“The type of experience I had just in my first year of entrepreneurship does not compare to the professional life I had before. I was networking, speaking at international conferences, and I saw a lot of opportunities opening up for me now that I was no longer in the nine-to-five world.”
Propelled by effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, the economy in a bad state, and traditional employee opportunities waning, Rosaria took a dive into entrepreneurship. Leaving her nice cushy job in corporate, she really had to dig deep and take a good look at where her gifts and talents lay to figure out how to put her years of experience into starting something on her own. She began reaching out to help other entrepreneurs improve their communication skills. The leap from employee to entrepreneur, being in the motion of not doing the same thing over and over every day, afforded Rosaria the opportunity to really broaden her horizons in terms of what she was capable of. The entrepreneurial bug had bitten! Fast forward to today, Rosaria is a Digital Marketing growth hacker that helps businesses thrive.
“Every day is an opportunity to grow. I really push myself to the limits. Always asking myself who can I reach out to, and how can I solve their problems in a better way. With this comes more confidence, and I am no longer shy but rather shout out about my capabilities and how I can help”.
Rosaria proudly combines her knowledge from both her past and current professional experiences to hold her firm place as an expert in her domain. She advises us to own our experiences and use them to take us forward as thought leaders and experts in our ever changing domains. Many times, it is the colourful twists and turns that equip us with varying perspectives needed to really understand the problems we solve for and the people we serve - and we might just begin to understand ourselves a little better along the way too!
Rosaria advises entrepreneurs to refrain from comparing themselves to the next entrepreneur as we are all on our own journeys and we never really have access to their ‘behind the scenes’ story and are sometimes lured by the glamorous version we may find online. She suggests we rather focus on the spirit of optimism to see ourselves through difficult times, to remain hopeful for a better tomorrow. Along with optimism, she believes that keeping abreast of market developments especially in your particular domain is a non negotiable to survival.
“Sticking to a particular mindset or idea of how things are supposed to turn out is quite dangerous. Commit to evolving because things WILL change. Maybe the market you service becomes redundant, maybe the people and team around you no longer align when you get to a new place in your business. Make the choice to embrace change as a constant because change is inevitable. It is also a gift because with change comes growth.”
Rosaria views growth as a key benefit as she continues on the entrepreneurial path. Growth both personally and professionally is something that is very difficult to avoid as we are pushed to break down barriers to success on both fronts as an entrepreneur. Growing pains are real, and the learning is not always easy, but as they say hindsight is a beautiful thing and looking back, the lessons learnt are almost always worthwhile. And while we are bogged down in chasing invoices, unlocking opportunities, breaking through new markets, and the like, Rosaria encourages us to find time to regroup and return to our authentic self - our real secret to success. She balances her ‘abundance mindset’ by also making sure that she surrounds herself with people that are there with good reason, good purpose, and those who align with their authentic selves.
“I have always had the will inside me to impact and change people's lives through the work that I do. I believe by helping entrepreneurs and businesses to improve, I can really have an impact. I see with my own eyes how I play a part in transforming a person and their business. As an employee, behind a computer, excel spreadsheets and in boardrooms, I never really saw impact creation as clearly as I do now".
Rosaria reminds us about our duty as entrepreneurs, being the custodian of impact creation, we only have ourselves to turn to when we stop to ask if we are really making a positive impact on the world and the people around us. The gift bestowed to each and every entrepreneur: the ability to hold the reins on the legacy we leave behind.
“Solving niche challenges Founders face”.
Illustrator: Lisa Williams (Instagram: @artist_llw)