Hey, I’m Lola. I’m a career strategist who teaches professional women who want more how to leverage their careers by tapping into their inner pro-preneur abilities while maintaining crucial work life integration.
My moment of reckoning ~ It was Spring time with all the sounds of life and excitement in the air; a sign of surviving yet another winter and I was walking down a street that once brought me so much joy. Anyone who met me would have no clue but think “wow she has a perfect life.” Rule #1: do not wish to have another person’s life. One of the 10 commandments rightly states this: do not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor. I would say that includes your neighbors’ life.
I was an emotional wreck while I was walking that day with what seemed like a smile, I was in pain with the turmoil of the decision(s) I had to make. I had a lot of stressors and no excuses, but I had gained 40 pounds physically not including the additional weight of all the emotional pain I felt.
I had a lot of responsibilities and people depending on me, so being of a sound mind was important and here I was in the worst financial position I could ever imagine. I didn’t know how I was going to pay the bills and staring at the possibility of having to let go of staff.
I felt lonely, afraid and out of control and I hated everything about my life in that moment. I had always been so excited about life and going for passion and here I was spinning around as things appeared to fall apart all around me.
Even worse, my spouse was no longer a friend. My closest girlfriends and my family all lived miles away and I felt truly alone.
My Rock Bottom – The financial situation spiraled out of control with the advent of the recession my financial problems got worse. Business took a nose dive. The housing market crashed, I lost my income properties; the stock market crashed and the little savings I had was depleted trying to keep my head above water. To boot my health was hanging in the balance; I had truly hit rock bottom. Here I was everything I had been years before: confident, fit, successful, happy, was no longer there! The dream life I had sought now appeared to be coming to an end. It is true, that in a time of crisis many will either turn to welfare; drugs & alcohol; suicide or faith. I chose the latter. My faith in God got me back on track.
First, I changed my outlook and language and repeated words of affirmation daily several times a day “This too shall pass; there’s life; there’s health; there’s hope” I listened to faith teachers and uplifting gospel music 24/7. It truly was a battlefield of the mind.
Then it became increasingly easier for me to see beyond the fog and come up with a plan.
One thing I now knew my present situation did not define who I was or could become. In those moments, it was easy to have given up. I had all the excuses to give up and feel sorry for myself, but I knew I had to dust off really quickly; I had my kids depending on my being present. I had to be a better person and chose to fight and not wallow in self-pity and avoided the “why me?” dialogue.
I did the opposite instead.
Being a serial entrepreneur that I was … I decided to go back to my mental archives and really look inwards (coincidentally I was hearing the same words from the pulpit about talent; purpose; passion) and it dawned on me, some of my happier moments of the many passions I pursued was when I taught financial literacy combined with my work getting people back on their feet in their careers. The look of joy when an individual got it was priceless and I knew that giving back and making impact would be the driver for this next phase of my life and by sharing my story publicly, I’m saying thank you God for giving me another chance.
Long story short, so much happened over the course of a four year period: closed down the business; went back to work and let go of the income properties. I took this all in stride as God removing from me things He felt I would no longer need in my new chapter.
Getting down to it, I created my vision board mounted it on my bedroom wall; went back to the basics and I knew things would work out if I kept my eyes on the ball and faith in God. I decided to practice what I had taught to others on myself (literally digging myself out of a hole). I found it was easier to teach when I didn’t have the issues, but now I had a real life student “me” I document then and continue to document my journey. This time my coaching is from a real place of experience; pain and tribulation.
As I gained control of my life; finances and health, things became much clearer knowing that these life experiences and pain points are for growth and more importantly for sharing to encourage others and a way of ensuring that if life throws you lemons you just have to turn these into lemonade.
I did find encouragement from a few friends along the way and knew that the Sisterhood bond regardless of race or creed is a beautiful thing that should not be taken for granted.
I had been a disenfranchised stay at home professional between the years of shutting down my business and having to decide my next steps. I really felt I needed to be around with my kids, but the standard employment working hours are 8 – 5pm and part-time 8 – 12pm or 1 – 5pm this put many others like me in an unemployable state even though we knew our stuff. We are professional women who choose to work either around our kids schedule or as a result of life changing events.
I did go back to work full-time, but this nagged at me as I saw this as a problem that needed to be addressed, which is my WHY for founding LolaSal, where I’m pioneering a new time slot of 10:00am – 2:00pm for Part-Time employment to engage seasoned talent and end the stigma on how they are viewed in the marketplace.
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