188 Holly Worton ~ How You Can Be More Courageous on Your Entrepreneurship Journey

How You Can Be More Courageous on Your Entrepreneurship Journey

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I’m back with another solo show! This week’s episode is inspired by an Akashic records email I received a couple of weeks ago, which spoke of inner strength and courage. In this episode, I explore how courage plays a role in entrepreneurship, and why it’s so important to not only recognize all the courageous things we’ve already done in our business, but all the little things we can do to make courage easier.

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What You’ll Learn

Why courage is so important in an entrepreneur’s journey
Where courage shows up in business
How you’ve already shown courage in your business
What courage actually feels like (hint: it’s not like in the movies)
How you can develop your courage muscle

Things I Discussed

Messages from your Akashic Records Keepers

Episodes With Transcripts

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Transcript

The transcript for this episode can also be downloaded here (no opt-in required).

How you can be more courageous on your entrepreneurship journey, with Holly Worton

HW: Hello and welcome to the Business Mindset Podcast episode 188. This is your host Holly Worton; and I am back with another solo show.

I am super-excited about today’s episode where I am going to be talking a little bit about courage: why you need courage as an entrepreneur; how do you get courage; how do you function when you don’t maybe feel very courageous and why is this is so important?

So, the reason I was inspired to do this episode, is because of one of my weekly Akashic records emails. Now, if you follow me online, and if you follow me for any length of time, you may have noticed that I talk a lot about getting a weekly Akashic records email readings from a woman named Vickie Young; her website is: http://www.medicinedreamhealing.com/. Vickie is absolutely fantastic; I really, really love her Akashic records emails. So, if you don’t know what Akashic records are they are like a metaphoric library of information about you and your soul and all of its incarnations throughout all of your different lifetimes; which you may or may not believe in. But, the idea is that you can access these records and get information that may serve you in this lifetime. So, anyway, so what Vicky does, is for $25 a month, she gives you a weekly Akashic records email, where she taps into your Akashic record and gives you a message. So, the message that I got, this was not last weekend but the weekend before, was that: my strength was encouraging many and I may not be aware of this. They said: we just want you to know that you are a lighthouse for all those who are seeking inner peace and courage. And the thing is, the best part actually is: while you are in the process of your journey, you are healing many lives.

So, basically it said in the message that women who are needing a hand with coping with getting back the strength that they lost, for some reason are drawn to me; which I found really interesting and as they said I may not be aware of this: no I was not.

But this email really encouraged me to take a look at my own sense of inner-strength, and courage, and how that’s developed as an entrepreneur, and how I’m reflecting this out into the world. So, you may also know, if you have been following me or listening to me for any length of time – that I have been in business since 1999. And my first business was in the hospitality industry; and with a business partner, we owned eco-hotels which we designed and built ourselves in South East Mexico. So, we ran that business, he is still running it; I ran it with him for ten-and-a-half years, and this was something we started from scratch, and this was kind of one of the biggest steps outside my comfort zone at the time. I was 25 years old when we started that business, and I had no idea what I was doing, I had just quit Grad School to move back to Mexico, we started this business together, I had no idea, I had never worked in hospitality, I had never worked in a hotel, I didn’t know how anything worked, I was in charge of reservations, I didn’t know how to manage hotel reservations; I didn’t know what the heck I was doing. And, I was just always outside my comfort zone and, always learning and always growing, and always expanding and always trying new things. And it was a bit exhausting, just because I was like I said, constantly outside of my comfort zone; but I was doing all the things I needed to do, because I needed to do them, I had to do them, stuff needed to get done. The website needed updating, you know, I needed to work with travel agents, I needed to…there was so much I needed to do and like I said I didn’t know how to do any of it. This was back in 1999 when the internet was kind of new, so it wasn’t like I could just get on Google and Google a ton of stuff, because, I don’t know, did Google even exist back then? I don’t think so, I think we had AltaVista. So, I was just constantly in a state of learning new stuff, constantly outside of my comfort zone, and I am now realising in retrospect that that required a lot of courage.

