What no one tells you about being a business owner in 2024

more like a life update

The beginning

I feel like we need to do another intro because it’s been so long. Apparently my strength has been a yearly update, so let’s do this again!

Hi, I’m Jenn. Registered nurse by training, photographer and entrepreneur by passion, real estate investor and property management company founder/owner, married to my SoCal surfer/business partner/life of the party and mama to Indie, the mini version of my husband. It’s a lot right now. You get it.

Photography is my passion and that’s what I’ve mostly shared on this and my social platforms for the past 8 or so years. But images don’t capture the pain, the frustrations, anxiety, or the struggles that sort of destroyed parts of my health and happiness for a time. It doesn’t show how we’ve struggled through the last years because we wanted to build something memorable and have been pouring everything we have into those dreams. Maybe this will tilt the scales. And just maybe I can do it in a way that isn’t a straight up downer but that will be enough light to show that no matter what we’re all putting out there… there’s always another side to the story.

DON’T DO IT

I’ve mentioned it before, but I quit being a nurse more times than I’d like to recall. My impulse to jump ship got the best of me too many times. And I left before we were ready. I can’t speak for Colin (my husband), but I know what I did. I thought for a time, my calling was chillin by the beach and sipping on G&Ts. But I’ve discovered that I get bored pretty quickly. I feel a drive to be actively involved in growth and I just didn’t know it, because I’ve been so misaligned in my career, I thought I didn’t have much drive for most of my 20s. The past few years, I realized I’m not afraid of hard work, I’m just afraid of wiping butts for people who refuse to take care of themselves and losing my calm with the patient that I’ve already seen 3 times this week in the ER who now demand a sandwich!

So this past year, it was a tough one:, I gave up pretty much all of my personal hobbies (photography included) in a rat race to change what our every day looked look and live off of our real estate investments. And we’ve been so close…So close. But every time it looks like things are about to happen for us, we decide to invest in (more) education or coaching or hire a team member or put everything we have into one more deal, and then there goes the dream of being just a little bit more comfortable. That game of delayed gratification, we’re heavy into that one. I hear its good stuff, but I wouldn’t know yet (4 years into out real estate investment journey).

Life changes

To be honest, we didn’t realize what we wanted to build when it came to investing and building our real estate portfolio, until we were in it. Turns out, we’re building a company. So the delayed gratification continues. And in the meantime, it looks like I’m going back to nursing to float us through a couple major life changes. Maybe not my first choice – or my 5th – but I’m in a stage where I’m really trying to focus on the positives and I’m so grateful that I have nursing to fall back on, literally anytime I need it. After 10 years of experience as a nurse and 8 times quitting, it looks like I’m finally a valuable asset! lol Never thought that day would come. So I’m going to cardiac cath lab! Whatever that is.

what are we doing here

There are so many moving parts in life right now. It’s like riding that wooden rollercoaster, wondering if I’m going to fly off the tracks at any given moment. So I’m focusing on a couple things I’m good at: organizing my calendar – LOVING using Notion right now, deep diving into google calendar and using all the shared calendar features and creating beautiful templates that I’ll forget to use. Well, that I am learning to use. Organization is my king right now. I’ll organize anything I can get my hands on – and my key attribution to our business’s right now; keeping a pulse on everything going on (except our team podcast for nurses wanting to build freedom outside of shift work lol that one’s going rogue 🫡 shoutout to Investing RN) I’m constantly trying new tools and programs to see how I can help our small team thrive. So, among all the wild and random things here, I hope to bring some insight on how we’re managing and hanging on for dear life! Although things can feel complicated and so far from glamorous, I know it can all be simple. After years of being told not to compartmentalize, I’m realizing that that may actually be the key. What do you think?