Cindy W. Morrison

Life Lessons They DON’T Teach You In Business School

I currently do two blogs. One is geared toward empowering women (Girlfriends 2.0) and the other is all about reinvention whether it’s totally starting over or simply upping your game (Reinvention 2.0). Okay.. so I just wrote a really mushy Girlfriends 2.0 blog about the fact that my one year anniversary was staring me in the face. No wonder it’s an emotional anniversary since it was one year ago this month that my career, health, and home were all literally and figuratively struck. Now it’s time to take a deep breath and talk about how far I’ve come since TOTALLY reinventing myself because, yes, I was a mess a year ago.

In a nutshell? Last May (2009), I found out I was getting laid off from a 20 year news career after major layoffs at the station. Within two weeks, I fell to the bathroom floor in the worst pain of my life. Turns out I had a grapefruit size tumor. Long story short.. I landed on a top ovarian cancer surgeon’s table and ended up with major surgery even though the tumor turned out to be benign. And if you think God doesn’t have a sense of humor? After a week in the hospital, I came home and JUST ONE DAY LATER, lightning struck our home. Seriously?! What had I done?!

The fact was.. I was a low as I could go!! Career – Nope. Health – Not so much. Home – eh, the outside was still standing. I had little left but friends, family and an attitude. While I didn’t go to business school (I’m a journalism major), I’m pretty for sure the major lessons I learned over the last year weren’t the kind of thing they teach in business school.

Build A Strong Support Network
My Girlfriends and family were unbelievable. They made me laugh when I thought I couldn’t (like bringing me a bedazzled grapefruit to the hosptal), they helped me establish my own business (when I never thought I wanted to), and they kept me going when my attitude alone wouldn’t have been enough. My true Girlfriends came out of the woodwork to make sure my kids didn’t have years of therapy, I believed in myself when I lost complete faith, and that I was a success in spite of myself. I’d never longed to have my own business. They showed me how to monetize my passions. WOW!!

You Must Have A Plan B
Hello?! Why did I think I could anchor TV news through at least two face lifts? I was under the false impression that if you did what you always did then you got what you always got. I was good with that! Then life changed on a dime. The one thing I’ve learned? Life changes no matter how you live your life and whether you try to make good choices. So, all of us BETTER have a Plan B. I didn’t.. and found myself feeling like a loser when life spun out of control. Since I didn’t know how to be anything other than a news anchor and investigative reporter, my best buddies (see above lesson) helped me realize I could write a book (I’m a journalist!), get on the national speaking circuit (I speak for a living!), and do some time of business consulting (I’d done marketing/branding for a living!). The point is, I didn’t know I could do any of that, until I was forced to. I suggest you design a Plan B NOW!

What You Don’t Know… You Don’t Know
Why bother wasting time doing stuff that isn’t part of your talent set. I’ve learned that I can spend hours figuring out how to do something that probably isn’t that important in the grand scheme. Is it better to just hire that done? I don’t ask that lightly because when my TV paycheck ended, it ended (no severance package!). So, every dime I’ve spent has been carefully examined. But the fact is, it’s better to hire someone to do my accounting books than me try to pretend I know how to do that (I’m a journalist, for goodness sake!). So, now I’m a big believer in outsourcing what you don’t know so you can concentrate and perfect what you DO know.

Think Outside Your Comfort Zone
For years, I thought EVERYONE should advertise on TV. Once I stepped out of that world though I discovered the power of (FREE!) social media. I could begin to market my brand beyond our viewing area. I worked to meet people outside of Oklahoma. A perfect example? I met a woman named Janet Powers from the Diva Toolbox through twitter. Next thing I know, I’d taken our “initial meeting” past the “cold call” and developed it into a real relationship. Now Janet and I have a weekly national radio show and I’ll be a speaker/presenter at the Diva Toolbox convention in Boston this September. That was WAY beyond my comfort zone, but it has already made a significant difference in my business.

I encourage you to figure out your business plan, do your accounting and put to use everything else you learned in business school. But for those of us who never stepped foot in those hallowed halls (Hello?! The closest I got to the business school in college was marrying my husband!) there are other lessons to learn. And now I believe those lessons are just as important as the businesses basics when it comes to your success.

I’ve lived all of this this last year. I’ve gone from a laid off former TV person who felt like a loser (not to mention other things going wrong in my life) to a woman who’s book is selling great guns, my speaker’s calendar is filling up and my consultant clients are second to none. Did I do that without help or blindly? Heck no! My friends make sure I survived and thrived and then I learned my way, step by step. I may have have a strike to every part of my life a year ago, but now? I feel in control and that I’ve learned life lessons that were hard to come by. I wasn’t in the business school but I’ve lived the life of hard knocks. I hope those lessons (and my life changes) will help you not just survive but thrive what life dishes out.