I had moved from California, to South East Mexico, [I was] in an area that was very remote, there was no electricity where I lived, we had no running water, we had to get water delivered by truck every day, until we eventually dug a well, or had someone come in to dig a well; but we had to have water delivered in a truck, we didn’t have gas lines, we had to have gas cylinders delivered, my house was lit by candles. Like, this was very, very rustic, I was living in the middle of the jungle and I loved it, it was so amazing, but that was also outside of my comfort zone. I mean I would wake up in the morning and go to the bathroom and there would be a boa-constrictor under my sink, there were iguanas that would get into my house, I had tarantulas, I had scorpions, it was like the nature channel inside my house.

So, all of that was happening, at the same time that I was running my business that I had no idea how to run [laughing]. So, it was a massive, massive, challenge, and it was a great, very difficult time in my life for many reasons, but I learned SO much. And I am so grateful for everything that I learned, because I am applying those things to the work that I do today, but it required courage. I didn’t feel like that at the time, I didn’t realise I was being courageous, but now in retrospect I realise – how many people would leave the country that they live in, that they know, quit Grad School, move to another country where they kind of speak the language but not really, really well and start a business like that? It was just a massive, massive step outside my comfort zone, but it was such a great adventure.

So, looking at business from this perspective of adventure, that requires courage to do: think about all the different ways that you show courage in your day-to-day running of your business. Because, being an entrepreneur requires us to constantly do new things; constantly getting out there and learning how to market your business, you are learning business stuff; you are learning on-line marketing stuff; you are learning public speaking; you are learning SO many different things. Even if you have been in business for a while, stuff is constantly changing, so, I have been in business since 1999, but back when I built my first website I was using…what was I using? Front Page, what was that called? And then I was using Dreamweaver and now I use WordPress. Like, things change, so as technology changes, you as an entrepreneur are constantly having to learn new technology stuff to do the things you need to do to build your business. Even if you are hiring someone to do your website you may still be updating it yourself. And, so, that’s something that you need to learn how to do.

So, think about all the new things you’ve had to learn since you became an entrepreneur; think of all the things that you learn on a daily basis, on a weekly basis, on a monthly basis; think of all the things you have learned this year, that you didn’t know last year; that requires courage. Think about all the things that you have done since you started your business that are maybe outside your comfort zone; maybe it is public speaking; maybe it is doing videos; maybe it is going to networking; maybe it’s, I don’t know, doing a webinar. Think of all the things that you have done since you started your business that you had never maybe done before; that requires courage, courage to do new things; courage to step outside of your comfort zone. Being an entrepreneur requires courage to have the flexibility and the willingness and the ability to change; to change when the market changes; to change when you change; because if you are a heart-centred, conscious, purpose-driven entrepreneur, you are probably on a massive journey of personal growth, at the same time as you are building your business. So, as you grow, and as you develop, that’s going to affect your business; so, you need to have the flexibility and the willingness to change your business as you grow.

My business has been a massive, massive, transformation. I know I have talked about this before, but ever since I first trained as a coach back in 2011, I mean I first set up my business trying to be a life-coach; then I was working with social media for authors, then it was social media for holistic entrepreneurs; then it was the mindset stuff for entrepreneurs. And there were a lot of other small business focusses in between there that didn’t work, but were part of the journey. I have gone through so many different evolutions and incarnations and iterations of my business, and that all happened because I had the flexibility and the willingness to change. And now, it wasn’t always easy; it required courage to change, because every time I got that gut feeling that my business needed to change, it terrified me. It terrified me because I always would think: what are people going to think of me now: She is changing her business again; what the heck is she doing, can’t she just pick one thing and stick to it? Well, no, I couldn’t. Because it has taken me all this time to get to the core of who I am and who I help and how I help them and how I can best serve people. And, you know, my business is still changing. I have been using Psych-K® to work with clients for the last, ever since I trained in 2013, that’s changing this year, I have developed my new method. So, we are always evolving as human beings, and so that means our business needs to evolve, and we need the courage to step up and make those changes. Business is not a static thing. It is very, very much a dynamic entity almost that has a life of its own, that changes as we change.

