Two years ago I was working full-time as a high school English teacher. Since my husband often worked out of town, I spent much of my time virtually living as a single mother. I woke up at 4 AM everyday to bathe, dress, and feed my two and four-year-old children before toting them to their respective childcare destinations. I began my work day at 6:15 with bus duty every morning. When I finally finished my afternoon duties at 3 or 4 each afternoon, I would go pick up my children, go home, and then proceed to grade papers until late in the evening.

I missed many things during the years I taught, from first steps to first words. What’s more is that I spent much of my time away from work, grading papers and worrying about the next day. There was always a meeting to attend, an event to chaperone, or a club to manage. Summer for me was a full three weeks less than that of my students and much of the time I did get off was dominated by refresher courses and seminars.

Courage and believing in oneself are the path through entrepreneurship!

After the second time my chronically ill child was hospitalized in a six month span, I finally decided that working outside of my home simply was not a feasible option for me. Unfortunately, I was pregnant with my third child and money was tight. To make matters worse my husband was laid off from his job just a few months after I had to resign from my teaching job.

Suddenly I found myself in a dire situation. I was the mother of three young children, one of whom was often not well, no job, and no income. I needed to find a way to support my children and going outside of the home for a job proved to be practically impossible, not to mention the fact that people were not just handing out jobs at the time, especially for English majors.

If you’d asked me two years ago if I had the entrepreneurial spirit I probably would have laughed. Back then I believed that becoming an entrepreneur was something difficult, something only for a special group of people with skills and a relevant background. Back then I thought of entrepreneurs as rich people who had a knack for becoming richer, something that I definitely was not.

What I have learned since then is that I do have the entrepreneurial spirit; it just took the right series of events to ignite it.

That spark occurred for me when I realized that I needed cash to take care of my kids and I was going to have to find a creative way to earn it. So I did just that. In the beginning there were a few stumbles and falls, I started out working for what barely amounted to minimum wage. But with time and sheer perseverance, it turned into something great.

Today, I work full-time from home, as does my husband who had to recreate his life after being laid off from the oil industry. I bring in more cash than I did as a teacher and I get to spend a ton of time with my family. If you asked me today what it means to be an entrepreneur, I would say that it means getting to see your child’s first step. It means never having to leave them with someone else when they are sick and want your comfort. It means long vacations on the beach and genuinely having control over your own time.

Yes, the path is sometimes rough and uncertain. But, there is not a single thing I would change about my life today. As for believing that being an entrepreneur requires some special magical talent, I don’t think that is true at all. I think we all have the ability; we just have to find the right motivation.

Be an entrepreneur. Show that you have the courage and enthusiasm to exercise your ability. Owning a car wash franchise is the best thing I could have done for my family. Be a part of DetailXPerts …and start changing the future. Call us today!

Enjoyed this post? Sign up for our newsletter to receive more valuable business and franchise info, ideas, and extras!