Don’t be afraid. We are all on a journey.
I was honoured to feature as an Inspiring Women Entrepreneur and speak at the EMERGE Women. The event was hosted by Ceteris Scotland Ltd and supported by the Clackmannanshire Council.
It’s taken me a while to share my story but I have opened up about the challenges I have faced to get to where I am now. I use my experience to now empower and inspire businessowners to find their own success.
Homeless, jobless and destitute to success, I share the lessons, strengths and resilience I found in my failures. Rather than shy away and hide from the fear of failure, it should become a driver to achieve our success.
We are comparing ourselves to others.
Our insecurities feed the fear of failure. When starting our business journey, we tend to look for role models and compare our achievements to theirs. By modelling our goals on the successes of others, we inadvertently do ourselves a disservice. I am not saying that we shouldn’t have role models and follow those we aspire to be like. Be mindful that their success is very different to your success. Stop comparing your success others and start looking at what success means for you as an individual.
Define your version of success
We must be clear on our own version of success because in order to begin pushing through our fears. When you stop comparing yourself to others and realise your version of success you feel less afraid and overwhelmed.
Define what success means to you and you will overcome the fears holding you back. Know in yourself that the discomfort and uncertainty will not last forever.
Accept that you will fail.
We tend to try our best to be perfect and resist or avoid situations that would mean failure. It’s natural to want to avoid uncomfortable or even uncertain situations. I ask, how will you ever learn and grow if you stay in the safe zone?
Many entrepreneurs will tell you how they have failed; some even claim they have “failed their way to success”. I can add to that and confirm that I have failed in many magnificent ways. The lessons learned from those failures are invaluable. With every failure, there is a valuable lesson learned and strength and resilience that will develop. Failure is not the end; it’s only a wrong turn in your journey.
At my lowest point I failed in my career, as a mother and as a human being. All my material possessions were gone and I had to re-define what was important to me.
Read more about my moment of transformation in Voices of the 21st Century – Women who Transform the World available to pre-order in December 2022 and due for release in February 2023.