Lessons from Launching: The Process, the People and the Pull Toward Purpose

When I stepped out to launch ACRA, I knew I wasn’t just starting a business. I was stepping into a season of faith, clarity and a whole lot of unknowns. What I didn’t expect was how much launching a business would feel like launching myself – into purpose, into refinement, into the kind of lessons you can only learn by actually doing the thing.

Looking back, two themes have been constant: the process of launching and the people you navigate along the way. Both matter. Both will make or break how you show up.

The Process: Defining Gifts, Passions and Purpose

Every great launch starts before the launch. For me, that meant asking: "What am I really good at that comes naturally?"

These are your superpowers. Mine is reading and navigating people, quickly sensing what’s underneath the surface and building trust. Within the first 30 minutes of meeting someone, they often share something deeply personal. That’s not small talk. That’s impact.

Then comes passion. What environments light me up? What type of work leaves me more energized at the end of the day? For me, it’s helping leaders build trust, reframe chaos and communicate with clarity. When my superpower (navigating people) meets my passion (equipping leaders), I’m operating from purpose. And purpose is what we’re all craving.

But sometimes we’re too close to ourselves to see our own gifts clearly. One of the most helpful things I did was send a text to a couple dozen trusted friends asking three simple questions:

1. What are my gifts – the things that come naturally to me without effort, the things you think of as soon as you hear my name?
   
2. What are my technical skills – the learned abilities you think I’ve mastered?
   
3. Where do you see me thriving, whether that’s a type of role, culture or environment?
   

Their answers gave me clarity. They reflected back what I already knew deep down: my gifts are navigating people and my technical skills are problem solving – business plan development, revenue strategy, closing deals.

From there, I narrowed the circle. I started asking only a handful of trusted friends – the ones with real autonomy and influence in their organizations – two questions that aligned with my traits:

1. What relationships internally do you need created or mended?
   
2. What relationships externally do you need created or mended?
   

Every leader knows this answer instantly. It’s the place their headspace always goes and often keeps them up at night. Once they named it, I simply asked, “Can I help you with those?”

That’s it. That’s where momentum started. For me, it was about relationships; for someone else, it might be operations, storytelling or systems. The key is identifying the one or two reflective questions tied to your gifts and skills and asking them inside your trusted community. When you collaborate on the biggest needs, you usually unlock the biggest support, and yes, the biggest budgets.

Purpose also comes from looking around and identifying a need. Everywhere I looked, leaders were struggling with people management: recruiting, culture, change friction, retention. My gift was navigating people. My passion was teaching them tools that flipped the lightbulb on, sometimes for the first time, to their own potential. That’s where ACRA was born.

And here’s the truth: launching required me to lean on my faith in a deeper way than I ever had before. People will say they’ll help, that they’ll connect you, that they’ll back you. Some will, many won’t. I had to stop anchoring my momentum to the promises of others and anchor it to my faith. Every time I doubted, doors opened I couldn’t have forced on my own. Every time I hit resistance, I was reminded to walk in obedience, not in fear.

And finally, don’t be surprised when the closer you get to your purpose, the louder the distractions become. Fear, insecurity, critics, even your own self-limiting thoughts – hey all crank up the volume. I’ve come to see this not as a sign of misalignment, but as spiritual confirmation.

The enemy tries to rattle you when you’re walking in the exact direction God has called you.

The People: Building Community, Not Just a Network

The other side of launching is the people. This is where things get messy, and beautiful.

Here’s what I’ve learned: go narrow and deep. Don’t spread yourself across every coffee chat, networking group and “let’s grab lunch.” Pick your few – the people who know you, trust you and will actually whiteboard with you when things get real.

And here’s my soapbox: stop calling it a “network.” A network is a stack of business cards. A community is decades of consistent, intentional engagement. It’s the follow-through, the late-night texts, the accountability, the trust built when nobody was watching.

When you launch a business, it’s not really your “network” that carries you. It’s your community. And for me, it was my faith weaving that community together long before I needed it. The people placed in my path years ago are the same ones who showed up when I finally needed them most.

There’s a country song by Zane Williams called “Overnight Success.” It’s about a musician who’s been playing for free in dive bars for decades. Then one song breaks, and suddenly he’s an “overnight success.” My hard launch was similar. It took three months of focus (and stress) to figure out my gift/skill alignment. And then suddenly, stability, cushion and purpose hit at once. But that “sudden” moment was built on decades of community, credibility and timing.

That’s why aligning your community early matters. When the doubts and challenges come, and they will, you’ll need people who remind you not only who you are, but what you are capable of.

Purpose Is the Thread

If I could boil it all down, launching ACRA hasn’t just been about building a business. It’s been about operating from purpose.

That means defining your gifts. Naming your passions. Asking others to reflect back what they see in you. Narrowing to trusted voices and asking the right questions. Identifying the needs right in front of you. Moving forward even when it’s messy. Trusting your faith more than your critics. Building community rather than chasing a network.

The world doesn’t need more polished pitch decks or perfectly named LLCs. It needs more people willing to walk in the gifts given to them, with the courage to align passion and purpose, and the faith to stay the course when distractions get loud.

Because when you do, you’re not just launching a business, you’re stepping into the work you were created to do.