E6: We Need to be Strong

In this episode I explore the need to be strong in business (and in life), I talk about times where I have needed to be stronger and I share my reason for not giving up on something last year!

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Transcript

Hello & Welcome to today’s episode of Dream Business Dream Life.

This episode is being released on Becky’s 33rd birthday (June 19th 2024) and so in my mind there was only one topic we could talk about today and that is strength.

Becky was hand on heart the strongest person you could ever meet, and I am not just saying that because of how amazingly brave she was after her cancer diagnosis, but because she handled everything in her life and in her business with such strength…and in her short life she really did have a lot thrown at her.

I often say I need to channel my inner Becky and when I say it, I mean I need to be strong.

So, what do I mean by I need to be strong?

Business comes with lots of challenges; there is no such thing as an easy ride when it comes to growing a business.

We are faced with having to make decisions that make us feel uncomfortable.

We have to put ourselves out there; to be seen and heard as nobody is going to do it for us.

We have setbacks; things do not always go to plan and that is often a tough pill to swallow. We literally give everything to our business, blood, sweat and tears so when things go wrong, we take it personally.

We have to worry about the money, I mean nobody opens the doors to their business and is financially free straight away; it is often a case of hustling hard until the strategy starts to work it’s magic. And of course it is not really magic; it is you working hard, taking the action and staying focussed that makes it work!

To run a business, you have to be strong…strong on so many levels.

There have been so many occasions where I have had to be strong, where I have had to channel my inner Becky and I don’t think we give ourselves enough credit for how strong we are sometimes.

And I don’t think we allow ourselves to really understand what it takes to be strong.

I don’t even think we know what being strong means 

I mean how often do we hear those words ‘be strong; you have got this!’ 

How many times have you said that to other people.

Of course we mean it; we have confidence in people to do all the things but in that moment of desperation where you really need to be strong…does it come naturally? Is it easy to just be strong.

Absolutely not.

Last year I decided it was time to launch my in-person events, I needed to be back amongst people, I wanted to create an event that was in my neck of the woods, an event that was about connection and growth.

I attend lots of events as being in a room full of people who just get it, is so empowering but I find a lot of them are quite salesy, quite samey and I am not criticising this at all, but I wanted to create something a little different.

So, I excitedly launch The Growth Event into the world.

In true Emma style I did it very quickly and with a very small window to sell the tickets.

It starts off really well; I start to see ticket sales come through, I feel confident despite all the self-doubt that I can pull this off, then the ticket sales stop.

At this point the overheads are not covered; at this point the room will not be full enough…at this point in my head it will be a flop!

So I start to question my ability to do this.

I mean who am I to think that I can pull off an event not only at short notice but also in my neck of the woods. I only have a small audience and for the last 4 or 5 months I have disappeared off the radar pretty much completely.

In my head it is already going to fail; I need to cancel it whilst I still can I and I nearly did; I nearly refunded everyone and disappeared back under my rock.

But then I remembered something Becky said to me.

“It has to get harder before it gets easier”

And of course she was absolutely right. She was always right.

In that moment I realised that I needed to be more Becky, I needed to find the strength within me, that I know is there, to push through this hurdle. 

If this event failed, it was not going to be because I did not try. 

So, I upped the marketing.

I upped the energy. 

I upped my belief to make it work…and guess what…it did! 

My first ever event was a sellout; it was everything and more than I wanted it to be. 

I dug deep to find the strength to make it work. I held my nerve, and I turned it around. 

It would have been easy to walk away, to refund those people that had bought tickets and to just disappear into the background, nobody would give it a second thought. 

But I was passionate about the event, I knew it is not just me that needed it and I knew the impact it could have on so many people. 

If I really want to build this dream business, then I have to be prepared to step outside of my comfort zone and that meant being strong in that exact moment; despite my head telling me to walk away.

I have always been very open & honest about sharing the true ups and downs of business and this was very much one of those down moments for me but because I held my nerve it turned into one of my biggest ever up moments.

Being strong can be the difference between building the dream business and giving up. 

So how can we be stronger?

First of all, I think we need to get clarity on what we mean by how can we be stronger as there are 2 aspects to being strong in your business. 

The first is personal strength; this is your ability to keep going, your ability to push through when things get tough; your resilience; your ability to go again when things fail and your ability to actually do the things in the first place. This is the real strength Becky had. 

Then there is the business strength; this is about having a robust business strategy, a business that is long term sustainable built on strong foundations. A business that is able to react quickly when needed. A business that will stand the test of time.

You will hear me talk a lot about having to grow yourself in order to grow your business and this is exactly what I mean. 

Personal strength comes from working on yourself, from doing the personal development and mindset work. From getting to know who you are and how you react to certain situations. From getting comfortable with yourself, from building your knowledge and from having the belief in yourself too. 

Business strength comes from working on your business not just in it, it comes from having a strategy and from actually doing the work. It comes from investing in your business and from taking risks too. A strong business has strong foundations that can be built on.

To build the dream business we need both; we need personal strength, and we need business strength 

Personally, I have always had the business strength; but I have always lacked the personal strength which for me has in the past impacted on my business. 

When I told you about my wobbles with the growth event launch last year, that was due to my lack of personal strength…my lack of self-belief and my fear of failure. 

Of course, I found the strength to keep going and from then on it got easier as I had more experience the next time round so it did not feel as scary.

Now when I get the wobbles, which I get a lot, I stop and pause, and I ask myself why I am feeling the way I am.

If the answer is fear, then I spend time working through that as I know that fear is not a reason to stop. Fear is just a reaction to feeling uncomfortable and we all know what happens on the other side of being uncomfortable…right? 

Yep, we grow! 

So, from now onwards I am asking you to allow yourself to channel your inner Becky; to be braver in life and in business and to hold strong when things are hard.

Remember strong foundations are critical as once they are strong you can literally knock everything down and start again if need be.

Thank you for listening; see you next time