The Challenges of Being an Entrepreneur When Dealing With Cancer

One of the hardest things about being an entrepreneur with cancer is that other people are farther than you in business because you had to stop and fight instead of moving forward. Life sits at a standstill when fighting. Your body aches. You are sick. You don't feel like doing anything. You want to do all the things your peers and colleagues are doing but you just can't. You see them with their marketing programs, and E-courses, selling books, having book signings, making money. You see them doing Instagram Live or Instagram TV and having 2,000 plus followers comment, listen, and like them. You see them in Fb groups answering questions from clients, giving feedback and suggestions. You see them living a life you thought you would have but instead, all you see is what they have and what you don’t and why? Because of fucking cancer! 

I know what I want, where I want to go and how to get there, but I am in medical debt and just don't have $500, $2000 or $10,000 to invest in my business to do that right now. Insurance in the US only covers so much of that debt and that also only covers the basics. If you want to get acupuncture, that is extra, if you want to use herbs, that is extra, if you want immunotherapy and holistic and healthy products, yep, extra. It sometimes feels daunting, like you feel like you can never get ahead. It feels like you get one bill paid and then another shows up on top of another, while you are trying to put gas in the car to get to chemo, organic food on the table to eat better, and natural herbs and medicine because chemotherapy is poison and you want to do better things for your body, all the while trying to live toxin-free, non-toxic or just make better choices.

Where in all of that are you to find time while fighting cancer to have a successful entrepreneur business? Even now, as I am starting to feel better, there are still side effects and other medical issues getting in the way of me moving forward with my business and it all comes back to blame...CANCER.

I will just have to "bootstrap" this business just like I have all my other ones and go the slow road. I will get there, it just may take longer and I need to remind myself…

This is my second time fighting cancer.

I am farther than someone who never started! <3

I am tougher than many I know. <3

I may cry through the pain, suffer through the tears and show up when I want to stay in bed, but one thing you know for sure, is I keep moving forward in life even though it seems like I'm not in other areas.

I also know…

I don't need permission to change lives (I'm already changing lives)

I don't need pretty images and a glamorous Instagram account and all the bells and whistles to touch lives.

I don't need a Fb group or a forum or a network.

I don't need an email list or a CRM.

I don't need a business model or a business plan.

I don't need the perfect package.

I don't need to be on Ellen and be recognized for all I do in this world.

I don't need my posts to go viral.

I just need to be me.

Isn't that a constant lesson this year?

I am doing the best I can.

I keep fighting.

Pain or no pain, I show up.

I am willing to be vulnerable.

I am making a difference just by being myself, authentically me... and isn't that all that really matters anyway? <3

The chemo may be done and cancer may be currently at bay but the side effects are still there and the massive medical debt is in the way.

As an entrepreneur, I may be a bit behind if I compare myself to other entrepreneurs, but if I compare myself to me, the person I see in the mirror each day...

Cancer fighter

Stage 4

Metastatic Colon Cancer

14% chance of survival

Looking at it that way...I've come a long way baby!