I’m letting you in on a secret that I haven’t shared with many people.
If you have checked out some of my previous posts, you may know that after leaving my career in corporate America, I decided to focus on home more and start a business. I took a break for the holidays and my birthday and I never went back to it.
I, Tanisha Rhenáe, a driven, organized planner just up and quit her professional organizing business because something was missing.
One of the reasons I took my Sabbatical was to come to terms with feeling like a failure. Even though it was my choice, it was still super embarrassing.
While out of town, I realized that I needed to do something. I thought one of the places where I lost my way was leaving my job. So I started to apply for different positions. Lots and lots of jobs. And crickets. No phone calls. No interviews. Nothing. I’m not saying this to brag, but I have never had this problem before. I’ve always been able to get at least an interview for jobs that I wanted. I’ve been headhunted multiple times. I’ve been offered positions just off of my work ethic alone. So to go months and months without hearing anything, my confidence was crushed. Was it because I wasn’t traditionally employed for a while? Was this because I was a military spouse? (Besides the fact that we have been stationed in the same place his whole career #Blessed, I was also with my last company for six years. #Loyalty) What was I doing wrong?
I prayed.
I cried.
Prayed some more.
Cried some more.
I worked with people on my resume. I gave up on my restrictions and applied for all types of positions and industries. I heard nothing. I asked God what I was doing wrong? What did He want me to do? A whole year later, I wrote this post about affirmations and manifestation. So I started to put it into practice. I prayed for God’s will. I repeated that the right job, for me, would come to me. I talked positively about the job hunt. I spoke about myself using titles that I was applying to. I prayed over each application. I shared with friends so they could pray. And as much as I try and stay away from the “famous” scriptures, it is still scripture, so when God dropped Romans 8:28 in my heart, I had to listen.
We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. (CSB)
And then, I had a couple of friends deliver the same message whenever I would get discouraged. So I asked God to open the doors that were meant for me and close the doors that weren’t. To check my heart to make sure I didn’t end up with an Ishmael instead of an Issac because I was forcing something that wasn’t in His will.
Two things happened.
I received an email about an entrepreneur certificate I applied for a year before that I completely forgot about, saying registration was open. I signed up to start taking classes in the second half of this year.
Next, I heard back from what looked like my dream job. Y’all…this job was .04 miles from my front door. I was hype! I made it all the way through, and my final step was canceled. My would-be boss interviewed someone he loved and didn’t see the need to keep going. I was heartbroken!
Then God and I had another pow-wow. What the heck was I supposed to do?
Do I go back to work?
Do I stick with being a housewife?
Do I go back to being an entrepreneur?
Do I go to school?
While confused, I kept speaking positively. I kept praying. I shared my fears with Chris, and he was able to pray and give me comfort as well. He kept reminding me that the right opportunity would head my way. So I kept applying for jobs. We agreed that if I didn’t find anything by the time the certificate classes start, I would put the job hunt on hold until next year. That gave me about four months to keep looking.
While applying for yet another job, I had to register first. But by the time I finished that process, something at the house distracted me, and I never got around to applying. I received an email from a Career Manager from that site to connect. We talked for a bit, and I knew she must have thought I was crazy because I was so tired of the process and just all over the place. I was honest and told her I had no clue what I wanted to do and gave her some background information. She told me to sit down and write out what I wanted my next 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, and one year to look like. She would put some feelers out there about schools and jobs, and we would come back together the following week.
To learn more about her and the company, I went back to the site and realized that this was a local career network for military spouses! In addition to the help of the career manager, they also had different trainings available.
This conversation, looking at this site, and her assignment triggered the flood gates to open.
I remembered all the courses I signed up for but didn’t have the time to take because I was so focused on finding any job. And with the Coronavirus, I wasn’t able to leave my house anymore, so I had even more time. Plus, so many companies started to offer their resources for free to help deal with social distancing. And the type of jobs I was looking for stopped hiring as they dealt with the pandemic and transitioning to remote work.
This situation made me realize how many people are stuck in their spot without any other options.
How many people just were not prepared for a significant change in their day to day.
What could have been done differently?
How could I help?
Then it hit me…I wanted to be an entrepreneur so I could help people. I’m passionate about learning and sharing resources, and it seems people need that now more than ever!
I met with the Career Manager again, and before she could say a word, I told her that I wanted to be an entrepreneur, but I needed help! She laughed. I told you she probably thought I was crazy because I went from looking for jobs for the past year and possibly going back to school in one week to owning my own business the next. But the reason she laughed was that she just so happened to talk to a local business consultant earlier and I popped into her mind to connect us!
Y’all…Do you see how God works?
God also connected me with a friend that is a business coach that understood my struggle with being multi-passionate and wanting to be an entrepreneur.
My blog has always been about me documenting my journey of growth.
So as I figure out what I want to do and how to do, I want to bring you along. Because I know that I am not the only one who is in this situation, and I absolutely love sharing what I learn.
I’ll talk about the courses I take, what I do to build my confidence and get over the fear that I feel and how I still plan to prioritize my relationship with God, my husband, and my home.
I’m scared, excited, and nervous all at the same time. But this blog post was the first step, so cheers to accomplishing that!
