I Failed at Six Businesses Before I Found the One That Felt Like Me
Look, if you’re struggling with your business, I’ve been there. Deep in it. Crying-in-the-shower, refreshing-bank-account, Googling-“how-to-build-a-brand”-at-2-a.m. in it.
I resigned from teaching in 2021. By 2023, I had tried six — maybe more — business ideas.
Here are some of the names of businesses I started between 2021 and 2023:
Good Talk NLP
Good Thoughts NLP
Smokin’ Babes
The David Rice Method
Transformative Truths Tarot
Austin Tarot Therapy
You might be trying to guess what Smokin’ Babes was. It’s not what you think, so I’ll let you use your imagination. It’s way more fun.
Recently, I found an old journal entry from 2021. I’m not a daily journal person. I’m a “things are emotionally on fire, so let me write three pages” type of journaler.
One line said:
“I’ve had some success, but not a lot.”
At that point, I had already gone through four business ideas.
One of them — The David Rice Method — broke my heart a little. I partnered with a friend who is an incredible writer and teacher, and together we planned to sell his literacy method to school districts. We cared deeply about the work, but we weren’t good business partners. Thankfully, we stayed friends.
Another journal entry said:
“My insecurity comes from my online business groove. I keep changing my focus.”
At the time, I hired a business coach for $6,000. My goal was to create an online course focused on mindfulness and NLP.
And listen… I was nowhere near ready.
That coach should have recognized it instead of taking my money, but if I’m being fair, I also desperately wanted someone to hand me certainty. I thought the problem was a lack of focus.
It wasn’t.
I lacked clarity.
There’s a difference.
Focus is forcing yourself to stay on a path.Clarity is finally understanding which path is actually yours.
Another line from my journal:
“I’m not sure if this new idea will pan out, but I’m not going to beat myself up.”
At the time, my “new idea” was mentoring parents raising teens. I actually had clients. I did all the right things. But something felt off. Parents wanted help with grades and behavior charts when what their kids really needed was presence, connection, and emotional safety.
And then there was this line:
“I refuse to beat myself up for not being where I think I should be.”
That one still hits me.
Because I started this journey thinking I was going to make six figures. Maybe even seven.
Hey, they tell you to dream big, right?
But underneath that dream was exhaustion. Fear. Ego. A need to prove I hadn’t “wasted” my education or career.
One journal entry finally told the truth:
“I have to remember that I have one life and I love the life I’ve already built.”
That was the turning point.
Because eventually, I stopped asking:“What business will make me successful?”
And I started asking:“What work actually feels alive inside me?”
Here’s the wild part:
The entire time I was “figuring myself out,” I was already reading tarot on an app called Purple Ocean.
And you had to be GOOD.
People reviewed every single call. Clients paid by the minute — usually three to seven dollars a minute — so if you wanted strong reviews, you had to be quick, accurate, intuitive, grounded, and emotionally attuned fast.
That platform sharpened me.
I realized something obvious that I had been avoiding:
I loved reading tarot.
But I was terrified to call myself a tarot reader.
Not because I thought tarot was wrong.Because I was embarrassed.
I had spent years in the professional world. I was the first person in my family to graduate from college. My family was proud of me for becoming a teacher.
To walk away from all of that and become a tarot reader?
It felt foolish. Reckless. Almost humiliating.
But the moment I finally embraced it, everything changed.
Not overnight. Not magically. But deeply.
Once I stopped hiding.Once I stopped apologizing.Once I stopped trying to package myself into something that looked more acceptable…
Luck changed.
Energy changed.
I changed.
I started a business called Transformative Truths Tarot. It did okay, but I never fully loved the name.
Then I changed it to Austin Tarot Therapy.
And that changed everything.
I started Austin Tarot Therapy a little over three years ago. Today, I make more than I did as a teacher.
I’m not a millionaire. I’m not pulling in seven figures. I’m not standing in front of a rented Lamborghini telling you to “scale your soul-aligned funnel.”
But I’m happy.
I love my clients.I love the work.I love the strange, beautiful little life I’ve built.
And ironically, once I stopped obsessing over money, the money started coming.
Because people can feel authenticity.They can feel when someone is finally standing in their real work.
So if you’re on your entrepreneurial journey right now, here’s what I want you to remember:
Process over outcome.Every time.
Insistence creates resistance.Every time.
And most importantly:
Ask yourself:What does my soul want?
Not your brain. Your brain will try to keep you “safe” by talking you out of your dreams.
Not your heart. Your heart will sometimes cling to what it wants out of loneliness, fear, or desperation.
The only question to ask to ensure that you are on the right path is this:
What does your soul want?
Because when your work finally aligns with that answer, things begin to move.
Not always quickly.Not always perfectly.But truthfully.
And truthful work has a strange kind of magic.
