I am not a first time entrepreneur. I became an entrepreneur at 23 in 2000. My husband was an entrepreneur and had the foresight for us to get into the real estate game.
And so we did.
With $5,000 down (borrowed from my grandmother) we bought our first piece of property for $72,000. Every month we cleared $500 net.
It was a miracle. We diligently bought another property and then another and then another.
Before we knew it we had more properties than we could manage. My husband Joe wanted to expand and I was so risk-adverse and stuck in a scarcity mentality that I wanted us to play small and safe. We were not aligned at all.
So we battled. And we continued to grow. Before we knew it we had a $5 million real estate business and we didn't know what to do with it.
We knew how to do buy, remodel and manage properties, but didn't know how to get help for what we didn't know - the long-term visioning and protection of our assets.
We were not fully awake in life or aware of what was to come. When the real estate market crashed we were blind sided. We began a prolonged period of stress, living in denial, shame and blame.
Eventually we had no alternative but to turn to foreclosure and bankruptcy as remedies. Oh, it was such a crazy time for us! Simultaneously, my husband suffered a career-ending injury as a result of racial discrimination and harassment hazing on the job with LAFD.
It was a roller coaster ride. We started from the bottom and then our real-estate business boomed, so we were at the top and then with Joe's injury we were at the bottom again. We thought we had "made it," but we were wrong.
We had made it on paper, but we were seriously out of alignment with our purpose in life. We thought that external accomplishments would make us happy -- having a great home, making a ton of money, traveling the world -- it was all supposed to make us happy, right?
Wrong! As the bottom fell out, we entered a truly dark period. I so needed some help, but felt I had no where to turn. Always being a very self-reliant person I had disabled myself by not having a circle of support that I could turn to.
Feeling alone I reached for a power greater than me to bring me comfort and let me know no matter what everything was going to be all right.
As a child of civil right organizers, faith was not something often discussed, my parent's were atheists and I was too by default.
But in this period of searching I wanted to find the faith, so I took the journey within, exploring the connection between science and spirituality, metaphysics, Zen Buddhism, Native American teaching and many more. As I studied I took pieces that resonated with me and created my own form of practical spirituality.
And then I began to practice it all - prayer, meditation, journaling, yoga, connecting with nature, accessing alignment and putting faith in the power of my intuition.
Eventually the light bulb turned on and I no longer felt alone.
I felt loved.
I felt worthy.
I felt safe.
I knew that I would be fine.
I knew that I had everything I would ever need to be happy and whole within me. I just need to stay awake, stay aligned and use my intuition as a guide.
So, I took all the practices and tools that I learned along my journey and began my career as a Life & Business Coach. I now know that everything that I experienced has made me better, more connected and more on track with the purpose for my life.
I believe that the Universe is always sending you messages. If you are conscious and awake you receive them and make the necessary adjustments. If you have your head down and are stuck you don't hear them until they have to get louder and louder and louder until something really dramatic has to happen to have a wake-up call.
This was our $5 Million Wake-Up Call.
What was your wake-up call?
What will your wake-up call be?
Stay awake.
Access your intuition.
Pay attention and stay aligned.
Stay tuned for my next article Why I Broke Up With My Coach.
In the meantime...I am super excited about my latest free offering - The Super Fly Collection: 19 FREE Guides, Meditations & Action Sheets from the best Soulful Entrepreneurs in the Biz. If you want to snag it get it here and come hang with me at my place : www.CeliaWardWallace.com.