Just like that, I was an unemployed “entrepreneur”
“I quit my job,” I said into my phone without even saying hello.
Silence.
Then laughter.
“Gilman, you finally realised you are past the point of working for someone else.”
I was really freaked out. I had just landed in London after dramatically quitting my perfect job in Luxembourg the day before. I have been called spontaneous, my enneagram (I’m a 7) and my Myers-Briggs (I am an ENFP) agree. But this felt impetuous, there was none of the excitement of spontaneity, and all of the fear of WTF have I done uncertainty.
I had only been on the job for 9 months. I loved my team and most of my coworkers. I believed in the company and the mission. It was aligned with everything my previous work with the USA government had prepared me for in the private sector. And yet, it just wasn’t working. I wasn’t the right fit, and that was that.
“Yeah,” I said without conviction. “But I don’t have a plan.”
“Yes, you do. Now we can fully execute on the thing we’ve been discussing for a year.”
My friend, and soon to be business partner referred to building an assisted stretching studio in London. The idea had been toyed with for over a year, but the pieces weren’t falling into place, and the project needed someone to take it on full time.
And just like that, I was an unemployed “entrepreneur.”
It would take us a full year to execute our plan. Immigration issues plagued us, I’m American, I was living in Luxembourg, and I wanted to open a company in the UK. If that wasn’t a big enough roadblock an actual literal plague, COVID-19, was about to strike. But we didn’t know that in the Autumn of 2019, and so we ploughed on and stretch inc. was born.
I am grateful every single day that we couldn’t predict the shitstorm that was about to hit. And so, with lighthearted joy, and by joy I mean terror, mingled with the excitement, of being a first-time entrepreneur, I threw myself headlong into creating a product, building a team, and preparing to open London’s first assisted stretching studio. And then we weren’t the first to open an actual studio. WE WEREN’T EVEN THE SECOND! Finally, after pushing through the holidays, tax season, and the ongoing BREXIT saga, we were ready to open a stretching studio six months into this journey. In early March 2020 stretch inc. signed it’s first lease to open a stretching studio in Brixton.
And then we all lived happily ever after except for the global COVID pandemic…
If you want to try a one-on-one assisted stretch or just say hi, you can catch me in London when lockdown lifts at the stretch inc. studios in Brixton (Pop Brixton) and Seven Dials (9–11 Short’s Gardens).
I stretch live on Instagram @stretchinc_uk. Join me on Tuesdays at 12:30 EST / 17:30 GMT and Saturdays at 05:00 EST / 10:00 GMT
Comments welcome. DM on LinkedIn or my personal insta @shade_free. E-mail at rachele@stretchinc.uk
