BizLove found me – and through the creation of the company, I found myself. This work is for organizations & individuals who want to become who they truly are.
— Diane Hare, Co-founder & Chief Vision Officer
Origin Story
Every business is born from someone’s story.
The struggle and desire to create something better. Our origin story is where we sourced our method for Identity and why we believe in its power.
BizLove's Origin Story.
Authored by Diane Hare
Moment of Impact.
The instant I knew I was going to choose a different life is what I refer to as, “my moment of impact”. It was not subtle. I remember standing on a rooftop in Manhattan when I was struck by the ‘lightning rod’ which is BizLove. An alive idea. I exited the building so fast, jumped in a cab and went straight downtown to Laura, my now co-founder’s apartment. Unannounced, she opened the door and I stormed in, heading straight for the balcony.
I told her I was leaving EY and she was coming with me. To my disbelief, she did not hesitate – “okay” she said. I was still not convinced. Her response after I was persisting was “Diane, if you're really serious, you’ll meet me at Ludlow café at 9am tomorrow”. I’ll never forget Laura’s face when she walked into the café and I was sitting there. To this day, we never looked back.
Discovery
The first 4 months of BizLove I was in a deep state of introspection. I became incredibly curious with eastern philosophy and ancient teachings. I read at least 20 books and watched a couple of dozen documentaries during that 4-month span. It became my full-time job. I’d meet Laura once a day at a coffee shop to share everything I learned. She was the only person I saw over the course of those 4 months. She listened and took notes on the things that we could incorporate into our IP for BizLove. I was fixated on the concept of healing and self-realization. What could we glean from these teachings that the western business world hadn’t quite grasped? To state the obvious, the first few months of BizLove were not traditional. We never had a business plan or a plan B.
Expression.
To express your true self and write a new narrative – you have to dream big. You have to figure out who you are at your highest expression, your natural best. I asked myself questions like: Why do you exist? How do you create? What do you provide? These questions were the clarity I needed to write a new narrative. Writing for BizLove was writing for myself. I imagined BizLove being the home to storytellers and strategists – the two parts of me that never felt at home. I thought if we made it, BizLove could create space for others to transform so they could live their truth, just like Laura has done for me. What I wanted from the world, I emphasized in BizLove. I knew there must be people out there who wanted the same things.
Discernment.
Once the clarity came, next was using discernment to rebuild my life and business around this new narrative. So many rituals were disrupted when I left my corporate job. I thought about what kind of city I needed to live in, who my new community could be, even what foods to eat. What was true for me and what no longer was. These were the decisions that helped me create an environment for my new narrative to take form. I became intentional about everything. The same went for BizLove. I threw out a lot of what I learned from business school and designed the company from a combination of inner knowing and first principle thinking.
Embodiment.
Embodiment by far has been the hardest phase of the journey. Living into your highest self. Learning how to make good decisions, set boundaries, form new habits, rest, play. The embodiment phase happens in big and small ways every day. It looks like walking your talk, where your life is your training ground. BizLove reaped the tangible benefits from this phase the most. When you act with intention and clarity, you start to build a community around you, you start to attract the people and things that are meant for you.
Reintroduction.
This brings us to today, Reintroduction. After you evolve, grow and start to realize who you truly are – you feel very different on the inside. Your external world starts to shift into place, but there is a transition phase before you’ve fully arrived. This leaves you with two options – plan your arrival quietly or come in bold and make a statement. For me & team BizLove, we prefer the later. That’s what this reintroduction is all about.
At the end of the day, business is about people. It’s not what we do, it’s who we are. When we know who we are as individuals and as a collective, we start to build the world that’s meant for us.
— Laura Iaffaldano, Co-founder & Chief Operating Offer
