I know it may seem unusual to start a business on leap day.  I mean…when exactly do you celebrate your business anniversary each year? And who in their right mind would want to start a business where you can be in operation for 20 years and still only be 5 years old? 

I chose to start my business on leap day for three primary reasons.  

Reason #1:   It’s the Best Tribute to My Dad I Could Think Of

Two years ago, my dad passed away unexpectedly.  He was my biggest cheerleader and taught me from an early age to bet on myself.  From him, I learned to try tough things because in the mistakes and failures, we learn and grow the most.  When I was disappointed with my performance or when I felt like I let myself (or others) down, he’d show me kindness and empathy and remind me that as long as I tried my best, that was plenty good.  His faith and pride in me burned like a fire and ignited the ambition that I still hold today.  So I wanted to pay tribute to the person who gave me the confidence and courage to venture into the world and make my life my own.  I can’t think of a better gift than to honor my dad by starting my business on the day that represents his lucky number - 29. February became the obvious month of choice because it’s the month of love - the month we celebrate the most important people in our lives. 

And there you have it…my launch date of 2/29. 

Reason #2:  Leap Day Adjusts for Imperfection and it Keeps Us in Sync

Are you familiar with the reason we have leap day in the first place?  If not, check out this article which explains the science and math behind leap day and the Gregorian calendar.  To summarize, it takes Earth 365.24 days to orbit the sun.  If every year was only 365 days, over time, the extra .24 day would add up and we’d fall out of sync with the orbit.  That means summer would become winter and vice versa and pretty much everything as we know it would go sideways. So we experience leap day every four years in order to keep our seasons of change in balance and in sync with our Gregorian calendar.

Since Willown is a company that teaches project management skills to help you manage personal change, I felt it appropriate (and a bit poetic) to launch the business on leap day.  Change - especially personal change - is imperfect and messy - just like the earth’s orbit.  Change leaves us with “leftovers” and “remainders” that can cause us to feel out of order.  And in recent years, it seems like we’re having to manage more and more personal change - one change initiative right after another or multiple change projects at the same time.  Change has become pervasive in our lives.  So over time, those “leftovers” and “remainders” of the change process…well…they add up and cause us to feel misaligned.  We may feel like our resilience is tested over time.  We may feel like what we thought a particular season of our life should look like is not what it turns out to be. Simply put, change creates disorder and disruption in our lives, which can make us feel out of sync if we don’t manage it and adjust for it - just like we do with leap day.  

We don’t often think about using project management skills to manage personal change…but we should.  It can make the change process easier and smoother.   It can help us mitigate and adjust for the imperfection of the process, so that we remain balanced and in sync.  And it can help us avoid feeling misaligned (with our priorities and goals) over the long term.  Project management as a tool for change management is just like leap day as a tool to manage the Gregorian calendar - both keep things from going sideways.

Reason #3:  It Celebrates My Word of the Year

For the past couple of years, I have skipped creating new year’s resolutions and instead I have picked one word, which I use to guide my decisions and actions throughout the year.  It’s a word that symbolizes my goals, intentions and planned adventures for the year.  It’s a word that motivates me to stay focused on what matters to me the most, especially when things get tough.  

In 2022, I began the year expecting to launch my business.  So I chose the word “genesis.”  According to the dictionary, it’s the “origin, creation or beginning of something.”  I like to think of it as a “coming into being.”  The word seemed to fit me and my situation nicely.  Not only was it my intention to bring my business into being, so too was I bringing my role as a solopreneur into being.   10 years prior, I graduated with my Master of Business Administration because there was something inside of me that wanted to become an entrepreneur.  But here I was in my 40s…and I still hadn’t made that happen.  So “genesis” felt right.  I was finally coming into my own.

Funny thing is…life has a way of derailing your plans as soon as you make them known to others. On January 10th, I told my husband that I was moving forward with launching my business…and then by the end of the month, my father passed. I took 2 months off of work to help my mom transition.  Then I moved cross country to become a more regular caretaker for her.  As we transitioned into a life without my dad, I ended up pausing the development of my business to focus on putting family first.  Although I didn’t launch my business, looking back on the year, it was still one filled with genesis. I came into being a caretaker. 

In January 2023, my mom’s health required her to start dialysis.  This transition demanded a lot of my time and energy to coordinate yet another transition for our family.  In addition, I was working a full-time job, which was picking up in workload.  And…the itch to start my business returned.  I was ready to recommit to making my vision happen.  

There were so many words I contemplated choosing:

• Balance - I was experiencing so many competing priorities and commitments, the need to find and maintain balance would be key to my success.
• Discipline - In order to find that balance, I would need to focus on discipline.  I would need to be disciplined in maintaining boundaries.  I would need to be disciplined in doing a little something every day to build my business, so that I could progress forward.
• Healing - The year prior I experienced a lot of loss.  I lost my dad.  I lost progress in building my business.  I lost a certain level of freedom when I became caretaker.  Healing seemed like a good word.
• Compassion - In order to heal, I would need to extend myself a tremendous amount of compassion.  I would need to let go of whatever was preventing me from healing.  

I ultimately chose “sustainability.”  It’s defined as the following:

• Avoidance of depletion of resources.  
• The ability to be maintained at a certain rate or level.  
• To coexist over a long time.  
• The capacity to maintain or improve the state and availability of desirable materials or conditions over the long term.  
• Meeting your own needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.  

This seemed to fit everything I was looking for.  Built into sustainability is the idea that by effectively managing current resources (my time and energy as examples), I could thrive both in the present and in the future.  This spoke to my need for balance and discipline.  I loved the idea of building “capacity to maintain or improve” my state.  This spoke to my need for healing.  And the idea of meeting my needs without compromising the needs of others - that’s compassion for myself and others.   It’s amazing to think how much power one word can hold.  

So what’s my word for 2024?  

Well…recently I saw this quote, and it really resonated with me:

“We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal, and then leap in the dark to our success.”  Henry David Thoreau

The word that really leapt off the page was “leap.”  (Pardon the pun.)

To leap (verb):  

• to spring free from the ground
• to jump or spring a long way, to a great height or with great force. 
• to move forward significantly

Over the past two years, I’ve been walking steadily to my goal of launching my business.  But as Thoreau reminds me, it’s time to leap into the dark - into the unknown - if I want to discover success.  It’s time to challenge myself to reach new heights.  It’s time to “spring free” and let go of any worries, doubts or “what ifs” I’ve been holding on to.  And most importantly, it’s time to move forward, so that I can make a positive impact in the lives of others.  

So my word of the year is “LEAP” and that means that leap day is the only logical day to start my business. 

If my dad was here to leap with me, I know he’d be telling me how proud of me he is.  He’d remind me that although there will be a lot of unknowns - and I may get things wrong - those mistakes will be the most valuable lessons to be learned.  He’d remind me that as long as I do my best, the rest will sort itself out. He’d remind me that when I’ve bet on myself in the past, the payout has been well worth it. 

So here I go…I’m leaping into a new chapter of my life and professional career and I invite you to leap with me.  It should be an incredible adventure!