Life of an entrepreneur

By |Published On: May 11th, 2016|

By Lisa Christen

Read the beginning of this story here

…And that’s when it clicked for me — I’ve been living my life in Switzerland all wrong! When I came here, I tried to take the same things that had made me happy in the US and make them work in Switzerland. Newsflash: you can’t put a round peg through a square hole. You can’t always use old solutions to solve new problems. I needed to consider what happiness and a new life in Switzerland would look like and I needed to figure out how to make that happen. In other words, I needed to define and design the life I wanted to live here.

So, great, I had thought to myself, how do I design a life? (that sounds HARD!). And I figured out that what I needed to do was to approach my life the way I had been approaching my job: as an entrepreneur. An entrepreneur looks at the same problems as everyone else but sees something new or sees a way to improve upon an idea. Entrepreneurs solve problems. They’re also hopelessly optimistic. Basically, being an entrepreneur is the refusal to let facts stand in the way of your hope. If the first try didn’t work, or the first 999 tries didn’t work, they believe there’s still a solution out there. They get creative when they reach roadblocks. They get back up when they encounter adversity. An entrepreneur is always moving forward as they chase their goals and dreams.

That’s why I saw new opportunities and hope I’d never seen before when I approached my life like an entrepreneur. It became easy to define pieces of my dream Swiss life, what I wanted and what I no longer wanted, and I chased that dream with all the hopeless optimism an entrepreneur would. Each baby step forward gave me the courage and energy to keep going. I took swimming lessons. I set up date night with my husband. I started hiking gorgeous trails all across Switzerland. I Skyped with my parents in the US every Sunday so that the distance didn’t seem so far. I let myself make mistakes. I de-cluttered my house. I traveled more. I hired a cleaning company. I joined fabulous communities like Mums in Heels.

And people started noticing that I was different and happier. They started started asking me why I was so darn happy all the time and how could they be happy, too? I explained the little changes I’d made, as I mentioned above, but also the big change of finally feeling free! I was allowed – no encouraged — to experiment and fail as often as I pleased without letting the failures weigh me down as they had in the past. And my friends took this advice back to their own lives and would excitedly report back to me similar results – their lives were transforming because of our conversations. I was so happy and excited for them that I wanted to tell more friends (and more strangers!). And that’s when I realized that I couldn’t keep this secret key to happiness all to myself and a few friends. I needed to share it with as many people as possible. I needed it to be my job to spread the awareness that everyone deserves to be happy and they can be. That’s why I designed a job I love. I now coach people on how to design their dream lifestyle and job. The results are incredible and inspiring. People are amazing. I’m surrounded by a community of successful and happy people making a difference in the world. And now I love – not just like but love – my job, my lifestyle, and my life.

If you want to start designing a life you’ll love, start by figuring out what’s important to you. What change do you wish you could make in the world? Dream big and ignore reality for a moment. What relationships do you want to strengthen? What activities do you love to do / did you love to do as a child? What about them is so great to you? What makes you mad? Why? What’s unfair about it? Once you have a bit more awareness about your likes and dislikes, find small ways to bring in more joyful activities. You don’t need to do a complete life overhaul right away. Small changes will open many doors.

As you design, you’ll face fears that you’re doing something crazy or weird or that other people don’t like it. That’s normal! Remember to be that entrepreneur who is curious, optimistic, and determined that you will find a way to be happy. Don’t give up hope. You can live your dreams — you just have to have the courage to chase them.

Lisa is wearing skirt and blouse by Sara Schlumpf

Earrings Sara Schlumpf

Heels Diva Boutique Lucerne

Styling Kathy Patellis Schmidt, Style-Etc. Boutique

Directing Tsitaliya Mircheva

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About the Author: Tsitaliya Mircheva

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Tsitaliya is a writer and fashion journalist for more than 20 years. She founded Mums in Heels 10 years ago and keeps growing and evolving together with her community or fashionable mums and responsible consumers. Fashion and Wellness are her most favourite topics to write about.