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Like Learning to Ride Your Bike…
In an email conversation with one of our APHA mentors last week, a point that is so often lacking in the understanding of an independent advocacy practice was made: That it usually takes 3 to 5 years to know if someone will be a successful business owner, advocacy included. That so many advocates quit before they get there, never giving themselves a chance, really. They start out thinking it will be easy because, afterall, many been advocates for decades in previous careers… just a simple switch to self-employment, right? When they finally understand that the first few years are more about business than advocacy, it’s a rude awakening. When that lightbulb goes off, when they begin to understand it’s about running a business, they begin to panic. That’s when I hear: But I’ve never done this before! That statement is too often used as an excuse; as if it makes it OK to just dive into a practice without business preparation because, well, that person can’t know how to do it right because she has never done it before. So… let’s think back, for a moment, to times in our lives we have had to do something for the first time… How did we succeed? How did you walk for the first time? None of us was born walking – we had to learn it. At some point, maybe around one-year-old, we all started to pick ourselves up, put one foot in front of the other… even if we did so by grabbing the side of the sofa – we walked! Very few of us (if any) did that in isolation. We had encouragement and support all around us; our parents, our siblings; our grandparents. They held our hands, they cheered us on, they dried our tears when we fell down… and every one of us was brave enough to get up and try again. Do you remember riding a bike for the first time? OMG – I remember the falls, the sore wrist, and the scraped knees far better than I remember the moment I finally balanced well enough…