Business Lessons From Infertility

As we approach the end of RESOLVE’s 25^th National Infertility Awareness Week, I found myself reminiscing about the lessons I learned as a result of my own journey which ended 13 years ago with the conscious decision by my husband and I to remain a family of two.

According to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, the disease of infertility affects one in eight Americans of child bearing age. 

Regardless of whether you are 22 and just found out that you have premature ovarian syndrome, so your eggs are essentially 65 years old, or you are 35 and have been unable to carry a child to term over the last 5 years or more because of recurrent miscarriages or other medical issues, infertility takes a toll on you emotionally, mentally, physically, financially, and professionally. 

Quite frankly, it takes over your life.

I won’t bore you with the details of our 7-year journey through multiple miscarriages, other than to say that without the support of our family, friends, the RESOLVE organization, work-place supervisors, and a really great mental health professional that specializes in treating patients suffering with infertility, life would be quite different.

So, what does that journey through Hell have to do with business, you ask? Here’s the short list:

Educate yourself on the resources and options available.

Every business leader knows the value of identifying the resources and options available for any given situation. Some require more effort than others to see, and some jump right out at you and scream: PICK ME! In the end, using tools such as a SWOT analysis and market research can be very helpful in making decisions and developing strategies for moving forward.

As for our journey through infertility, without the use all of those resources and the consideration of all the options available at the time, my husband and I probably would not be celebrating our 20^th wedding anniversary next month.

Plan B and Plan C are just as good as Plan A – Really.

The biggest mistake in business is not having a Plan B or a Plan C. Just ask anyone whose business or project failed simply because they were mired in GroupThink, and refused to consider other options. Moreover, many times Plan B or Plan C provide better results than originally projected, and you can find yourself in a much better position than you could have ever dreamed.

Our decision to make Plan C our new Plan A and remain a family of two has not been without its bumps in the road, but we are happy with our choice, and where life has taken us since. Without a doubt, it was the right choice for us. When you make the decision, just be sure it is the right one for you, and fits your circumstances; not anyone else’s.

I am stronger and more capable than I ever imagined.

Clinical research has found that the stress of infertility is just as debilitating as other disease diagnoses. Like a business in crisis, specific infertility journey challenges such as undergoing tests and treatments, miscarriages, or more bad news in terms of options, can identify unidentified strengths and provide many unexpected opportunities to thrive in other ways.

For me, I learned that I can handle much more than I imagined. I also learned that I can multi-task like nobody’s business, and I found an outlet for all my infertility-related stress: volunteering for RESOLVE. 

Volunteering provided me with an opportunity to control at least one aspect of my life, when I could control nothing else. I also met and developed life-long friendships with others who truly understood what I was going through.

Crises provide the opportunity to identify new strengths and take advantage of changing markets or industry conditions.

As an infertility survivor, I can now truthfully say that I am thankful for the journey we took, and the lessons we learned along the way. As a business owner, I am thankful that I can apply what I learned from that experience, and build a better business.

Note: If you, or someone you know, are facing infertility, check out the resources from these nonprofit organizations:

American Fertility Association

American Society for Reproductive Medicine

RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association

Before founding her own consulting firm, Dawn Gannon served as a respected project management and administrative operations professional in the military, higher education, and healthcare fields for 25 years. As a Lean/Six Sigma Green Belt, Dawn’s commitment and personal mission to improve the lives of others through service to the community focuses on providing administrative and volunteer management, consumer education, public outreach, event planning, relationship-building efforts, and strategic planning. She is the author of the Management in Motion blog, and has written a number of articles for RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association on the topic of childfree living.