“He who is not everyday conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life.”

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

In this post I talk about the importance of being courageous in your business and share a few ideas on how you might lean into your edge with your work.

Like all good messages from the Universe, a few things have happened in my business recently that have led me to realise that I’ve been playing it safe in my business (and life) lately and helped me to see how that isn’t serving my personal or professional growth.

The first was a coaching session I had with one of my clients which resulted in her taking on a personal “10 Courageous Acts Challenge” in July. I felt inspired to join her and wrote out my own list of courageous acts to be completed in July.

As is often the way, my intention to be more courageous, was immediately met by an opportunity to be so. My favourite business mentor, George Kao, asked me if he could interview me for his Facebook business page and Youtube channel. Of course I said yes and you can watch the recording of it here. Even though I’ve been interviewed before and have, myself, interviewed many people, I definitely noticed the nerves before this one, which felt good once I reminded myself that “Fear is excitement without breath” (Robert Heller)

The third thing was reading a blog post by another client of mine, in which she talks about the importance of edge work and says this:“Edge work is some of the hardest work you will have to do. It’ll require you to go right the edge of your comfort zone. It’ll push you beyond that comfy place in incremental little baby steps and in big, bold, powerful moves, time and time and time again.”

As a coach, I’ve always been about the edge work. I’ve known for the longest time that the best experience we can have of being alive comes when we’re prepared to venture beyond the edges of our comfort zone.

Building and growing a business is a pursuit rife with opportunities for edge work and our willingness to be courageous is instrumental in our business success. If you want to truly succeed in business, you have to be willing to face your fears, take risks and step into the unknown. Failure to do so will undoubtedly impact your ability to grow a business that is not only impactful but also sustainable over the long term.

So what kind of fears am I talking about? Allow me to share a couple that I see come up on a regular basis.

• Being visible online.
• Reaching out and 1:1 making connections.
• Marketing your products and services widely and consistently.
• Being honest and direct with clients.
• Setting and maintaining boundaries.

When we avoid facing our fears in business the net result tends to be that we keep ourselves and our work hidden, which obviously impacts our reach and our bottom line and means that we enjoy working in our business far less (I mean who genuinely feels good when they’re in hiding!?)

I’d love you to consider where in your business you are playing it safe and how you might lean into your edge there. Where are you yearning to do more of but stop yourself short because of fear. Perhaps it’s one of the below.

• Reaching out to people you admire in your field and asking them if you can interview them.
• Making yourself more visible online by using Facebook Live, Instagram stories, videos or podcasting.
• Setting up 1:1 calls with ideal clients from within your audience.
• Truly sharing your opinion and point of view in your content and marketing, regardless of the fact that it may turn some people off.
• Getting on stage and speaking about the incredible work you do in the world.
• Moving beyond 1:1 and into group work.

There are so many other things I could list here but the truth is your edge is personal to you. What you might find challenging someone else wouldn’t so the real key is to tune in to where you know, deep in your heart, you need to go with your work to take it to the next level.

If fear of what people might think is what stops you, the quote below is for you. I also recommend Brené Brown’s wonderful book Daring Greatly.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

~ Theodore Roosevelt

If you know fear is holding you back in business, feel free to be brave and reach out to me and share what you’re dealing with. I promise to do what I can to help. I also know several life coaches who specifically support business owners with this sort of stuff and would be happy to share their details with you.