Introduction
One lonesome New Year's eve, while holding a shotgun and standing "sniper watch" on board USS CARTER HALL, Lizzeth realized that she needed to figure out what to do with her life before being consumed by the agony of following nonsense orders day and day out. While watching the distant fireworks and a slew of passersby rejoicing, she realized how miserable she felt being all alone and without the freedom to speak her mind.
Background
After bouncing back and forth from job to job, Lizzeth was not really sure what it was she was called to do in life. First, she worked out in the field detasseling ear after ear of corn. With bruised hands, she pondered that perhaps this was the type of job she was meant to do; after all, this is what her Mexican counterparts did for a living after coming to this country. She quickly dismissed those thoughts, well aware that her aspirations were far greater than being a field worker. After that she tried working at a cleaning service company, once again thinking that perhaps this was what was expected of her. Just like before, this job was minuscule in comparison with her ambitions. She soon realized that her very classmates from high school were working at the factory she was cleaning every night.
"How did they get ahead of me?" she thought. "If they can do it so can I. I don't have to be scrubbing toilets!" She filled out an application at the factory that very day and got hired in an instant. This time it took her two months to realize that she was too good to be doing this. Her journey continued as she attempted to be a waitress thinking her polite and beautiful smile would make insensitive customers leave her a good tip after having to hear their numerous complains. Lizzeth soon realized that being in the front-line was not her thing either. She was too ambitious for that as well.
She thought that maybe following her mother's footsteps was the answer to her question. She enrolled in a beauty school to be a cosmetologist. For the fifth time, she realized this was not the job for her. She didn't know if what she hated most was washing people's hair or smelling people's feet when giving a pedicure. Lizzeth was too ambitious for all of this! So her journey continued taking cooking classes in high school, trying different jobs including the military to see if her disciplined, determined personally meant she was supposed to be giving orders as a drill sergeant.
Suddenly, the most amazing thing happened! After trying different jobs and changing concentrations in college she realized that an entrepreneurial spirit was waiting to be awoken inside her. Indeed, she now realized she had had it since she was eight-years old!
The memory evoked went back to when at eight-years of age she was running her very own business. Back in her country, when she lived with her grandmother, Lizzeth realized there were many children who lived in her block who loved candies but only one candy shop on the corner to cater to them. So she ventured out and set up a table in front of her house and bought huge bags of different candy to sell, mostly to children. She "hired" her cousins to go out and tell other children she was selling candy. Everyday after getting home from school she would set up her table and sell candy to her eagerly awaiting customers. This anecdote made her realize that what she was looking for all along was right inside of her, she just had to find her passion and begin her business.
Unfortunately, for Lizzeth, she had to learn through personal experiences the value of never settling for the minimum. She acknowledges now that a good mentor during her teenage years would have helped her understand that she did not have to be like anyone else just because that is what society expects. Sometimes humans create their own limitations on how far they can go because they choose to follow someone else's idea of what their future holds.
Professional Issue
Lizzeth has taken the necessary steps towards attaining her goal of one day owning her business. She went to school to finish her Bachelor's degree in Business Administration and now she is in her second semester at graduate school trying to obtain her Masters degree. The biggest challenge for Lizzeth now is trying to figure out what kind of business to start and how she should go about finding advice. What she needs is to start networking with other women who have started their own business and find a mentor who can help her find her true passion in business. Lizzeth is currently standing right in front of the action-stage of attaining her goal.
Personal Issue
Lizzeth does not want to limit herself to being solely focused in her professional and academic life as she also wants to be able to grow in her personal life; not having to sacrifice one for the other. She is also married and currently five months pregnant. She has met a few women who have had to sacrifice their personal life; that is, postpone being a mother, in order to get ahead in their professional careers. She refuses to follow in their footsteps as she believes balancing ones personal and professional life will help her succeed in other areas.
Lizzeth's husband is very supportive in her academic and professional growth. So much so that he asked her to stay in school full-time and not work so that she can concentrate in her studies. Now with the baby coming she knows that she is going to have to take on a lighter school load so that she can take care of the baby in the mornings. Her husband will watch the baby at night while she attends school. Postponing school is not a choice for her; she believes once a mother decides to postpone school until a later time will make it harder for her to go back and finish her degree.
Lizzeth and her husband would like to start a business together. They both have business ideas developed but she seems to hesitate because she wants to make sure that the timing is right. Should she start right now while she's about to become a mother and halfway towards obtaining her degree? Or should she wait until she is done with her academic life so she can embark in her business with her husband?
How can Lizzeth find other women who she can relate to and whose ambitions are similar to hers? Is she realistic about her goals, about wanting to be a wife, a mother, and a business entrepreneur? Does she have to sacrifice one for the other? What should her next step be?