Owning The Story
While surrounded by bubbles in a bathtub in Toronto, I had a real moment of clarity.
This is my life.
Let me back up.
I had just spent a long day collaborating with clients. It was the type of day that gets me excited about the future of the technology industry. And as I was in a faraway city, for the first time in a long time, the only thing I could do at the end of the day was sit there and soak it up.
This is why I love traveling so much. It gives me just the right amount of distance from my everyday life to be able to truly take it all in.
As I sat there, I felt like I was taking in the past two years.
I was seeing that what was once was a spark and an idea inside of me, is now my reality. This vision I had of traveling and teaching and consulting while simultaneously building a team that focused on creating impactful educational content.
What I once wanted is now what I now live and breathe every day.
What once was a story inside of my head of what my company could be, is now my reality.
In this moment of reflection, I realized something equally impactful:
I never would have gotten to this moment if it wasn’t for that story.
A story that was years in the making and yet happened in the blink of an eye.
It was the day I decided to become an entrepreneur.
It started with a spark inside me that tugged at my head and heart so strongly that I was willing to take some major risks to make it my reality.
I had a comfortable job with a team I adored. And yet, I also had so much more that I wanted to bring to the world. I knew that I couldn’t do that inside anyone else’s organization.
This was not a change I took lightly.
When I took my leap of faith, I started to look for others that shared that experience. It was a leap of faith, someone must have done this before me, right? I began to see that the pull that I had felt to become and create in the world was a pretty common story in the world of entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneurship is not an easy road and that is why so many folks fail early on. Creating the product and the vision for the company while simultaneously making sure you can keep the lights on is no small task.
The reality is that everyone has great ideas, but for most, the logistics and operations of building and leading a company are too much to manage.
It takes heart and hard work. And you need both to succeed in business.
The heart side of my business comes from my passion for helping others find success and create magic inside their companies. It also comes from watching both my parents and my grandparents run their own small businesses but often struggle to understand and operate the essential logistics that lead to long-term profitability. It is by watching these struggles that I have become so passionate about people and especially women having the opportunity to be paid fairly. This is why my company creates accessible resources for entrepreneurs to have the foundations they need to scale their operations successfully.
The hard work side of my business comes from my upbringing. I grew up knowing that if I wanted to dream and reach for more, putting in the hard work was the only guaranteed way I could get there. I know that it is because I grew up in a middle-class home in the wealthiest zip code in our state. Yet, I had parents that were smart enough to make me get a summer job if I wanted to go to school in designer jeans. This not only taught me how to make a dollar, but it also taught me that if I had a goal in mind and I put in the effort, I could be able to achieve it.
This story shapes who I am.. It also shapes everything I now do and teach inside my company. It is why I create content and programs designed for ambitious entrepreneurs.
Because I myself, am one.
Have you thought about your story? These are the questions I’ve asked myself, and now ask of you:
Who are you?
Why do you show up for your work every day?
What lights you up inside?
What is the story that keeps you going when other people would quit?
And how are you sharing that story in your business?
Because if you’re not sharing that story, you need to be. Gone are the days when you could market to the world that who you are as a person and who your brand is a completely separate thing. The internet and this age of transparency are going to blow holes through the thin smokescreen between the two.
The challenge for this era of entrepreneurship is first figuring out who you are and then in figuring out how you can show up every day and embrace that story through your businesses to make a positive impact on this world.
And just like owning your own business, this work isn’t for the faint of heart.
But if you are ready to do the work, and align yourself and your story, you will have this amazing opportunity to bring that spark out of your heart into your business.
That dream for a better world is the story shared by all entrepreneurs, even if you have yet to fully embrace it. It’s important to remember that this journey takes time, it takes exploration, and it takes experience.
Based on my own experience, I had to spend a lot of time saying, “That’s not what I want to do” and “That’s not who I want to be” before it changes to be about what you do want it to be.
Wherever you are on your journey, know that you're not alone. Let’s be honest, I’m creating a company as we speak whose story I’m still figuring out every single day. But what I have figured out is if I want it to be successful, I know I have to put in the work with my team, myself, and my community.
If you are ready to uncover these stories together, I’m bringing in a dear friend, brand builder, and master storyteller this month to help us out.
Emily Soccorsy of Root + River will be stopping by the Learning Lab this month. Every time I share the room with Emily, I get 10x clearer on my purpose, story, and path as an entrepreneur. Real talk though, this woman is pure magic.
It is going to be a moment you will not want to miss.
Girl crushes aside, I created this moment because I know how essential understanding, integrating, and owning my story has been to my progression and success as an entrepreneur. I’ve also worked with enough successful businesses to know the ones that know their unique story and own their story brand have a unique advantage over others.
They are the ones that make it.
What sets them apart?
They know who they are, what they stand for, and who they aim to serve. They can speak to their story loud and clear and attract the right customers. You wouldn’t be here if you didn’t have a story like this that you were meant to share. Now is the time to let it shine and share your light with the world.
