This week marks the six-year anniversary of Vitale & Company. 

And here’s something you may not know about me. I never thought I’d be an entrepreneur. Owning a business was never part of my plan. 

My mother owned a business when I was growing up, and I remember spending afternoons at her office after school asking her when we could go home. It seemed like she was always working. And while I admired what she had built, I figured I’d never follow in her footsteps. 

Well, here we are. I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. 

I’ve always been a dreamer. I’ve always had big ideas, loved taking risks, and believed I could make a difference in the world. But I assumed I’d do those things working for someone else. 

And now, six years later, I’m building a company that I never could have imagined when I first started. 

I can also tell you that entrepreneurship has been one of the greatest personal development journeys of my life. I’ve learned plenty about business, but I’ve learned even more about myself. I’ve had to look in the mirror more times than I can count, let go of some things I thought I knew, and grow in ways I didn’t expect. 

So in honor of six years, I thought I’d share some of the biggest lessons I’ve learned. And because I’ve never been particularly good at limiting my ideas, I’ve got seven.

1. Sometimes you have to let go of something you worked really hard to build.

Before Vitale & Company, I started a coaching business. I invested a lot of time and energy into it, and I was proud of what I had created. But eventually, I had to admit that it wasn’t what I wanted to do. 

I love coaching, and it’s still an important part of our work today. But I missed working with organizations. I missed the complexity of corporate environments, the strategy, the challenges, and the opportunity to help create change on a much bigger scale. 

Making that pivot was hard. Really hard. It required a lot of ego death because I had to admit that something I’d worked so hard to create wasn’t the right fit for me. 

And I had to be okay with that. 

Looking back, I’m so grateful I gave myself permission to change direction. I think we sometimes hold on to things because of how much we’ve invested in them, even when we know they’re no longer right for us. 

I’ve learned that changing your mind doesn’t mean you made a mistake. Sometimes it means you’ve learned enough to know what you really want.

2. You can love what you do and still question whether you’re meant to do it.

I’ve had a lot of self-doubt this year. More than I expected, honestly. 

I’ve questioned decisions I’ve made, whether I’m doing the right things, and even whether I’m meant to be doing this at all. 

And it’s strange because I can look at what we’ve accomplished and recognize that we’re doing really meaningful work. I can be incredibly proud of our growth and excited about what’s ahead. And still have moments when I question myself. 

I think we sometimes assume that confidence comes with success or experience. That at some point, we’ll reach a place where we just know what we’re doing and stop questioning ourselves. 

That hasn’t been my experience. 

What I have learned is that I can question myself without allowing those questions to make my decisions for me. I can be uncertain and still move forward. And I can trust myself to figure things out, even when I don’t have all the answers.

3. You can love your work and your family and still feel like you’re never doing enough.

This has been one of the hardest parts for me. 

I love what I do. I love traveling, speaking, working with clients, and building something I believe in. And I love being a mom. 

But sometimes those things are really hard to reconcile. 

When I’m traveling, I miss my kids. When I’m home, I sometimes find myself thinking about everything that needs to get done at work. And there are days when I feel like I’m not doing enough for anyone. My family, my team, my clients, or myself. 

I’ve carried a lot of guilt about that. And I’ve had to come to terms with the fact that I simply cannot be everything to everyone. 

It’s actually changed the way I think about the whole concept of work-life balance. I don’t believe in balance. I believe in presence. 

For me, it’s about work-life presence. Being intentional about where I spend my time and making sure my calendar reflects what I say matters most to me. That means scheduling time around my values, being more thoughtful about how much I travel, and protecting the time I have with my family when I’m home. 

It also means recognizing that I can be fully committed to building this business without being available to everyone all the time. 

I’m still figuring this out. I still have moments of guilt, and there are plenty of days when I don’t get it right. 

But I’ve learned that I don’t need to be everywhere. I need to be where my feet are.

4. Building a team is one of the greatest privileges and responsibilities of entrepreneurship.

When I started my business, it was just me. I was making the decisions, doing the work, and figuring things out as I went. 

And while I always knew I wanted to grow, I don’t think I fully appreciated how much building a team would change my perspective on what it means to own a business. 

Today, we’re growing our team, expanding our bench of consultants, and creating opportunities for people to do meaningful work with organizations across the country. 

And I absolutely love that part of entrepreneurship. 

I love bringing talented people together. I love seeing people use their strengths, take ownership of their work, and grow into opportunities they may not have imagined for themselves. I love that we’re building something that is bigger than any one of us. 

But there’s another side to it, too. 

When you hire someone, you’re not just filling a position. You’re making a commitment to another human being. Someone who has goals, a family, financial responsibilities, and a future they’re working toward. 

And suddenly, the decisions you make as a business owner aren’t just about you anymore. 

There’s a responsibility to build a company that is financially healthy, where people feel valued, where they have opportunities to grow, and where the work we’re doing actually means something. 

I’ve learned that building a great company isn’t just about what we accomplish. It’s also about the experience of the people who help us accomplish it. 

