In the world of entrepreneurship and the online space, we often hear stories of incredible success, financial achievements, and milestones. It’s inspiring and important to celebrate these wins, especially among women who have made remarkable strides in the business world. But what about the journey that leads us there? The twists, turns, and unexpected detours that shape our path? Today, I’m excited to share my own business journey, one filled with highs, lows, and the rollercoaster ride with a broken wheel and a barf bag next to you. Let’s dive in!
Childhood Dreams
My entrepreneurial spirit ignited at a young age, around eight years old, when I watched my Nano (that’s grandpa in Italian), own and operate an Italian grocery store in our hometown. It was a family affair, with my parents and us kids contributing to its daily operations. The first dollars I ever earned were from dusting off sauce cans on the bottom shelves at the store. My Nano’s store was more than just a business; it was the hub of our family and community. When he passed away, 700 people attended his funeral, a testament to the profound influence he had. The stories all of these people told me about how much my Nano had done for them, how he had been the one to hold them up when they had no one else – it forever impacted me.
I know that being a business owner was for me.
College Years
Fast forward to my college years, where I pursued a business degree with a dream of becoming an event planner. When an opportunity arose to move to Orlando, the second-largest place for events in the country, I seized it without having a job lined up. I had a place to live and a roommate, that was it.
Pretty soon after my move, I got into hospitality. Of course, it’s Orlando, it’s the easiest thing to get into. Being in hospitality is the epitome of having to earn your stripes. There is a linear ladder to climb when you’re in hospitality, but it takes time. It takes politics. It takes the right butt kissing. Hospitality is a hard industry to be in.
My goal was to move eventually into the catering department where I would be running events and weddings. I won’t tell you the whole long story of the six years that I worked for this company, there were many highs and lows, and I met some of my best friends there.
I worked A LOT, missed out on some of my 20s because of my ambition, wasn’t so great at playing the politics side of things but I made the right connections and worked my ass off – and so it all started to work out.
Dream Job and a Side Hustle
I finally landed what I believed was my dream job in catering. I had spent years away from my boyfriend, now my husband, Jeff, and this job brought me back to Orlando, aligning the stars in my favor. So I got this job, and at the same time, I was starting a side hustle.
I started using Beachbody products and workout programs, fell in love with them and became a coach. So I was building this side hustle at the same time as I was working my catering job.
I wanted as much financial freedom as I could possibly get – so it was worth it to me to work both at the same time.
There was a lot about the catering job that I loved. The work itself, most of my clients – it’s what I wanted to be doing. But I had the worst boss who had no respect for me or many of the other people on our team. She had rules that I couldn’t follow and we had a team that couldn’t execute on the products that we were selling.
For me, that made it very hard for me to sell something that I knew wouldn’t turn out exactly how it was. You know what I mean?
You know when people do the clothing hauls that are like, “what I ordered versus what I got”, that’s what the experience was like. I would sell a bride, a couple, a company on this dream event and it was very rare that the rest of the team could execute it. My integrity just made it really hard for me to do this job.
I’ll never forget, I sat down with my mentor, the man that had really brought me up through the ranks over those five years, and I was expressing to him my struggles, and he looked at me and he said, “making sales and making money is more important than being able to execute on the event.”
In that moment, it was like everything I knew and believed went away. At that moment, it was like, this is so wrong and so not in line with what I believe or how I feel, I’m done. I went home that night, and I sat on the couch and I cried to Jeff, and he said: G, just quit.
A Pivotal Decision
Just quit?! I said, just quit and do what? He told me we’d figure it outI went in the next day and I gave my 2 weeks notice.
I quit my dream job. I didn’t know it at the time, but a few weeks later, Jeff and I were going to get engaged. He knew that, I didn’t know that. So much changed for me after that. It was like quitting that job and walking away from the dream that I thought I had made and walking away from that opened up so many other things.
I was still building my Beachbody business and I was sort of successful at it.
Then I got the job that I didn’t necessarily think was my dream job, but became my dream job. I was working for a private wedding planning company as a wedding planner and director of operations. This is where I met one of the most amazing entrepreneurs I’ve ever known, a mentor to me, a friend, somebody that I will forever think of when I have to make hard decisions.
Motherhood and a Challenging Crossroad
I really loved this job. There were hard things about it, and there were times where I really complained about it, but we were in growing pains.
There were so many amazing visions and projects on the horizon, and then I got pregnant. In my head, I had always planned on going back to work. I always knew that I would have a baby, have my 12 weeks maternity leave, and then I would go back. I didn’t see any other path.
Then, as so many of us have experienced, I had that baby, and it changed my entire world. It rocked my entire world. I also had postpartum depression after I had my first. At the end of the 12 weeks,
I remember going to a restaurant with my boss, the owner of the wedding planning company, and her offering me a promotion.
