How to Find Your True Calling as an Entrepreneur Don't be afraid to move on in order to find your passion.
By Kelsey Humphreys •
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Rebecca Louise is a fitness entrepreneur and YouTuber who has amassed over 400,000 subscribers and 46 million views on her channel in less than three years. Her online empire includes nine team members, a fitness subscription service, her own app for iOS and Android, and multiple digital courses and products. She's also led a tour of live workshop events in Chicago, Anaheim, Nicaragua, Korea, Prague and more. Her tips have been featured in Cosmopolitan, Allure, Shape and Oxygen and Fox News. But, what I love about her story is the journey to get where she is today.
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If you know you're entrepreneurial and have tried multiple passions so far, read on to discover how Rebecca Louise finally found her calling (and massive success within that calling).
Be willing to let go of past endeavors.
After frustrating setbacks in her dancing and acting careers in England, Rebecca Louise decided to completely change gears and become a commercial pilot. Her pilot training is actually what brought her to the U.S. She completed all of the training and testing, investing months of her time and thousands of dollars, and then after all that, had the guts not to pursue an aviation career. Most of us feel that after we've invested our time and dollars, (I'm looking at you, college degrees) it's "too late" to back out. Have the courage to be honest with yourself or you'll just regret it later, she says.
"If you're doing something that you don't love, don't go, 'Well, I've invested all this time.' You're wasting more time by still doing it. So, light bulb moment, [I realized] I'm not going to waste another day doing something that I don't love. So for me, it was like great, I'm glad I found this out now instead of doing it for another five years."
Be willing to experiment.
Rebecca Louise stayed in California and began auditioning for anything and everything she could. The gig she landed that propelled her to where she is today was for something she didn't know or understand -- YouTube.
"I didn't really know anything about YouTube. To be honest, I didn't even watch YouTube ... I just liked to go for auditions and castings and I just went for it."
She started as a host for a workout channel she didn't own (getting the required certification immediately after landing the job). She loved the work and jumped in wholeheartedly, however the brand wasn't interested in building a YouTube community. The channel shut down and she was forced to pivot to her own channel, but at that point she'd learned the platform and how to create engaging fitness videos.
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Be willing to go where the action is.
Yes, we live in a digital age that has made the world much smaller, but many of my guests have talked about the importance of location. When you start to figure out what you want to try next, give yourself a fighting chance by joining a "scene" or moving to a city where your ideas and interests can thrive. For the health industry and YouTube, staying in Los Angeles was the right move for Rebecca Louise.
Be mindful of your interests and instincts.
When you think back to her childhood, it makes total sense that she ended up as a fitness YouTuber. She was interested in dancing (entertainment, pressure to perform) and sports (fitness, being active). Also, after meeting her I can tell you she may in fact be the Energizer bunny. She followed her energy and creativity to a field where she would naturally thrive.
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Be willing to put in the hours.
Even if you're functioning in your strengths, you can't get around the hours -- Malcolm Gladwell would say 10,000 of them -- it takes to become an expert and start gaining serious momentum. Rebecca Louise explained that she is always hustling to build the brand and respond to customers -- and she's always growing.
"I feel like from the moment I wake up in the morning, I'm on my phone. I work weekends. I work when needed during the night ... you're always learning something."
This is especially true if you're building something of your own from the ground up. She felt the sting going from an established YouTube channel to her own. It can be tempting to set up multiple affiliate partnerships and short-term projects, but she advises to stay focused on your long-term vision for yourself.
"It's a lot more work writing your own blogs, creating your own merchandise, running your own retreats and creating your programs. I want to create a brand," Rebecca Louise says.
She does have a partnership as a distributor for HerbaLife Nutrition, which is one of her varied income streams. But, she says this makes sense as a natural, long-term extension of her heath and wellness brand.
"You always want to think about what the bigger picture is," she advised.
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Be yourself in all your endeavors.
While it's natural and sometimes necessary to try different paths and projects, stay true to yourself, your personality and your strengths. Online entrepreneurship is all the rage, but you may be a true extrovert who needs to be in an office with people every day. Becoming an influencer may seem like what you want, but if you can't imagine, write, film, create and edit content -- and lots of it -- day after day, that probably isn't the path for you.
"You've got to be you," Rebecca Louise says. "People are going to follow you just because of who you are. And I think that there's so many other people being successful, I think it just validates even more that you can be successful as well."
Be persistent in your search.
One thing I admire about Rebecca Louise is her self-awareness and determination to find -- and stick with -- something she truly loved.
"I don't like someone else being in charge of when I'm going to get paid, or when I can fly to England to be with my family. I want to be solely in control." But, after leaving an expensive investment in aviation and starting her first YouTube job, she was only paid about $40 an episode. She stuck with it, learned the ropes and eventually took those skills to build her own giant media business.
"I don't do things for the money. It's just for the excitement and the passion, and if you do something you love, you'll never have to work another day in your life."
Learn more success lessons from Rebecca Louise about YouTube, motivation, persistence and more by watching the full interview on Humphreys's YouTube channel.
