Reinventing Ourselves All Over Again

In 2013, I said goodbye to my work family at the YMCA of Middle Tennessee after serving thousands of people across Tennessee for almost 7 years. Anyone who has spent time in the marketplace understands the pain, heartache, and anxiety that can cause. Leaving your daily routine and moving from one job to the next is never easy.

But this transition was different, because the next job was the one that was going to change my life forever.

I was leaving a stable, secure income to start my own company. On July 11, 2013, I started it from the corner of our bedroom in Nashville. Back then it was called PIXL Designs. Today it’s Soulheart.

Then came the reality check. Bills don’t pay themselves. Clients don’t operate with your sense of urgency when it comes to spending money. And people will let you down, even great friends. Some friends and family will doubt you’re doing the right thing and encourage you to quit and get a real job again.

And yet here I am, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

The journey is a roller coaster

Starting my own company was a chance to fulfill a dream I’d carried for a long time: to start my own business before I turned 30. I made it by 17 days. Everyone loves the excitement that dreams bring, but no one is really prepared for the emotional roller coaster of running a business.

One minute everything is going great. The next minute a key client gets acquired and you’re wondering how you’ll pay the people who depend on you. I’ve been through the highs and lows, from profitable seasons to debt, and from so much work I could barely keep up to so little that I wondered if I should fold and get a job instead.

You have to handle that ride with care. Surround yourself with the right team and the right support, and treat every moment as a chance to keep building the vision you had in the beginning.

A lasting vision keeps you steady

When I started PIXL, I began with a simple vision: to design and build products that make a positive impact in people’s lives. That vision came with me into Soulheart, and it’s still the filter for what we say yes to.

It’s also what helps us say no. Back in the PIXL days, I walked away from a $60K client and a $20K client because they didn’t fit our focus and vision. People around me questioned it. Making tough choices is part of running a company every single day, and it takes a rock solid mission to make those calls with confidence instead of fear.

Confidence is built on faith and trust

People need leaders, and leaders need leaders. As a leader, I’ve had to learn that confidence isn’t pretending to know every answer. Sometimes it’s leaning on your team when you’re struggling with a decision. Confidence is vulnerability that builds trust, mixed with faith and risk.

I believe walking by faith is so much more rewarding than playing it safe. If I’m never making decisions about our future that stretch me past my comfort zone, I’m probably playing it too safe.

Soulheart today

When I started this company, the goal was to build websites, apps, and products. We started with the web and kept growing from there. Big vision requires consistent iteration, and that means being willing to pivot and tweak along the way.

Today Soulheart builds websites and tools for Purpose Driven brands, and we’re a certified Lovable Solutions Partner. That means we build websites you can update with a simple prompt, and the internal tools a team runs on every day. The tools have changed a lot since that bedroom in Nashville, but the vision hasn’t. We still want to build things that make a positive impact in people’s lives.

Steve Jobs once stood on a stage and declared, “Today Apple is going to reinvent the phone.” Reinventing isn’t something you do once. You keep doing it, and this is us doing it all over again.

For more than 20 years, I’ve had the chance to help Purpose Driven men launch, grow and scale their businesses. Soulheart is one of the ways I get to keep doing that.

Your next chapter

I challenge you to listen to your heart. Follow your dream. Pursue your passions. Don’t wait until a time in the future when everything fits perfectly into your life plans. We aren’t guaranteed tomorrow, and the one thing we can control is what we’re doing right now.

If you’re on your own long road of building something, know that I’m with you, I’m for you, and I believe in you.

And the best is yet to come!