Origin Story
Every Super Hero Has An Origin Story, Right?
Origin Story
noun
a backstory, or established background narrative, that informs the identity and motivations of heroes and villains in a comic book or similar fictional work.
I’m both a hero and a villain, depending on who you ask - but what we should actually be focusing on is… did I just refer to myself as a superhero?
My Story
I've written this story in my head hundreds of times but never shared it online. Why? I have no idea - it's not like I'm shy.
November 2015, three weeks after Jake's 30th birthday, he went in for a routine eye exam. His eyesight is hilariously bad, having worn coke-bottle glasses most of his life. Jake's kindergarten pictures are adorable.
But that year, his eye exam was anything but routine. His doctor said his optic nerve was swollen, which could happen for a couple of reasons:
1. increased pressure in his skull
2. a virus
He ordered an MRI, and off Jake went to get it done.
I honestly wasn't worried. I figured it would be a simple fix - throw a few pills at the problem type of diagnosis. Mistakingly, we didn't schedule a spinal tap the same day as his MRI, so while waiting for the first results, he made another appointment, which I took him too.
It was the Monday after Thanksgiving. After taking my seat in the waiting room while he got prepped, a nurse walked into the room I settled into and said: "the doctor said he doesn't need a spinal tap - he knows how to treat him."
My face flashed with heat.
I followed her to meet Jake in the hall - we shared a bewildered glance - I wrote down the number to call, and we left to kill time at a Starbucks (remember being able to do that? Ahh memories).
Sitting in a Shopko parking lot, sipping our coffee, Jake called the number but had to leave a message. His doctor is busy - the audacity.
We waited for him to return our call for what felt like an eternity, but when he did, I wished he hadn't.
Jake has a mass in his brain that caused increased pressure in his skull. He recommended Jake see a specialist because it was a type of "mass" he had never seen before. We knew what that meant, but pushed harder for a more detailed explanation... reluctantly he explained it looked like a specific type of tumor but needed Jake to see a specialist.
That was the beginning of a six-week whirlwind of visiting various doctors, fighting with our insurance to allow him a spot at Mayo Clinic, interviewing neuro-surgeon teams, and finally scheduling Jake's brain surgery with an acoustic neuroma specialist.
Gretchen was 18 months old when this all went down.
I was working full time in a corporate office as a technical writer.
Jake was an airport firefighter.
And he never lost his sense of humor throughout the entire ordeal. But my God - I sure did. I was a complete wreck, sporadically crying while Jake made jokes about drinking through a straw for the rest of his life.
Not funny.
And while I made plans to care for him after surgery, I also made plans for Gretchen and me if he didn't make it.
Thank God he did, and after four weeks walking with a cane, learning to navigate life without hearing in his right ear, and getting back into firefighting shape, he returned to work as a firefighter. I am so proud of all the hard work he did to do that.
Throughout the ordeal, I continued working full time while caring for Gretchen, Jake, the house, paying bills, cooking, working out - everything. So once he returned to work, and we began to financially and emotionally recover from it all - I told Jake I'd like to find a way to work independently.
To be clear, I loved my corporate family. They took amazing care of my family and me while working through tough days - but I wanted to have more flexibility with how I spent my time. As a family, we became dangerously close to losing Jake, and it made me realize how important it was for me to 'be there' whenever someone needed me.
I knew I wanted to have the flexibility to take time off and hang with my kids or go on a vacation without having to ask. So that's what I did.
I started consulting small businesses on how to improve their communication with clients & get clear on their branding, then started writing for people as a copywriter.
I have a bachelor's in professional communications (emphasis in technical writing). However, I have taken additional courses to improve my skills -- Copy Boss and Wordfetti Your Words -- to become the copywriter you see today.
Unbridled Ambition, INC was founded in 2016 as a way for me to provide for my family and gave me the flexibility I needed to feel 'free'.
A couple of years in and I'm continuing to scale even though 2020 is having a complete temper tantrum. Jake's brain tumor pushed me straight over the edge towards entrepreneurship, and I'm still here because it's been so damn fun.
Writing words my clients love eating for breakfast, lunch, and dinner is a real joy - something I'd like to keep doing until I'm ready to hang it up and ride horses all day, enjoy quiet sunsets, sip magnificent wine, and hold my husband's hand.
Your Story
Have you shared why you started your business and how? If you hadn't yet, you should. Sharing your story is a crucial part of building a business that'll span the test of time.
Why? Because when you begin your journey in entrepreneurship, you'll start to fundamentally change as a person - something that you must do to be successful.
A worker bee mentality cannot help you become the leader of your hive - telling your story enables you to make the transition.
You must adopt a growth mindset if you plan to evolve a side hustle into a booming business. And even if you're establishing yourself from a startup position with investors, if you prevent yourself from growing mentally and spiritually, you'll never grow beyond that phase.
Telling your stories is not the last chapter in your book. It's the very first one - a crucial first step to release yourself from the past to evolve and grow beyond your origin. That's where I come in - your Brand Bible is more than a marketing manual to share with your team - it's your business' mind, body & soul, and an extension of your own.
Take that first step in growing your business by evolving who you are as a brand & business owner --- shoot me an email with "Brand Bible" as the subject and I'll do the heavy-lifting for you.