If someone said to me 20 years ago that (in 22 years time) I’d be running my own Dog Grooming Salon from home & writing a blog, I would’ve looked at them like they’d lost their marbles.

My goal back then was to be married and to hold a high flying Personal Assistant position for some CEO in some big company. I got as far as being married and working as a Team Secretary for a bunch of Managers in the City for a Transport Company, not bad!

However, to this minute I remember walking to work from the train station one morning and thinking, ‘When is someone going to yell “CUT” and direct me to my REAL life?’ Back then, from the outside in, everything looked fine but on the inside my heart wasn’t singing. I was just going through the motions I thought you had to go through to be successful according to society’s standards.

‘Universal Shove’ – I liken it to, when you’re walking with someone and they kindly shove you in a different direction because unbeknown to you, you were about to walk into a tree, step in dog pooh, step in the path of a car etc.  At first, because you’re unaware of the ‘why’ of the shove, you protest and start to tell them off, but when you take in what could’ve been you’re extremely grateful, they directed your attention elsewhere. The universe does this to us all the time, at the time we may not be aware and start to protest but once we take a good look, we realise it was for the best.

This is where my first ‘universal shove’ came into play, about a month before I was made redundant from my 6 year job Team Secretary job, I came across an article about a Dog Grooming Franchise, I dismissed it thinking, ‘don’t be silly, but how cool to do that for a living?’. Even though I dismissed it, my attention had been caught, the seed had been planted and I now know I would never have left that job had I not been made redundant.

My world felt like it was in a washing machine for a while there but after an amicable divorce and having to find another ‘proper’ job so I could take on a mortgage, my next little ‘universal shove‘ thrust me towards University. I always wanted to study Psychology and English Literature so I combined the two and decided to do an Arts Degree majoring in both subjects, part-time.

Another ‘universal shove’ came when I was made redundant yet again after a 2 year job, I was so sick of just being a number, no matter how hard I worked in the end I was just a number.
For some reason, the Dog Grooming Franchise article found it’s way across my path again and this time I called to investigate, I had interviews with the owners, and decided to make the leap. I bought into the franchise and started without any customers, which meant building it from the ground up.  So I took on temp work through agencies and started building my business on weekends, then weekends turned into flowing over into the week days and before I knew it I was doing temp work for 3 days, my business for 3 days and Uni after work hours.

The next ‘universal shove’ came when my business was becoming so busy I was taken aside by a lovely lady at my temp job, who said how much she’d love me to stay but it was high time I made a decision as I couldn’t keep doing both. I was petrified in relying solely on my business to pay my mortgage and bills, but I made the leap and I can honestly say I didn’t look back. I was able to keep up with University because I was suddenly in control of the hours I worked, if I had to finish early one day to make it to uni, the next day I could book more in to make up for it. As scared as I was, I haven’t looked back since going solo and while it took me 8 years part-time I finally got my University Degree as well!!!!!

My latest ‘universal shove’ came last year when my 10 year franchise contract was ready for renewal, I’d already decided I didn’t want to renew with the company but wanted to continue along the same lines on my own. However, for legal reasons this wasn’t allowed so my whole business dynamic had to change. Again, it scared the bejeezus out of me, instead of being mobile and going to people’s places to groom their dogs, I now had to ask them to bring their dogs to me, so I could groom them from my Home Salon!!!!!!!!! Who was going to do that? I was so convenient before, I’d turn up to their place, take their dog into the trailer, groom them and hand them back a happy clean dog, no hassle or fuss on their part. To then ask them to come to me……..I envisioned my business going bust.

As I sit here today I can honestly say I am so grateful, because I have a steady stream of customers coming to me each day, when I question them they say, ‘It’s because of the person you are, and how you are with my dog, that’s why I’m more than happy to bring them to you’. Who am I to argue with that, it makes me extremely humble, and my heart is singing ever so brightly?

Have you had any ‘universal shoves’, can you look back throughout certain moments in your life and recognise them as ‘universal shoves‘? I’d love to hear about them.

Regards

Jxxoo

PS: I had another little ‘universal shove’ regarding this blog, I was following another lady Abbey Lawson from ‘Just a Girl and Her Blog’ and she gave a 7 day challenge, that had I not decided to take up, this blog wouldn’t exist!

PSS: There’s also ‘universal nudges’ – similar to when you’re with someone and they gently nudge you in the ribs to bring your attention to something/someone you would’ve missed otherwise.  This in turn starts a ripple effect in you to change something you’re not happy with – it directs you to where your heart will sing.

‘Universal Whispers’ – When you hear a line in a movie, song, conversation between strangers, read a line in a book, billboard, anywhere really, but it resonates deeply within you and it moves you enough to get you thinking – it plants the seed towards where your heart will sing.

‘Universal Screams’ – Not as subtle as a whisper, this is where something as small as a sentence bears so much weight with you that it causes instant change in your life!!!! eg: I love you, You won $X amount of dollars, as well as the negative lines.  Again it causes instant change thrusting you into direct bliss where your heart sings, or plunges you into deepness where your sing doesn’t happen until you’ve been through that experience.