Slowly, kindly, but surely

When I first started this business, I was pretty all over the place. I don’t know how many people actually start a business with it “all together” but I definitely do not fall into that category. 

I was second guessing myself, didn't believe in myself one bit, and had all these pre-conceived ideas of what a “person with a business” should do, how they should act, and of course what they shouldn't do. 

I always thought that to run a business successfully you could never be “too emotional”. That I had to be tough (or “thick-skinned” - someone told me once).

That I couldn't be vulnerable or show the sensitive parts of me. That I couldn't ever be quiet, I needed to be loud and confident. So I tucked all those parts of me away, not really consciously realising this of course. I think a part of me was hoping that I could morph into this imaginary person that I thought I “should” be. 

But some time in the last 2-3 years I have been slowly (but surely) realising that all the pre-conceived ideas I had are actually ridiculous. Nonsense! Where do these even come from?

I am an emotional person, I am sensitive, I feel things deeply, I care deeply.

Some days I am absolutely not fast at what I do. Or hard-working. Some days I work very slow. Some days I am tired. Some days I am sad. Some days I feel insecure. 

I am not loud. I am not an extrovert. I do not have a dominant personality. I do not “command a room”. I have even been told in the past that I am “too nice”.

For so long I have always thought, I can’t be my true authentic self AND have a successful business. I cant have BOTH. 

But it's only now that I've realised, embarrassingly late, that actually, those parts of me could be the exact reasons why people DO want to work with me. 

A wonderful human quoted this to me recently: “When we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same”. And yes, I cried, right there at my computer. Tears dripping into my keyboard. 

I think it was a bit of a moment for me, because it felt like a little nail in the coffin of the old me, who was too busy pretending to be a thick skinned business owner to realise that her dream customers didn't actually want her to be a thick skinned business owner.  

Also, that “old me” would have never told anyone she cried into her keyboard, by the way. 

So I hope you are being the incredible authentic person you are, and letting your own light shine, because you never know who you are giving permission to, to do the same.

on that note, if you also believe that softness, sensitivity, and kindness are all traits to nurture in biz, you might be interested in the heart first founders walks in perth and melb, more info here!