As a small business owner, so much responsibility falls to you to make your business work. You have to be willing to take on many various roles. Juggling these roles can be a challenge, but the ability to create the systems and processes that works for you is also one of the greatest joys of small business.

Y’vonne Ormond (Twitter, LinkedIn) spent many years working in the corporate world where she learned the ins and outs of business. But at a certain point, the corporate world became unfulfilling on a personal level. Y’vonne decided to go out on her own, and in doing so create a work-life balance that worked for her.

But the journey wasn't easy. And along the way Y’vonne had to deal with personal hardships while learning how to juggle the many tasks small business owners are required to take on.

“The thing about being a small business owner is, I’m the CEO, the COO, CFO, the project manager and HR… There's no “off”. That's the other challenge — I feel like I have 200 bosses because it's my role to serve my employees, to serve my children, and to serve my clients.”

Being a small business owner and a single mom all at the same time is a lot of work and it’s not a path many people can handle. But for those like Y’vonne, who work hard and figure it out along the way, the benefits and rewards are worth all the sacrifice.

In the end, she realized that by preparing herself, leaning on others and taking failure off the table as an option, she could mitigate the risks that had scared her before and succeed in ways she was never expecting.

Learn more about The Journey at mission.org/thejourney.

The Journey is sponsored by our friends at Salesforce Essentials. We use Salesforce Essentials every day and it’s part of our own business journey. Essentials combines sales and service tools in a single app to help small businesses win customers and keep them happy. See how Salesforce Essentials can help you be your best business at salesforce.com/thejourney.