Just. Keep. Going.
This is normal.
The tree is scary. And yet through the thick leaves, I keep climbing.
Dear Diary,
It has been nine months since I started my journey as a full time entrepreneur in the tech space. In that amount of time, I have started and left two projects with different people and started a third on my own. It’s easy to look back on the year and feel like nothing was accomplished after two false starts and barely getting a start on the third (since I really only began working on it seriously in November). However, a good friend and former colleague reminded me of something on my trip to Seattle a couple weeks ago that’s easy to forget:
This is normal.
Our crazy, unique stories we feel are all our own are actually more similar to everyone else who walks this path than we think. And that realization alone is what inspired me to begin writing again. It’s simple to forget what’s happening in your life is all part of the process if you don't have anyone showing you what this same thing looks like for others. Which leads me to the second thing this friend shared with me on that same trip as I sipped on the best cup of coffee I’ve ever had the pleasure of drinking:
It’s not the journey or the destination that matters. It’s the people you surround yourself with along the way that do.
We know people are at the foundation of everything. And early on in the beginning, they can really make or break the success of a project. When I look back on the two projects I walked away from earlier this year, I think about the people. While they were two good people that I care about greatly, they were not at that moment in time the community of people I needed to surround myself with to be my best self and do my best work.
Now, as I sit in my recliner typing this message, I reflect on where I am today. Working solo for the time being, I’m giving myself the space and room to pursue what inspires me most. And for the first time in my entire journey through tech, I feel as powerful and inspired as I did in music - like I can conquer the world. I’m building a company from the ground up with a mission to improve music education through accessibility, impacting students, educators, and professionals everywhere. The way I light up inside every time I talk about this brightens an entire room, and that’s the feeling I need to remember as normal.
Because as my mentor, and many others, have said after hearing me talk about my idea:
Why are you doing anything else?
And thus….I keep going.
Leila Kaneda
Founder and CEO/CTO
she/her/hers 🎶🪇
