6 Months in Hospital: Here's What I've Learnt

I've spent most of this year in hospital. 

Nope, not for me. 

For my partner. 

You see, he had a liver transplant in May and it hit me like a ton of bricks.

I'm a pretty planned and organised person.  

But liver transplants wait for no one and when a healthy organ is available, you take it. 

So overnight I found myself becoming a full-time carer and support person for my partner as he went through one of the most major events of his life (and mine!).

There was the transplant itself.

Followed by days spent in the ICU. 

Followed by weeks spent on the ward. 

Followed by months of return and repeat visits and stays at the hospital. 

Copious updates to family and friends, 4-hour long discharges waiting for prescriptions, and the constant threat of COVID rampant through the hallways and the rooms. 

The last 6 months has felt like 6 years and I swear I reckon I've aged at least as much haha. 

And in truth, it hasn't even been 6 months.  

It's only been 5 - but time seems to accelerate when there's so much happening to take care of and keep track of. 

The thing I'm most grateful for

But there was one thing I was grateful for: my business. 

I only moved to my business full-time in July 2021 and at that time, my partner and I knew a liver transplant was possible down the track but didn't think it would happen any time soon because my partner wasn't even on the transplant list yet. 

We had spoken previously, while I was still contracting in Change Management and working full-time, about what I'd do to support him through the procedure and recovery, and we agreed that I would take 6 months off. 

But the funny thing is, because I had moved to my business by the time the transplant came around, I didn't have to!

I work freely and flexibly to my own schedule, so I was able to keep serving my Leading Successful Change students, working with my consulting clients, and writing for you. 

I could totally have taken the last 6 months off, but I actually love what I do and it fuels me and feeds me, which was often a welcome diversion when my brain couldn't cope with more hospital talk.

Moving to my business full-time at the time that I did ended up being one of the best decisions I ever made.

• I didn't have to leave employment, terminate a contract early, or take unpaid leave. 
• I didn't have to explain to an employer, or shuffle about a ton of meetings, or worry about not being on site for a project launch. 
• I could keep my own hours and time, pre-plan any commitments, and be there as needed for my partner.

I feel both proud and privileged to have been able to do this. 

But I never wanted my own business!

But I'll tell  you one thing - if you'd asked me 7 years ago in 2015 if I wanted to have my own business I'd have laughed at you and declared vehemently: "No!"

I never had that urge to work for myself, to "be my own boss", to make my own way and I scoffed at the people who did.  

Back then I dreamed of climbing the corporate ladder, of becoming a world-class leader, of earning a bombshell salary, and heading up a massive team of 200+ people.

Prestige and power mattered more than flexibility and freedom for 2015 Lata. 

In fact, when I bought a package of courses so I could learn Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and Coaching to be more effective in the workplace, it came with a business course that I actually couldn't be bothered doing because I didn't want to be an "entrepreneur".

I went along and listened but my heart wasn't in it and it probably explains why my business kind of just ticked along in a low-key way for five years!

The journey to actually wanting (and being ready) to move to my business full-time happened slowly and organically. 

How I migrated to my business full-time  

It probably started with COVID, and the sheer shattering of everything we knew and believed about how we work. 

At the same time, I was about to give my business up and made one last attempt at changing my business approach and strategy by joining Jeff Walker's Product Launch Formula.

Then, after a successful pilot of my Leading Successful Change program which brought together everything I'd ever knew, learned and loved, reaching the end of a Change contract, and having a bank account full of savings because we went absolutely nowhere during COVID, I wondered whether I should give my business a real shot and move to it full-time? 

My partner was actually the one who convinced me to take the chance - suggesting that if I was ever going to give it a real try, now would be the time to do it. 

And so I did. 

It started with my online course 

I built my course, Leading Successful Change, which has helped soooo many incredible women find the confidence to carve their own paths for change in their career, leadership and life. 

I feel so honoured to be helping more women step in and step up in the highly-paid, female-dominated world of Change Management and transform the way we do change in organisations.

Ironically, I had been talking about it and speaking about it and writing about it for ages but I hadn't actually ever thought of building my business around something I was so passionate about.

Without knowing the power of my course product from my pilot, I'd likely never have moved to my business full-time.

And I definitely wouldn't have been able to spend the last 6 months flowing and growing, and avoiding being forced to put everything on pause when life happens. 

Because life will happen.

And when it does, my greatest wish for you is that you have the flexibility and the freedom built into the way you work to be there for the people you love, and keep filling your cup with what fuels and feeds you.

You don't have to be like me and have your own business ... but I know from experience that the earlier you learn the seeds to lay, the easier it is when you do want to follow your passion or your calling or your path - whatever that is for you.

I'm glad I get to share mine with you.

And my partner, too, of course! :)

All my belief,

Lata xx

P.S. Jeff Walker's free Launch Masterclass steps through how to create a product, service, course or book from scratch and build a business you love that truly has impact. All the live lessons of Jeff Walker's free Launch Masterclass are now over, but if you hurry you can catch the replays here. Or you can check out his advanced program, Product Launch Formula, here (a.k.a. how I built my own course and moved to my business full-time) which is open just this week to new students.

I am a proud affiliate partner of Jeff Walker and Product Launch Formula and I may receive a commission, at no extra cost to you, if you decide to join Jeff's training program.