Throughout my life I have been very blessed, however, several years ago I lost three very close family members all in the span of 17 months which had a huge impact on me. While working in corporate marketing for over 20 years, I have been fortunate to be part of many great teams that created amazing things, but I started wanting to build something that was more meaningful to me. When COVID-19 hit, half my industry got wiped out and I was laid off with lots of time to think and I saw this opportunity over many months while volunteering in my local community. My idea is for a service for home health visits that will help elderly people in their golden years and I wrote a business plan. I shared my business plan with several close friends and one of them recommended Launch1000 after seeing an email about it. I read about it, immediately applied, and then 4 or 5 days later, I was getting started on the program.
In my previous corporate work, I had done a lot of purpose training which I found very valuable on many levels. As I started Phase 1, I really appreciated the approach of starting the program with who I am, what I believe in, my passions, and the role I can play in the world. It felt very natural to start with this type of work because I believe everything extends from who you are, what you’re about, and what you’re trying to do in life.
Another awesome part of Phase 1 is that it is structured in such a way that you have an immediate network as you start the program. You are kind of forced to have a Tribe of 3 and an accountability partner. At first, it felt kind of awkward, but once I let my guard down and opened up, I realized how valuable this was. My accountability partner and I have so much in common. We’ve helped each other for 3 months now. With my tribe of 3, we’ve been leveraging each other and it’s led to so many other relationships and connections and it’s made the process so much richer and easier to advance my idea because I have access to their perspective but also their network of others who can help me move forward. Coming from the corporate/agency world where people are paid to help each other, it was a real eye-opener for me to see how willing people were to help me with no strings attached, having no prior relationship, and sight unseen.
In Phase 2, I had similar training and experience with the overall concept. I’ve done plenty of discovery conversations with clients and consumers to understand problems to solve. But in Launch1000, I was challenged to push deeper and ask questions I might not have thought about. For example, I had been trained to list what I knew, what I didn’t know, my guesses, and then turn those guesses into interview questions. But then the way the Launch1000 materials were structured, it forced me to ask deeper questions I wouldn’t otherwise have been challenged to ask like “Does my service get paid for by insurance or self-pay or both?” I gained so many useful insights from asking these deeper questions.
The biggest “Aha moment” came from a conversation with a friend of one of my tribe of 3 members. The person I had this conversation with was a doctor who really understood the medical community. He pointed something out very nuanced and industry-specific that I never would have seen in my own research, it was something that can be game-changing for my business idea. I was blown away.
In Phase 3, there was this step called “Life Return On Investment”. This step was also valuable for me. To some people, this step might have felt painful or unnecessary. But for me, I loved it and the light bulb not only went off for me but was FLASHING. There were two things that made a huge impact on me. One was the alignment of who I am and my business idea was so crystal clear. The other was that it reaffirmed the value of what I’m doing and that I need to follow it through. It became so obvious to me that I must do this in addition to my corporate life or in place of it, I have to see it through.
Going forward, I know now that this venture is so important to me on multiple levels. I am clear that this venture will have a big role in my life. This will help the elderly who need help and this service will prolong their lives. It’s something meaningful that I can bring to the world. I can’t wait to see where this goes and I’m very thankful to Westchester County for providing this program that has exceeded my expectations.
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