Nicole Com­mis­siong

There comes a sea­son in many women’s lives when they ask them­selves, “What am I meant to build next?”

For some, that an­swer is en­tre­pre­neur­ship.

Af­ter years of strate­gi­cal­ly build­ing ca­reers, as­tute­ly lead­ing teams, lov­ing­ly rais­ing fam­i­lies, and tire­less­ly serv­ing our com­mu­ni­ties, many women dis­cov­er they have ideas, tal­ents, and ex­pe­ri­ences that de­serve a life be­yond the walls of a tra­di­tion­al work­place. Yet, one of the biggest mis­con­cep­tions about en­tre­pre­neur­ship is that suc­cess re­quires an im­me­di­ate leap of faith.

In re­al­i­ty, I’ve learned that the best tran­si­tions are of­ten the most in­ten­tion­al ones.

Liv­ing well on pur­pose means un­der­stand­ing that en­tre­pre­neur­ship is about cre­at­ing op­tions. Be­fore mak­ing a move, take in­ven­to­ry of what you al­ready have. Your pro­fes­sion­al ex­pe­ri­ence, net­work, rep­u­ta­tion, and skills are all as­sets. They are the foun­da­tion of your next chap­ter.

Be­gin by ask­ing a few prac­ti­cal ques­tions. What prob­lem can I solve? Who would ben­e­fit from my ex­per­tise? What am I al­ready do­ing that peo­ple con­sis­tent­ly seek my ad­vice or help for? Of­ten, the seeds of a busi­ness are al­ready present in the work we’ve been do­ing for years.

Equal­ly im­por­tant is prepar­ing fi­nan­cial­ly. En­tre­pre­neur­ship can be deeply re­ward­ing, but un­cer­tain­ty is ab­solute­ly part of the jour­ney. Build­ing sav­ings, re­duc­ing un­nec­es­sary debt, and cre­at­ing a re­al­is­tic game plan can trans­form anx­i­ety in­to con­fi­dence. Pur­pose and prepa­ra­tion make a pow­er­ful part­ner­ship.

An­oth­er best prac­tice is to “start be­fore you start”. Test your idea. Of­fer your ser­vice to a small au­di­ence. Cre­ate a prod­uct. Build re­la­tion­ships. Learn what works and what doesn’t while you still have the sta­bil­i­ty of your cur­rent role. A bridge is stronger long-term when it is built be­fore you need to cross it.

Per­haps the most im­por­tant in­vest­ment, how­ev­er, is com­mu­ni­ty. Find men­tors. Con­nect with oth­er women en­tre­pre­neurs. Seek hon­est feed­back and learn from those who have nav­i­gat­ed the path ahead of you. En­tre­pre­neur­ship can feel lone­ly - but it doesn’t have to be.

I al­so en­cour­age women to let go of the idea of per­fec­tion. The first ver­sion of your busi­ness may not look like the vi­sion you have in your mind - and that’s okay. Growth of­ten comes through re­fine­ment, not flaw­less ex­e­cu­tion.

Fi­nal­ly, re­mem­ber that suc­cess should be de­fined by your val­ues, not some­one else’s so­cial me­dia high­light reel. A pur­pose­ful busi­ness should sup­port the life you want to live, not con­sume it. Free­dom, flex­i­bil­i­ty, fi­nan­cial se­cu­ri­ty, im­pact, and joy all have a place in this equa­tion.

The tran­si­tion from em­ploy­ee to en­tre­pre­neur is an act of courage and stew­ard­ship. It is choos­ing to trust that the wis­dom you’ve gained through every sea­son of your life has pre­pared you for what comes next.

You don’t have to burn the bridge be­hind you to build the fu­ture ahead of you.

Some­times, liv­ing well on pur­pose means build­ing that bridge with care, cross­ing it with con­fi­dence, and invit­ing oth­ers to fol­low.

Got a ques­tion for Nicole? Please email: liv­ing­wellon­pur­pose2026@gmail.com.