How A Minimalist And Mindful Lifestyle Helped Us Create Our Social Enterprise Startup
Life’s Too Short To Sit On The Sidelines Waiting For ‘Some Day’
Let me introduce myself. My name is Kathryn and I’m the author of this blog. My husband and I made a choice to actually live our dream instead of taking the safe route. In the early part of our marriage, we decided our passions mattered and that life was way too short to sit on the sidelines just waiting for ‘some day’.
Fate seemed to have brought two people with matching energy, passion and resolve together. We make a great team I’m happy to say. So, we took a major leap of faith and poured our savings into starting a small business. Not just any small business mind you, but a sustainable social enterprise that could help countless people. For me, this was most important. I’m not into materialism or other forms of that stuff.
Hubby always dreamed of being his own boss. The master of his own destiny if you will. He’s got what it takes, and it made my heart sick to see him trudging off to work at jobs that really just paid the bills. I was watching it eat at him, prematurely age him and sap his will to live. All the while, I felt secretly guilty that he was killing himself just to keep us afloat.
We had been scheming to make our big break from drudgery for a long time, but life got in the way as it can. My mother was dying of cancer, so while he worked multiple jobs, I took care of her and us. He was dead on his feet, sleeping only a few hours before the next job. I was exhausted and harried too. At that stage of our lives, I seriously doubted that life would get any better for a long time. It was a dark scary chapter.
My mother passed away. Her death hit me hard. Right before she died, I also had a miscarriage. Our landlord sold the building to a nasty man. We really had to move. We were broke, miserable and needing a break. And then it came.
When You’re Stuck With Lemons…Suck It Up
I was having a horrible time finding an apartment. We had and still have 2 cats. I won’t part with them. I’ll never understand people who don’t like animals. Anyway, time was running out to move, since the landlord and we were at swords points. My last apartment viewing as I like to put it was the last apartments available. Hubby wasn’t able to go so I was given full discretion on making a choice.
I had three on my list. The first two were laughably not rentable. I only had one more. I got to the building and looked at it from outside…not good. I met the landlord who seemed likable. We went up stairs, and up stairs, and up stairs until we got to the 4th floor. It was a crows nest but it was also rent control. Utilities included. It was the perfect location for our needs just not a good neighborhood. Did I care? I made an executive decision to rent it and held the landlord to his word that we would have windows installed [there weren’t any just holes] and the kitchen area would be finished by the time we moved in. Yes, it was a dump!
This was my first minimalist decision of many. What!? No, it’s not a white-on-white sterile scene. It’s a major life decision that enabled us to move forward towards our dream. Minimalism is about lifestyle choices that make sense in the bigger picture. Things that help you to realize your goals and dreams. Not all of them are pretty either. That’s where life gets messy…but it also gets fun.
Needless to say hubby was horrified when he saw the place. We rushed to seal the deal before he ever saw it. I’ll never forget his reaction. I’m glad his best friend came along to buffer and soothe. He literally went into a corner of the bedroom and slumped down onto the floor, head hung down shaking back and forth in a ‘but why’ motion. He would soon realize the method to my madness.
Words To Live By: Gratitude, Mindfulness and Minimalism
We actually lived in that apartment for 5 years. They were the best and most fun years we’ve had. Since we had been living in a furnished apartment before, friends donated furniture to help out so we didn’t need to spend on that. We had great neighbors and actually had a simple peaceful life. We saved money now and most importantly hubby only needed one job. I started a web magazine that made passive income, so we were comfortable and all was well.
It was because we made this lifestyle choice that we were able to seriously start planning our business. Of course, I encountered people who judged me by my address and choices. That will always happen when you choose to become a minimalist. They don’t understand. I really don’t care. These were the same people who dismissed our business plans as nonsense and who lived their lives chasing materialist goals. Today they’ve seen our dreams come true. Some were sincerely happy for us, but others were not. That happens too.
We eventually moved to a bigger, nicer apartment. We also spent more money on rent and paid utilities. Fun stopped. Working was all we did. This happens too. When you upgrade, you find that you’re spending money for the lifestyle. It was a good decision for us to move. Our old building was making me sick. I had breathing problems from it and moving greatly improved my health. This was an important life choice too. Your health is irreplaceable.
Our moving did get us closer to realizing our dream. It was right near the Small Business Development Center, so we could walk there and work on our business plan regularly. We spent more time preparing to actualize our plan. I incorporated our business; we finished our business plan; we met with people creating what we thought was the ideal location for us to open our store. This all took about 3 years of hard focused work.
While we zeroed in on our target, we adopted a very minimalist lifestyle. It was part of our plan since we needed to use our money for the startup. Frugality has its place. In this situation, we needed to decide what our money was to be used for. Of course, you need to eat and pay expenses, but creating a livable budget is important overall. We gave up date night, mostly since we were too tired to go out, but also because it was more cost effective to stay in and have a nice dinner. We traded down on many things to stay focused on why we were saving our money. This is the point where mindfulness meets minimalism.
Half of the battle in achieving your goal is to be happy with what you have. Gratitude is the first step to real happiness. We were very grateful for all that we did have and we didn’t need more. We were content right where we stood, even if we never did accomplish our dream. Truthfully, when the Great Recession hit, we were better off than most people around us. We were financially stable because we had been living a simple minimalist life. It never touched us. We were ever mindful of how blessed we were at a given moment.
Eventually, we did open our store. We ran our brick-and-mortar shop for 3 years. Our hard work was a realized dream that actually paid off. We closed our shop to transition into e-commerce to reach more people. I’m happier because we’re able to return to our simple lives.
I feel that all I learned through this journey may be able to help people. That’s the reason for this blog. To share life lessons that may inspire another person to take their leap of faith. Of course, there’s so much more to living a minimalistic and mindful lifestyle than what I’ve touched on here. That’s part of this blog too.
I hope our story inspired you to start planning your future. Life’s too short to waste it.
If you liked my post, please recommend it by clicking the little heart. I thank you for taking the time to read this post. I hope it helps you on your journey. We’d love it if you’d check out our shop too.
