1 year. I sit here inside Joe & the Juice on 62nd and Lexington wondering how the hell I got here. Never in a million years did I think I would ever have the balls to do something like this. I am not your traditional risk taker. I am the person who talks about it, but then never does it. Or am I?

After working with a really good therapist over the past 6 months, I realize that the way in which I saw myself has actually turned out to be completely inaccurate. Imagine that. If you have been following my cancer journey, (@c.d.r.e.a.m) you will know that one of the first things I said to my therapist was “I am not the person who can handle a cancer diagnosis.” As you can see, I am more than handling it, I am making it my bitch. (If I do say so myself.)

When I launched my business in October of last year, I remember thinking if I can make this last for a year, then that will be something. Here I am at a year, and I seriously don’t know what I was so afraid of. Look, I am not saying that there haven’t been failures. There have. There will continue to be. What I am saying is, I don’t understand why I didn’t just believe in myself to begin with. Tale as old as time, right?

My Dad is a teacher, and has taught every grade from 2nd - 5th. He used to sing this jingle to his students that went something like this: “Believing in yourself means more than all the rest, think you can believe you can and do your very best.”

Seems so trite. I guess I have never truly believed in myself until I started my own business and then had to deal with a cancer diagnosis on top of it. It was like an entire world of unknown was dropped on me all at once. I am not going to go full on cancer mode here, but I will say that when life hands you a big bag of what the f**k you can either give yourself a break or you can let it control you.

For some reason, I chose to believe in myself. The summer was slow for my business, which worked out well, as I was going through chemotherapy all summer. The old Tiffany would freak out wondering how I was going to make this work. The new and enlightened Tiffany knew things were all happening the way they should. And you know the funny thing is, the minute I started putting less pressure on myself, the more opportunities I started getting. It is like the universe was telling me to chill the f**k out. So I did.

As I started getting busier over the summer, I really started paying even more attention to the feedback I was getting from my clients. More than 80% of my clients said that I instilled confidence in them that they never knew they had. What’s so ironic is for the longest time, all I was seeking was the confidence to do something, and approval after I did it. It would appear that as I was evolving, my clients were evolving with me.

So I guess that is the biggest lesson I have learned this past year as an entrepreneur. To chill the f**k out, because the universe is going to do what it is going to do. I left my corporate job for a reason. To do things on my terms. To be more creative. To find fulfillment. I have accomplished all 3. Right now it might mean less money in the bank, but I am still able to do everything I love.

Cheers to one year, and to many more stops on the journey.

1 And NOT Done