Story from the Soul ::: Michelle Loretta

Part of the reason for starting this blog, is because I love learning about people’s businesses.  This is set in my history when I was an auditor for Deloitte and would visit clients and learn the ins and outs of their organizations.  I  especially love the stories I hear about “The Entrepreneurial Journey”.  Even though I’ve been in business for 5 years, I am moved by these stories and inspired in the same way I was when I was just dreaming of starting up.

I’ve shared a lot about my entrepeneurial story with you.  I started my biz in the living room of my one-bedroom apartment in Hollywood that I shared with my husband.  It took a few years before I moved into my nice studio in Seattle.  But, I have a deeper “story from the soul”.  I often forget this part of it, because so much else happened that actually catapulted me into business.  But, this was THE moment that my soul was on fire with the passion for my business.

Here is my soul story…

My cousin Shelley is really my cousin’s cousin.  (You do the math.)  And, she is one of my best friends.  In 2004, she was turning 20-something and threw herself a fabulous fun party.  My memory is fuzzy as the years have gone by (and as pregnancy and childbirth have left me with no long-term memory).  But, I remember we were in the fabulous upstairs room of this fun little bar in Venice Beach, California.  Shelley worked in the film biz for a gazillion years, so she’s always had fun, interesting, and creative friends.  I remember meeting an extremely interesting make-up artist: AJ.  We gabbed the whole night about his fascinating life doing makeup for supermodels and musicians.

He asked me what I did.  At that time I was working for a small importer and distributor of children’s apparel from Europe.  But, I knew I was leaving.  I needed a career change and wasn’t sure yet what it was.  He asked me what I wanted to do.  I told him I was playing with a few different ideas.  “Oh, maybe I’ll do some freelance bookkeeping since I have an accounting degree.  Or, maybe I will do some visual merchandising in my clients’ boutiques since they keep asking me to do that.”  He was not convinced so he told me, “I don’t hear any passion in what you are saying.  What is it that you REALLY want to do?  What is it that you’re not telling me?”

My heart stopped.  How did he know?  I have ALWAYS loved paper and that is what I REALLY wanted to do.  But, I’m not an artist.  I’m not a designer.  I can’t do that.  He will laugh.  Others will laugh.  His gaze was pretty piercing and insistant.  And, so I told him quietly, “I really want to have a stationery business.  I really LOVE paper.”  And, thus begin an hour long discussion on the passion for the paper.  (Poor guy!)

And, then came his words of wisdom that set my soul on fire.  “If you believe you are an artist, a designer and business owner, then that is what you are.  You have to believe.”  He told me that when he started doing make-up, no one knew who he was but he kept telling people that he was a world-class make-up artist.  (He didn’t even have a client at the time!)  But, because he believed it, he talked about it, he became it.  (In hindsight, I realize that he was sharing with me the philosophy of “be, do, have“.)

I never saw AJ again… but, he holds a special place in my entrepreneurial journey.

My soul was on fire! I went home that night and my life had changed.  From that point on, I was a business owner.  I was a stationery designer.  The rest is history!

Soooooooo….. onto you!  We are having a CONTEST… and we want to learn all about your “soul story”… so come back here on MONDAY!

BTW – I love this Soul Story from Catie Ronquillo, a photographer in Dallas.  A good read for all!