Friendships in Entrepreneurship

I LOVE MY JOB, I LOVE MY JOB, I LOVE MY JOB. 

Yes, that’s true. I LOVE my job! Being an entrepreneur is one of the most gratifying elements of my career I have ever experienced. From being home and available for my girls to making my own hours and being able to take vacation time without having to run it by someone other than my family. It is so freeing! 

Yes, this is enough! This is really all of it, but entrepreneurship in and of itself is my favorite and it is so much more than that!

Yes, it’s daunting to start, but as I said above, it has freedom, which leads to happiness and self-exploration. Above all, entrepreneurship has opened the door to friendships! 

Who would have thought friendships or relationships would have been my favorite thing about the entrepreneurial side of my practice? Not me, but I am so glad I’ve found them. 

What’s even wilder, is that these friendships are strictly online. People I’ve never met in person. We’ve connected over Facebook, Instagram, Facebook messenger, Zoom, and email. We’ve developed and built lasting relationships. 

It’s so incredible to connect and have conversations with like-minded individuals. Other OTs also running their own businesses, all with amazing ideas. 

Why do I love it so much? Well, let me tell you a story, a friend told me that she’s made a connection with a local craft center where she will be providing OT services and she will be providing services to kiddos too! What’s better is that it’s in a town close to me,  but we’ve not met in person and now we are talking about collaborating. *Girly happy squeal* This has been my absolute favorite part about the Telehealth journey. 

I am always so happy to connect with people and establish relationships with them. Do you know what establishing these relationships have led to, apart from happiness? These relationships with other OTs has led to more clients. 

I’ve told you before how I got my first client, but today I am going to tell you how I got my latest client. 

“How?”, you ask. Well, I connected with someone online who mentioned my name in a post where someone was asking for a Telehealth provider for children. Actually, it wasn’t even Telehealth specifically, they were just looking for OT and mentioned my name. We connected and so my new latest client was born. 

So, let’s review:

• It is pure happiness to be able to meet other OT’s to talk about business and ideas - picking each other’s brains is one of my favorite things to do 
• Lasting friendships 
• More clients 

Being an entrepreneur and owning my own business gives me the freedom to do what I want to do - to create programs how I want to create them, to help my clients how I think they should be helped best - the opportunities are endless. 

If you’re looking to start your own business, my biggest piece of advice is to build relationships. You don’t need business cards. I don’t even use mine. My experience has taught me traditional marketing is not for everyone. I am far from traditional in business and in my practice and I can tell you the friendships I’ve gained (because they truly become friends) and clients I have gained, appreciate and seek me out for my non-traditional, but functional methods. 

Hi, I’m Reina Olivera - Let’s be Friends!