Internally, the old Giana voice was in my head, wanting to say yes.
The mom, Giana, that literally had pumped in the car so that she could go in and eat and not leak. The mom, Giana, that wasn’t sleeping, the mom, Giana, that was in such a dark place. I knew that I couldn’t say yes. I remember saying, I can’t even do what I need to do for this baby. How the hell could I have a job on top of it? I didn’t believe that I could show up. I didn’t believe in myself.
If I’m 100% transparent at the time because I felt like I was failing so much as a mom and I was struggling so much as a mom, I didn’t feel like I deserved that promotion. I didn’t feel like I deserved anything except to be trying to take care of this baby and trying to get this baby to sleep and trying to get this baby to breastfeed.
I felt like that’s all that I deserved and I didn’t deserve any more than that. I told her no. I told her that I didn’t know when or if I would ever come back. It was one of the hardest decisions I’ve had to make.
A Second Pregnancy and a New Perspective
Obviously, in retrospect, it’s so easy to say that was the right decision because of how everything has gone since then. At the time, I didn’t know if it was the right decision.
I think maybe if I would have gone back to work, it could have gotten me out of my postpartum depression sooner. But could have, would have, should have. Everything happens for a reason. I mean, it’s true, even though it’s a barfy statement.
So I said no to my promotion and I’m in postpartum, deep, deep, deep in postpartum depression. I had just started seeing a therapist. And then surprise, I found out I was pregnant again. I really, really struggled with that when I found that out, which is a story for another day.
I knew as I went through this second pregnancy that once I had this baby, that things had to be different. I knew I couldn’t stay in such a dark place because I was going to have two kids that were 15 months apart and a husband. I wanted to have a life, and I didn’t at the time. A big part of me felt like by not going back to work, I had given up part of who I am.
I know that your business isn’t supposed to be your identity, but I love to work. I love to use my brain. I love to help people. That eight-year-old girl who always wanted to be an entrepreneur knew that that’s what she needed. I just didn’t know what it was going to look like yet.
I went through my pregnancy, and as I started to get to the end of it, I thought, you know what? I’m going to go back to Beachbody. I loved the products. I loved the workouts. Honestly, and I’m sure other people, other Beachbody coaches have thought this as well, I thought, well, dang, I’m going to be pregnant. I gained all this weight. I’m going to have the transformation of a lifetime. Everybody will want to buy Beachbody from me.
So I went along that path and I started to do some market research into who my ideal client would be for my new Beachbody venture. I joined a new team. I had invested in a business coach. I got on the phone with another mom who had also previously been a Beachbody coach, and she said to me, and I’ll forever be grateful for this:
She said to me, “Giana, I think you’re too good to go back to Beachbody”.
She didn’t mean any disrespect. It wasn’t anything against Beachbody. She said, “you have a brain that I wish I could have.” I wish I could hire you or take your brain to be able to do it for my business.
She was talking about a lot of the time management, operations, and strategy things that she knew that I did for my previous company, the wedding planning company.
At that moment, I thought, okay, this is a fork in the road. I can take the easier route and go with a business that’s really already set up and ready for me, or I can do what I’m truly good at because it’s just a part of who I am, and I can go that route. That’s what I did. I knew that regardless of what path I took, I knew that I needed something for me. Going back to a traditional job wasn’t going to work. I didn’t want the pressure of being on time and taking meetings and also picking up my kids from school or wanting to be at their activities. I didn’t want that.
The Birth of My Business
I wanted the best of both worlds. I wanted to raise my kids in the way I wanted to raise them while also building this business alongside of that. Being online was the very best option for me. So, that’s how my business was born.
It was thinking I had the dream job, realizing it was a freaking nightmare.
Being open to my path, whichever windy way it was going to take me.
I’ve had a podcast before and had to shut it down. I’ve started launching programs and then realized it wasn’t what I wanted to do, so I stopped launching them.
I’ve had months where I’ve barely made enough money to cover my business expenses.
But, I know this is what I was meant to do. I know that even though many people don’t understand what I do (my husband used to tell people that I was a blogger) that this is my calling, and I DO get to have the best of both worlds.
While the journey was completely different than I ever could have anticipated, it’s really special that it’s led me to where I am.
The end…or really, we are just getting started
My business journey has been far from conventional, filled with unexpected twists and turns. It’s a journey of self-discovery, resilience, and determination.
I’ve learned that sometimes the road to success is anything but linear, and that’s okay.
Today, I embrace the entrepreneur within me and cherish the freedom and fulfillment it brings.
If my journey resonates with you or inspires you to share your own business story, please reach out to me on Instagram @gianatrolongo. I’d love to connect and hear about your unique journey.
Remember, success isn’t just about the destination; it’s about the incredible journey along the way.
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Listen to this podcast episode HERE
