Dear Janine,

Trust me when I tell you, everything you are going through is for a greater reason and purpose.

Keep pushing through. It all gets better. Trust and let go of control.

Right now, you are well into the first year of branching off on your own, and you have taken the risk to start your own company. Not only has it been successful and secured financial freedom for yourself, but it has also created a greater purpose and intention which is creating opportunity for others, specifically females in the finance world.

Every day, you wake up with a bigger purpose and life goal of striving to set forth giving females the opportunity to work in finance & succeed. You have built an organization that women in finance can call home and continuously push beyond your own & society’s limitations. You are truly living limitless and inspiring others to do the same.

Janine, you love to overachieve and live in a go-go-go atmosphere. You just have so much you want to accomplish, but not enough time. However, when you learn how to set boundaries and develop a healthy life-work balance, that is when everything comes together for you. You will learn to enjoy yoga and meditation. You will find the need to slow down rather than the need to send that email. You will learn to see that a day off will benefit the company rather than being overworked and showing up in exhaustion.

Relax. Do not dwell on the overall success. Do not let overall goals stress you out. Focus on the day-to-day. Focus on being better than yesterday rather than not being where you think you should be. Enjoy the process and know that success is always just around the corner. Your commitment to the journey is bound to leave you constantly exceeding ceilings and outgrowing the old version of yourself.

I know you wish you could flip to the back of your own book and know the do’s and don’ts but know that you will look back with no regrets and see that all the mistakes are lessons learned. You will grow into such a greater version of yourself and build your business if you take these lessons and learn from them rather than repeat them.

My first piece of advice is making sure you have the right team in place. Make sure everyone you hire respects the position and aligns with your core values and vision. Surround yourself with good people. This is really important. Find people who bring positive energy — people you want to be around. You will be highly affected if you have “energy drainers” around you. You strive and thrive in highly vibrational atmospheres.

Second piece of advice is to hold yourself accountable as well as others. Sales is a numbers game; don’t let yourself or others get discouraged. However, make sure you set goals: monthly goals, 5-year goals, and 10-year goals. Don’t be fearful to let go of anyone that is not holding up to the standard job requirements. Hanging onto people and their potential for too long can have an overall declining effect on the health of the company.

The third piece of advice: it is okay to ask for help. Just because you have outgrown working for your old boss doesn’t mean you know everything. Coming from a salaried position to the CEO of a company are two totally different roles. Having a mentor, specifically someone who has scaled and sold a company, will be a major asset for you. It’s important not to let pride get in the way. A second opinion or set of eyes on something will always help. You will also learn to enjoy meditating, which will give you more clarity on complex problems. You are a creator, and you succeed when you are going into situations with full clarity. Don’t lose sight of this.

Lastly, you will be able to travel and present yourself as the face of the company. You will travel the country attending conferences. You might be one of the younger attendees and be the 1 out of every 50 attendees that are female, but don’t let this discourage you. In fact, let it motivate you. I don’t see this as a problem, but I am here to remind you that this will fuel your greater mission to open a door for more females in the finance world, specifically the private lending industry. You are on a mission, and you are achieving it. You are removing limitations you may have had previously, and you will scale your company and feel that you can achieve anything that you set your mind to. I am so proud of everything you have become and are becoming. Continue to hold space for yourself and those around you. I can’t wait to see where this takes you because you really are just getting started.

Janine