Once again tonight I ruminate on the topic of what exactly I could do with myself when I have an MBA (and my favorite classes in college were art history, global business, and project management), an independent and entrepreneurial mindset…and a CV that consists of managing my own investments and (very) part-time dance instruction. Interesting, yes, potentially even to a startup company of some sort, but what sort of a venture could I start all on my own?
Well, my own dance studio-cum-event center would be the most obvious choice, especially since the closest thing to a role model I have among the locals in my area is a lifelong business owner who has an event center business (which she also uses as a dance studio). But that’s a big investment to make; do I really have the connections needed to make that work? Or after I move to California will making connections be a lot easier than they are for me today and I won’t have a problem?
Anyway, I’ve long entertained the thought of trying out being a real estate agent, and adjacent to real estate is a rather more creative field, one my mind wanders to time and again, including once in a post I published on here all the way back in February of 2022: being an interior decorator. I’ve gone to the mall a bit more frequently than I have been, and any time I do my mind goes alight with possibilities for what I could do with decorating, arranging, choosing the colors and textures, etc. of these interior spaces.
I know I hide it well on here, but (as eagle-eyed Twitter followers might have observed in my interactions with J. Sanilac) I’ve got a real flair for it and I’d be good at it; where I live now there’s very little market for interior decorating services in general, let alone the more artsy and forward style that I’d be interested in cultivating, but west of the 101? Ha! As if one even needs to ask the question: if there isn’t a market for interior decorating in the land of HGTV, then pray tell where is one?
My biggest barrier to anything so far, including my dance instruction business, has been an aversion to self-promote, especially online by making content showing myself and my skills off…largely because I’m about in the state Zao was in in “Die Another Day”: only halfway finished through a glow-up, with the intermediate result not looking that great. The finished result, however? It will be that great! I’ll be spruced up in full by the end of the year, or at least about as spruced up as I’m ever going to get.
Well…until I get my skin tanned up, platinum-blonde my hair, get vivid green cosmetic contact lenses, and start taking anabolic steroids, but for various reasons I’m holding off on all that until later dates. I’ve been told my basic structure (barring strength and mass) is visually impressive and that I’d be a good coach, and I’m so drawn to acting, modeling, and the performing arts…the thought crosses my mind that I could become a fitness influencer of some sort. That might be one accessible pathway for me, especially since I’m starting from zero at age 30. I’d probably be good at it, and I have some relatively unique selling points I could bring to the table, not to mention various ancillary enterprises that could benefit from a synergistic effect.
Similar to how my mind in the mall wanders to interior design, my mind wanders whenever I browse Reddit or read up on any advice online to the idea of what sort of advice I’d give people in specific situations to improve their lives; do this, do that…really, I should try to become one of those life coaches. I’d be good at that too; not just good at it, but offering a really different perspective from the mainstream. Potentially a valuable selling point?
There’s photography and videography too, which I have a knack for…and that ties in well to the whole dancer/fitness influencer showoff thing, not to mention marketing for these various enterprises. All my interests seem so disconnected, yet I feel so deeply there must be ways to tie them all together into something coherent. Certainly having a dance studio might give me a chance to show off my interior design acumen (heck, I could even turn it into a bit of an art gallery, scratching my art itch), and at least dance instruction, fitness coaching, and life coaching sort of blend together. Even the baby could easily fit into it all; just make it a family business and involve her with it all from the ground-up.
I don’t know. I’m just spitballing here, really, but my intuition tells me that the best thing to do might be to yes, explore the startup scene and try to get jobs if at all possible, but also try to start ventures in whatever I’m interested in so I can work independently. The idea of starting a business fills me with more calm and joy than the idea of trying to find a job anyway, perhaps because it’s something I can control, rather than groping around in the dark hoping some other person will offer me some opportunity like a job search is. Basically everything I want to do is much more of a thing in California than it is where I live now anyway, so what have I got to lose? Once I’m in an ideal location and have completed my glow-up, I suspect my current psychological blocks will melt away…