How a Nasty Setback Launched My Personal Branding Business

Your biggest setbacks can become your biggest breakthroughs. It could be a medical report with unsettling news, or your partner leaves you. For me, it was getting laid off from my corporate job in 2013. Up until then, I had been climbing the corporate ladder. The sky was the limit. I was doing big things.

But you know what? I wasn’t fulfilled.

I remember sitting in boardrooms and instead of thinking about whatever was on the business agenda, I was daydreaming about photography. Photography has always been a passion of mine, but it was something I discounted to focus on “important” things, like my corporate career.

Then the day came when I was laid off.

Ouch.

Motivational speaker Tim Storey says, “Life can knock the shout out of you.” My inner shout was knocked out! I had achieved so much in my corporate work, and now I was being laid off? It hurt, and it was scary. Fortunately, I have an amazing husband who is incredibly supportive. But still. I am used to paying my own way in life. If you know me, you know I am bottom-line driven. Whatever I do, I do it to my very best. I was definitely at a crossroads. I wanted to use this setback to become my breakthrough.

“The best way to predict the future is to create it.”

I asked a friend for advice. She encouraged me to jump both feet first into photography and give that business a solid year of focus and hustle. And that’s what I did. I’ll share what I learned in those early days of building my personal branding and photography business in a later post. But for now, I just want to share that if you’re going through your own setback, trust and know that it could very well be your prelude to an amazing breakthrough in your life.

“Your biggest setbacks can become your biggest breakthroughs.”

I shared this story recently on the Fearless Entrepreneurship Podcast with Cory Mosely.

Ever meet somebody who just makes you feel amazing, like you can do anything? That’s Cory. I had the good fortune of doing a Personal Branding session for Cory awhile back. We had a blast! In case you don’t know Cory (and if you don’t, you should!), he launched the Fearless Entrepreneurship Society to help working professionals have a more structured and organized opportunity to transition to entrepreneurship.

So when Cory invited me to be a guest on his podcast, I jumped at the chance. (Check the links below to listen to the podcast—and subscribe! It’s awesome.)

Your setbacks can become your biggest breakthroughs. I now have a thriving personal branding and photography business. I’m honored to work with amazing entrepreneurs like Cory, CEOs, leaders and other “go-getters” who are making a difference.

“Nothing is permanent. So many times we think something is permanent and we have a hard time moving forward.”

But none of this good fortune would have happened if I didn’t get the “shout” knocked out of me with my layoff. As the saying goes, hidden in misfortune is fortune. And my good fortune that day all those years ago was the chance to finally do the work that had been placed in my heart.

Leave a note in the Comments below and let me know about a time you had a setback that turned into a breakthrough for you.

It’s Your Time,