I’ve been thinking about bravery today.
What it means to be brave. What it means to have courage. And how this relates to business and branding.
Entrepreneurship attracts a special kind of woman. A woman who wants bigger and better things for her life. A woman that has creative ideas to burn and doesn’t want to keep them inside (or have someone else take credit for them). A woman who has a deep, burning desire to create impact and success on HER terms.
And that requires bravery.
Being an entrepreneur is scary as hell, and harder than most job-goers would ever suspect.
Sure, the flexibility to work in your pj’s is there. And the ability to take a nap after lunch (although who are we kidding – do you ever get a chance to nap??).
But we’re also the CEOs of our company. The buck stops with us. If the business fails – we fail. If we don’t make sales, we don’t have money in our pocket. If we get stuck and confused, we pay the price.
So, being an entrepreneur requires a degree of comfort with risk, confidence in spite of numerous obstacles and hurdles to overcome, and the courage and conviction to stay with it and continue to step up and do what it takes.
I find this endlessly inspiring. And it’s why, knock on wood, I will never, ever have a day job again.
Bravery also plays a key role in branding. In fact, it may play THE key role in creating a brand that gets noticed and builds trust and credibility.
Over the course of my work with clients, there is often reluctance to step up and into who they most want to be. The fear of being ALL of themselves. And so they just give a piece of themselves (the safe, expected piece) for the world to see and often hide the true gold. They hide and hold back the essence of them that most needs to be revealed to the world. They contain their truest self – the self that their right people are waiting (and hoping) to see more of.
This fear takes many forms, including:
- What if I put myself out there completely – and people don’t like me?
- What if people from my past or my family read my stuff and give me grief, or question my strong stance?
- What if I truly claim this space, and I find out that I can’t pull it off?
- There’s already people out there doing what I really want to do. There’s no room left for me.
- I’m not ready yet, I don’t have enough experience. People are going to call me out.
- I can’t do that…there are already a-listers doing it and I’d look like a try-hard.
- I have a really different take on my topic, and I’m scared everyone will disagree with me.
Can you relate to any of these?
Believing any of these fears keeps you playing small. It keeps you from truly bringing the very best of who you are to the table. It keeps you safe.
There is nothing wrong with safety. There is nothing wrong with stability.
But I believe that deep down, you want more for your life and your business. If stability was your main driver, you would have never become an entrepreneur.
This is about stepping up and being ALL of the awesomeness that you are. And showing it to the world.
Boldly. With heart. With conviction.
With courage.
You may have to dig deep to find it.
But it’s there, in the very core of who you are and what you stand for.
Everything shifts when you no longer hide who you are.
The world opens up and says, “Finally! We’ve been waiting for you. Welcome.”
