October 1st, 2021. Today is the first day of MyCoolCoupons. Our birthday! Allow me to personally welcome you to the page and this very first blog post.
A few years ago I had this idea to start this tri-platform advertising service which included a hard copy magazine, a digital listing website and a blog, all geared toward bringing visibility toward small businesses and entrepreneurs. I started discussing the idea with my spouse and business partner, and he said he liked it. I asked my friends, they said they liked it. I asked a few of the clients I was doing marketing for at the time, and they liked it as well. Excellent! Everyone liked it! So now it was entirely on me to get off the ground. Simple right? Not at all!
The “few years” I’m referring to, is actually almost five years ago! FIVE YEARS! Do you know how long five years is with regard to starting a business? One in which there obviously existed a need, but I was unable to get off the ground. I would have periods of being excited about it, call up a few friends, ask them about signing up, start doing research and then put the idea to the back of my head and carry on about my business. I would have emotional bursts and get frustrated with my regular job, pick the idea up again, and when I feel better about whatever the situation was…I’d drop MyCoolCoupons to the back of the “to do list”. I would look at shows, Instagram posts, ads, read quotes and feel so inspired that I could get this launched and going…but I still wouldn’t! In hindsight, I can candidly say I never felt a burning passion or a desperate need to, because my financial situation wasn’t at rock bottom. I was comfortable in working my 9 to 5 job, which I enjoyed, and collecting my salary every month without fail. The security that existed with being an employee was controlling my ambitions and my mindset. After all, MyCoolCoupons and what it represents would demand 110% of me, and I thought it highly impossible to balance giving 110% of me to both this new venture and my job.
Fast forward to March 12th, 2020. It was the official closure of most public spaces because of COVID19. Life comes at you fast! This came at me and billions of others worldwide just as quickly! Knocking the majority over, bringing some to their knees, and in the case of those able to find the Phoenix Spirit…they rose through the ashes. The latter were few, and the majority of the world population will go on to lose all the stability, comfort and investments made in their businesses and in particular sectors. Not only were the business sectors disrupted, but the overall way that we would do business was forced to change.
It is during this pandemic, that I found a renewed sense of purpose for MyCoolCoupons. Every time I went on social media I saw small businesses emerging, I saw new entrepreneurs, new products and so much creativity. It inspired me. Not the type of short lived inspiration that I would feel before, but instead, that burning passion to create a permanent and affordable home for small businesses to offer their goods and services. Now as I type this, I also need to apologize to myself, like most of us do…for not really believing in myself and giving this my all five years earlier. Sometimes we are our own restrictors, and the burden of starting a new business or becoming an entrepreneur is not physical, but mental. The biggest support system that we lack is developing a mental plan to understand that the success in our endeavors can be thought up before they are acted out, and causes us to lose focus and settle for what we are accustomed to, rather than what we can become. Always waiting on the ‘right time’, ‘enough money’, ‘enough support’ or ‘an easier way’. There will never be any of those.
To every entrepreneur reading this, let me say this. YOU CAN DO IT! Whatever your passion, your skill set, your idea may be…it CAN become a reality. Prepare yourself mentally and take it step by step, because absolutely no one has ever gotten to the end from the beginning. It’s a process. This process also will teach you a lot about yourself and the people around you, so take those lessons and use them to grow both mentally and for your business. Do not be discouraged by competitors or naysayers, they exist even for the billion dollar companies, so who are you? MyCoolCoupons is here to give you the support to bring your products and services to the world. This is a commitment to all the aspiring, existing and future entrepreneurs to have a marketplace that allows the millions of people who want to support small businesses to find you.
Good luck, and thank you for being the inspiration and the motivation for my dream project to be birthed.
Yours Truly,
Leah…
