How One Leap Built My Business
Why the hardest step in in business is leaving the dock and how to get over it
I Sat on the Dock While Everyone Else Jumped
Teenagers rocket past me as I sit on the end of the dock, my toes drawing jittery circles on the surface of the glossy Canadian lake. They land in cannonballs while I’m having a full committee meeting in my head about whether or not now is the right time to jump in.
“Come in, Auntie Sonya! The water’s not too cold! It’s worth it!”
Wow, they’re brave. They just run, jump right in, and here I am, still on the dock.
I thought maybe I had already done the hardest part by putting on my bathing suit and grabbing my towel. But this feels harder.
I Used to Be First In
I wasn’t always the deliberating type. Younger me was famous for cliff-jumps for sport. To teenage Sonya, every surface was a platform for an Olympic-medal-worthy dive.
Then came a healthy prefrontal cortex, motherhood, and the big bummer reality checker that is adulting. Somewhere in my history, I learned the nasty habit of stalling.
Starting My Firm Was Harder Than A Cold Plunge
It’s not just water I’m scared to jump into. It’s also my business.
A friend told me this week that she admired me for running my law firm. I laughed. “Really? Running it is easy. Starting it was the hardest!”
When I first conceived the idea, I spent five months perfecting vision statements, researching competitor websites, and colour-coding spreadsheets: any work but the real thing.
I talked myself out of it because it didn’t look like anybody else’s business. Because I wasn’t ready. Because I was sure I was a fraud.
What it finally took was my first big investment:
Yes to the web domain.
Yes to a coaching group.
Yes to “I am a business owner.”
That shift from non-owner to owner was the hardest part. Once I did it, everything else? Cakewalk.
People say running a business is like chewing glass while staring into the abyss. I say starting one is rolling through the shards first, then cannonballing into a giant margarita.
The Question That Got Me Moving: Will I Regret Not Jumping in?
Back at the lake, I realized: sitting on the dock was the hardest part of getting in.
The committee in my brain finally concluded: The sun is high in the sky. I already have the suit on. The water won’t kill me.
But will I regret not jumping in?
Will I regret giving up my dream of swimming a mile across a perfectly flat lake on a perfect Canadian August day in 2025?
So I push myself off. Shove my head underwater. Kick my legs. And start swimming.
The water is surprisingly warm. My body is exhilarated. I’ve done the hard part. Now I need to keep kicking.
The Water Is Cold, But It’s Ready
If you’re thinking about starting a business, do it now.
Take it from someone who has plenty of businesses under her belt: you’re never going to have the perfect vision statement, or the perfect name, or the perfect ideal client mapped out.
Buy the domain anyway.
Pick the name—any name.
Reach out to five dream clients. You won’t know if they’re ideal clients until you work with them.
If you wake up one day with a dream to swim a kilometre in a lake, the only place you can do it is in the lake. Once you’re in, everything will flow.
The water is cold, but it’s ready. And so are you.
Need a Robot 🤖 to Push You in?
Use this prompt to get over the fear of starting your business:
You are a blunt, no-nonsense business strategist. A woman tells you she’s afraid to start her business. Says she’s not ready. You don’t comfort—just confront.
Your job:
Call out the cost of waiting: time lost, momentum wasted, opportunities missed.
Describe the regret she’ll feel in 1, 5, and 10 years if she stays stuck. Be concrete.
Give her one immediate action she can take in the next 10 minutes to shift from dreaming to doing.
Rules:
– No sugarcoating.
– No pep talks.
– Just facts and forward motion.
Ask 10 clarify yes/no questions before you begin.