To me, from me | Tough Love Tuesdays - The Intro
As of today, I’ve been self-employed for 876 days.
And over that time I have;
been praised for my no-BS approach
been sent legal letters
started a podcast & created over 60 episodes
posted 500-odd times on a ‘business’ Instagram
battled with my negative self-talk & brain most days
delivered quite a few talks IRL & online workshops
personally worked with over 60 business owners in the UK
built 4 websites
made businessey friends who just ‘get it’
said yes to a lot of work I didn’t want to do
sent hundreds, if not thousands of marketing emails for myself and for clients
spent over £10k on my own personal & professional development
talked on Zoom for more hours than I’d care to admit
read over 100 non-fiction books
laughed, cried & learnt many many things
And I don’t think enough people talk about how bloody hard it is to run a business.
Caveat – it’s really simple to run a business, but it is far from easy.
Why?
Because we all have our own quirks. Our hang-ups and insecurities. Skills and ambitions. Boundaries and knowledge-gaps.
That’s the magic of being human.
And there’s always so much I want to say. Not necessarily to you, the fabulous small business owner shooting for the moon with the big scary goals in life.
But sometimes, especially in 2021 and beyond, some of the stuff I want to say scares me that I’ll be called out or ‘cancelled’.
But when on the odd occasion I lose my shit, whether it’s in an email or on an IG Live, I’m greeted with praise.
Congratulated on being open and honest, and god forbid ‘authentic’.
And nine times out of ten, I’m just saying stuff that I think I actually probably need to hear myself. And it resonates, which is cool.
But the people pleaser in me quivers that I’ll upset or offend someone.
Which, if you know me, may come as a shock. But I don’t actually like upsetting people. But it does depend on what day it is and my mood to how much I give a crap.
Because it’s actually a good thing to repel people. Hear me out..
When you repel people who are just going to hate you anyway, be negative nellies and project their own insecurities into belittling you, you make more room for the people who are going to just bloody love you.
Love you for you. Love to work with you. Want to buy everything you ever do because you’re just that bloody amazing.
So, I’ve made the decision to go for it and write it all out right here on my blog.
Because look, I’m not perfect, no human is. I tell myself I’m not good at writing – I mean who would be if they keep telling themselves that they’re not?
Aaaaand, it’s likely that I might upset someone. But in the miniscule hope that I may help someone, just the one person would do, then I’m happy.
Nothing I ever say or write will ever be intended to cause offence, like I said, these are basically things I think I need to hear myself. I’m committing to once a week, but who knows – it could be more? I’ll just go with the flow.
Side note: I’m sweary. Don’t like it? Well you know what you can do. [haha, sorry not sorry!]
Because we’re all human here. We all make mistakes. We all learn from each other. Very few, if any, have any clue what they’re doing. And, the only guarantee in life is that one day, we’re going to die.
So whether it’s something I’ve learnt that I just want to share, a quote, a mind-musing or anything else, I’ll be posting it right here on my ‘personal branded’ website. Because, well… why the fuck not?