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Are You A Single Mom? Think You Cannot Start Your Own Thing? Think Again!

I speak to people daily who want to be entrepreneurs, and every day I hear excuses of why they can't
do it. They lack the funds, they lack the time, they lack the support, they lack the network. If you're looking for excuses on why you can't start your own thing, let me know. I can give you millions because I've heard them all. Recently I had the opportunity to meet an inspiring mompreneur who reinvented herself through two difficult times in her life and during both used what some may see as excuses as her reasons why.

Ann Zuccardy started her first business when her daughter was very young, she was a newly single mom and she was working full time. She had plenty of excuses why timing was not right including lack of time and money, but ultimately she wanted more of both for her and her daughter so forged ahead. Without any prior baking experience, she started a shortbread cookie business that started off with a few people purchasing from her to people from all over the world clamoring for her cookies. She developed her own website using HTML, and as she grew, she hired people to help during the busy times. Throughout it all, Ann still kept her day job.

In 2010, Ann closed her business and worked in corporate for a short while before tragedy struck and
her life changed. While on a business trip in Germany, Ann fell and suffered a brain injury that forced her to leave her day job. Talk about an excuse why she couldn't be an entrepreneur, right? But Ann used this experience as a platform to start blogging and sharing what she had learned. Initially she could only do so by dictation because of her impairment, again showing that an excuse for some served as a catalyst for her. Her blog started gaining traction, and she was asked to be a TedX speaker. From there she has become more widely known, now does keynote speaking as well and is preparing to publish a book on the brain's neuroplasticity.

Throughout Ann's struggles and achievements, she feels most proud of learning how to do things she never would have had she not pursued entrepreneurship. This includes building her own website, getting licensed for her home bakery, and learning internet marketing and social media to name a few. Going outside of her comfort zone made Ann feel powerful, like a trail blazer. For more of Ann's interview, click here. She shares some incredible tidbits on the most challenging and beneficial aspects of being an entrepreneur.

Next time you decide to let your excuses win out over your reasons why, I challenge you to think of Ann and do the following. Think about your life in five years. If you keep doing what you're doing, where will you be? What if you try something new? Maybe, just maybe, you will be closer to that vision you have of your dream life. And guess what? Whether or not you try, life will pass you by. So what have you got to lose?




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