maria and I were having dinner. I looked up at her and said, “Isn’t it crazy that everything we see, every touchable and tangible thing, was once a thought in someone’s mind before it could exist as an absolute in someone’s hands?”
I wonder how many dreamers and thinkers found their purpose in the valley - in the shadow of uncertainty? The time spent in the valley or trudging up the side of the mountain is often where we discover our purpose, our strengths, and ultimately ourselves. It is where we develop the muscle, the willpower, and the grit to continue moving forward.
Our ceaseless ability to think something into existence is our greatest source of power and the wellspring of our strength.
As I transition into this new season of my life and business, I cling tightly to this truth and ask it to propel me forward. Everything we want and we wish to be is already inside of us.
Perhaps you are in a time of uncertainty, wondering what to do and feeling miserable about it. Don’t give up—your mountaintop may be just around the bend.