And the more we grow, the more seriously I take that responsibility.

5. Building a business will force you to look in the mirror. A lot.

I’ve always believed that how we lead others is a reflection of how we lead ourselves. And entrepreneurship has reinforced that belief more than just about anything else I’ve experienced. 

The energy you bring into your business affects the energy of your business. Your fears, your habits, your decisions, your confidence, your ability to handle uncertainty. All of it shows up. 

And when you’re the one leading the company, you don’t get to ignore that. 

I’ve had to have some really hard conversations with myself over the past six years. I’ve had to recognize when my ego was getting in the way, when I was holding on too tightly, when I needed to ask for help, and when I was the one who needed to change. 

I’ve also had to recognize that the skills and mindset that helped me build the business in the beginning aren’t necessarily the ones I need to lead it into the future. 

Every new stage of growth has required a different version of me. 

And sometimes that growth has been uncomfortable. Sometimes it’s been downright painful. 

But I’m grateful for it because I know I’m a better leader and a better person because of the work I’ve had to do on myself.

6. Your definition of success can change. And that’s a good thing.

This one has been a big one for me. 

When I first started my business, so much of it was about winning. Getting the client. Landing the keynote. Receiving great feedback. Hitting the revenue goal. 

And if I’m being really vulnerable, a lot of my self-worth was tied to those things. 

If a client hired me, I felt worthy. If I got incredible feedback after a keynote, I felt worthy. If the business was growing, I felt successful. 

And when those things didn’t happen? Well, you can probably imagine. 

I’ve spent years researching perfectionism and talking about the dangers of people-pleasing, external validation, and tying our worth to our accomplishments. And I’ve had to do a lot of that work myself. 

Interestingly, the risk-taking side of perfectionism has never been my struggle. I’ve always been willing to take calculated risks, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. 

But the need for external validation? That’s something I’ve had to work really hard to undo. 

Today, success looks very different to me. 

It’s about the team we’re building. It’s about creating opportunities and livelihoods for other people. It’s about the clients we serve and the meaningful change we’re helping organizations make. It’s about building something that can have an impact far beyond me. 

And I’ve learned that my worth isn’t determined by how much revenue this business generates, whether we win the next proposal, or what someone thinks of me after a keynote. 

Of course I want the business to grow. I have big goals, and I’m not apologizing for them. But the growth isn’t about proving my worth anymore. More revenue means we have the opportunity to serve more organizations, create more opportunities for our team, and make a bigger impact. 

That’s a very different reason to want to win. 

And I’m grateful for that shift.

7. You’re allowed to keep dreaming bigger.

I’ve always been a big dreamer. That’s never been my problem. 

When I started this journey six years ago, I had some pretty ambitious ideas about what I wanted to build. But if you had told me then what my vision for Vitale & Company would look like today, I’m not sure I would have believed you. 

Because somehow, the dream has gotten about ten times bigger. 

We’ve become much more intentional about the industries we serve and the expertise we want to be known for. We’ve expanded our capabilities, taken on bigger and more complex client engagements, and started building a team that can support a much larger vision. 

And here’s the part that makes me laugh a little. 

There was a time when I thought I’d build a company with a handful of really talented people doing great work together. 

Now? I’m thinking about what it would look like to have 100 consultants delivering our programs and helping organizations all over the world. 

And why not? 

We’re preparing to onboard new members of our consulting bench before the end of the year. We’re adding another team member in November, which I cannot wait to announce. And we’re building the infrastructure to support a company that’s very different from the one I started six years ago. 

I’m excited about all of it. 

And yes, I know that a bigger vision comes with bigger challenges, more responsibility, and a whole new set of things I’ll need to learn. But that’s part of what makes it exciting to me. 

I’ve always been willing to take calculated risks, and I hope I never lose that. I want to keep challenging what’s possible, pursuing ideas that excite me, and surrounding myself with people who want to do the same. 

Because ultimately, this isn’t about building a company with 100 consultants or hitting some enormous revenue goal. 

It’s about what becomes possible when we have 100 talented people helping leaders and organizations work differently. Think about the number of leaders we could develop, the cultures we could help transform, and the impact that could have on the people who work in those organizations. 

That’s what excites me. 

And six years in, I feel like we’re just getting started. 

Six years ago, I never imagined I’d be here. 

I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve built, and I’m grateful for the people who have been part of building it. Our clients, our team, our partners, the people who have believed in me, and my family, who have supported me through all the ups and downs. 

And I think about my mom and all those afternoons I spent at her office, wondering when we could go home. 

I understand so much more now about what it takes to build something of your own. The sacrifices, the responsibility, the uncertainty, and the incredible joy that comes from creating something you believe in. 

I also understand that entrepreneurship isn’t just about building a business. It’s about who you become in the process. 

And while I never thought I’d follow in my mom’s footsteps, I’m so grateful that I did. 

Happy six years to Vitale & Company. I can’t wait to see what we build next.