It Starts When It Gets Hard: 7 Years of Building a Community With Purpose

It Starts When It Gets Hard

The beginning always feels good.

There’s energy.
Momentum.
Excitement.

You start something new & think… this is going to work.

But here’s the truth I’ve learned after 7 years of building Work On Purpose With Purpose:

It doesn’t matter how good it feels in the beginning.

What matters is who you are when it stops feeling good.

Seven years ago, I started this community with a vision.

I wanted to create a space where women could show up fully
unapologetic, expressive, curious, bold.

A place where they could lean into who they are…
even when it felt uncomfortable.
Even when they were afraid.

What I didn’t fully understand yet…

Was that I would be asked to become that woman myself.

There were moments I doubted.

Moments I took off-ramps.
Moments I softened my truth.
Moments I questioned if I was doing enough… or if I was doing it right.

& then life got real.

About 2.5 years in, my dad passed away from stage 4 pancreatic cancer.

& something shifted in me.

Not on the surface… but deep within.

I understood in a new way that this work mattered.

That having a space where women feel seen, heard, & celebrated in their progress…
wasn’t just “nice to have.”

It was necessary.

Because life is unpredictable.

& we don’t get to wait to live with purpose.

We choose it...every day.

Around that same time, my business partner & I...who had become best friends...were both navigating deep personal loss.

We had built something together that felt aligned, exciting, supportive.

Good.

But we hadn’t planned for the hard.

We hadn’t planned for the “even if.”

Even if life gets heavy.
Even if things don’t go as planned.
Even if it doesn’t grow the way we imagined.

So we learned.

& we made the decision to gracefully & gratefully dissolve our partnership.

I took full ownership of the community.

& I won’t sugarcoat it…

That wasn’t easy.

There was a season where things got quiet.

Where I felt unsure.
Where I questioned if I was doing enough.
Where I felt embarrassed… & even guilty.

The work had doubled.
Then tripled when I stepped into another leadership role supporting women in a different company.

& I didn’t know how to hold it all.

So I got still.

I got quiet.

& for the past few years, I’ve been in a deep process of refining…

Not my strategy.

But my identity.

Because here’s what I know now that I didn’t know then:

You don’t build something that lasts from strategy.
You build it from identity.

If I’m honest…

Today doesn’t feel like the real celebration.

It feels like I’m about 3.5 years into the version of this journey that truly counts for MY personal growth as a leader.

Because the real start?

Wasn’t when I launched.

It was when it got hard.

It starts when it starts to hurt!

Because what you do when it hurts matters more than what you did when it felt good.

Who you are when it gets hard…
That’s what defines everything.

There was a moment I could have quit.

When loss was heavy.
When leadership felt overwhelming.
When I didn’t have clarity.

But I made a decision a long time ago.

Before I ever started this community.

I decided who I was going to be.

& I committed to her…

Even when it got hard.

So now?

I don’t build from strategy.

I build from identity!

EVEN WHEN I feel weak… & I identify as strong!
EVEN WHEN I feel unsure… & I identify as faithful!

So I move anyway!!!
I stay anyway.
I lead anyway.

“Lead from my identity” has become my standard.

& it’s not just a phrase.

It’s a way of living.

It looks like:
• doing the actions consistently
• showing up even when I don’t feel like it
• choosing alignment over approval
• allowing what comes to be… without apologizing

Seven years later…

I don’t want a do-over.

I don’t want it to have been easier.

I’m grateful for:
• the silence
• the uncertainty
• the evolution
• the women who stayed
• the women who came & went
• & the version of me who kept going

Because this community…

Was never just about building something for others.

It was built to shape me.

To grow me.

To stretch me into the leader I am becoming.

& now, going into Year 8…

I feel something different.

A renewal.

A clarity.

A deeper understanding that this next season isn’t about doing more.

It’s about being more of who I already am.

So I’ll leave you with this:

When it gets hard…

Who are you?

Not who do you hope to be someday.

But who are you choosing to be right now?

Because that answer…

is everything.

If you’re a woman who is ready to:
✨ stop shrinking when things get hard
✨ build self-trust through action
✨ & grow in a space that supports who you’re becoming

The On Purpose community is here for you.

You don’t have to do this alone.