The Fool: Why You should quit too
THE FOOL CARD
Artwork by Joby Dorr
On August 9th 2021, during a Leo New Moon, I launched an online community. I had dreams and visions for a space that allowed Spiritual entrepreneurs to co-create an online sanctuary of learning and community. A far fetched and altruistic vision I admit, but I could see it so clearly that I couldn’t deny the need to birth it into existence. Born as a Leo, this business was meant to embody the sunshine in each of us and allow us to burn brighter together. I still see it! But I wore too many hats. I burned through energy and resources that I didn’t have, trying to wear all the hats for the community and my own spiritual business. On August 1st of 2024 the community will close and I while I am feeling sadness for the vision, connections and beautiful space that was made, I also feel like I took a promotion and get to start a new job.
In business, we’re often told success looks like the longevity of a brand. Apple, Dior, Brooks Brothers or Macy’s all instantly bring a weight and levity to their products as the time honored classics. As small business owners though, change is an often resisted, yet very necessary piece of our businesses. When we fail to see the need for our business to grow right along side of us we keep it small and live stuck in a timeline that no longer serves us. As bootstrapping entrepreneurs we are very often the talent and the booking agent, wearing every hat within our business all the time. Large corporations have the ability to assign a single hat to one individual who may in fact, over the course of a year, be multiple people. The hat, the ‘task’ remains the same but the people wearing it change. Why then do we put such pressure on ourselves to maintain every single hat AND never change? We don’t look at the corporate world and think “Glad I got this entry level position when I was 24 so that I could do the same exact thing for 30 years!” Without change, and certainly without adequate compensation we find ourselves stuck between what we love and what we have to do. The pivot and change becomes unavoidable, like a train heading for a broken bridge and we are faced with adjusting our business to meet the requirements of our lives. We must quit a task we no longer can do, in order to step into a new promotion.
After change our customers can feel caught off guard, almost as if we’ve made this choice to inflict pain in someway. “I was just going to book xyz where did it go?” or “I need that session because you’re the only one I trust!” These comments can shake our foundation and leave us second guessing the very decision we made to honor our soul. Remember, this is not the time to go backwards and decline the promotion you’ve just given yourself! Sure you don’t know all the intricacies of the new position yet and you could do your old job in your sleep… but you don’t give up the new job until you’re sure it’s not a fit. Sometimes we take jobs that last years and we reach the top of the ladder and we’re ready for something new. Other times we take a job and know after two weeks that it’s not a fit. Both are acceptable and both teach us lessons that enable us to change in the direction we’re meant to go. You’re an entrepreneur! You didn’t start this work because you loved being in a career that left you feeling tired or depleted.
To tie this all up, my tarot card of the week is the Fool. Because of course it is… you can’t make this shit up. I’m leaping into the unknown, like the Fool, and taking the promotion that I’ve given myself. My life and business will look different, but so will the world! And isn’t that the destination anyway?
Fearlessly jump into
the sea of the cosmos.,
the spinning potentials are calling…
maybe a little foolish today
yet better done fool-like
than stalling.
The Muse Tarot by Chris-Anne
