Courage Is Opening My Own Agency

| Ana Acosta

One of the biggest challenges I’ve had in life has been connecting the dots of my own path. Connecting my interests, desires, experiences, goals, and dreams to pave my way and take action.

Through Hello Fears I’ve come to realize that my inability to connect the dots in life comes from being too scared to fail. I kept thinking that I didn’t have what it takes to open my own marketing agency. I was doubting myself and doubting my creativity.

In my struggle to navigate through all the obstacles and limiting beliefs I remembered what Michelle (Poler) always says: “What’s The Best That Can Happen?” I thought that if I kept waiting to be enough, I may never start. So I began researching and thinking about possible names for my agency and that’s when it hit me, all I wanted to do was to help clients connect their own dots in their businesses through marketing. So I called it Dots Agency.

I saved money to get the basics to open my business. I saved enough to register the domain, buy QuickBooks, hire a designer, and get started with all the small things I needed to run a business.

I feel good because I actually figured out the thing that stopped me from doing what I wanted to do. Hello Fears was right, It’s not about being fearless, it’s about being brave.

I realized that my fears will always be there, that there isn’t a perfect world without them. Some days I feel my life is perfect and I live in a dream that I can accomplish anything, but there are always the days when I question everything. It’s a continuous struggle to understand that fear will always knock on our door and to remind me to be BRAVE. It’s about being comfortable with being uncomfortable.

That’s why I think that even the smallest tasks should be celebrated. The phrase, “Go hard or go home” isn’t always true, I rather believe “Go little by little and don’t go home.” Maybe today you can give 1%. I am a big believer in giving what you can give today. Make it a point to not lie to yourself and to keep it real.

I have big plans for Dot Agency this year. My main goal is to expand my client base so I can afford to rent my own office space. Planning and setting goals really helps. I set goals when I first launched the business and I reached them. I’m planning new goals every quarter and making the time to review results. That’s my way of going little by little and leaving “going home” out of my plans.

| Story edited by Adam Stramwasser