As entrepreneurs, we need to have courage to be visible, to be willing to be visible and to step up and be seen, so that we can connect with our ideal clients, and they can become aware of our existence, and how we might be able to help them, so that we can actually get those people working with us as clients, so that we can help them make the difference that they want to make in their lives and their business. That requires courage. Fear of visibility is one of the #1 things that people come to me for; it is one of the #1 things that entrepreneurs struggle with. It is scary to go out and make videos; it is scary to go out and do webinars; it is scary to go out and post on Facebook, and open up your heart and share what you believe and what you stand for and what’s important to you. But all that stuff is how we connect with our ideal clients and how we connect with those people that need our help. And if we don’t step up, and if we don’t have that courage to be visible, then we are doing these people a disservice because we are hiding; we are hiding our skills, we are hiding our abilities, we are hiding our potential for helping people with their stuff.

So, entrepreneurship requires courage to be visible, it also requires the courage to be different, to stand out from the crowd, to be ourselves; because, if we try to water ourselves down and fit in and be normal, and be neutral, and be beige, and just fit in, then that really inhibits our ability to attract our ideal clients, because we won’t be standing out, we will just be like everyone else. And this is something that, I think some people find it easy, but I think the vast majority of entrepreneurs, particularly women entrepreneurs, find really, really difficult. It can be really scary to step up, and be ourselves 100%, and express that online, in person, at networking groups, on webinars, on Facebook, on social media. It can be really scary to be ourselves and just unleash our uniqueness, and let that weirdness, the weird bits that make us, us, shine. It can be so super-scary, especially if you are involved in any kind of business that has a ‘woo’ factor. Some people have different degrees of acceptance to woo stuff, and so if you have a woo business that can be really scary. I have so many friends that channel, and some of them are super-confident, and comfortable talking about that now, but they weren’t always. So, that can be super scary to step up and be visible with every aspect of ourselves, but when we don’t do that, again, we are watering ourselves down, we are being beige and we won’t attract anyone to us, because people won’t know who we are, what we stand for and what we are like. It is those unique bits of our personality that attract our ideal clients to us, that takes courage.

Think about all the ways that you stepped up, since you started your business, maybe the small ways, maybe it’s just answering someone’s question on Facebook, or maybe it’s commenting on someone else’s video, maybe you have done your own videos, maybe you have done webinars. Think about all the ways you stepped up to be visible as yourself. Think about all the different ways that you have already expressed your unique self. That required courage. Maybe think about all the parts of you that you are not yet showing; maybe it’s your ‘woo’, maybe it’s beliefs that you have, things that you want to share but you are scared to. What’s parts of yourself have you been hiding that you could start expressing more? That requires courage.

Entrepreneurship also requires courage for the growth that we experience when we step up in all these ways in our business. As I have said we grow as individuals, we transform, and that requires courage. It requires courage to change what doesn’t work, so you know I have talked about entrepreneurship requires courage to be flexible, and make those changes that we need, but sometimes what we are doing just doesn’t work and if you keep doing things that don’t work, you can’t expect a different result, because that’s, kind of, not going to happen. So, entrepreneurship requires courage to take a look at the things that aren’t working in our business and do something different, make a change, stop repeating things that have not given you the results that you want. That requires courage. Entrepreneurship requires courage so that you can believe in yourself, and believe in your business. And that can be one of the hardest things. How do you get to that point where you have unwavering belief in yourself? I think it comes from taking little steps, taking these steps outside of our comfort zone, exhibiting courage. Doing little courageous things that take us baby steps towards our goal towards our vision of business. And the more we do that, the more that solidifies the belief in ourselves that we can do this. It requires courage. It requires courage to stick it out because, you know, most businesses don’t just blow up and take off from like the first month of operation – actually, I don’t know anyone who has done that. [laughing].

Some people experience success earlier than others, some people take longer; it all depends on your journey and it all depends on what you are doing, and what you are willing to do, but it takes courage to stick it out and stick with your business when you are not getting the results that you want. It takes courage to say yes to opportunities, I mean I remember after I left my first business I was approached with a speaking opportunity to speak with some MBA students who were travelling to Latin America. And I was terrified, this was before I was all into ToastMasters and public speaking and all that; I was super shy, super quiet and I was terrified. If felt sick, sick and I sat up there on this podium, on this kind of raised area with this other woman, answering questions, talking about business with this room full of MBA students. I didn’t have an MBA, yeah at the time I had ten years of business experience, but it still scared the crap out of me to say yes to that opportunity. And then, a month later, that same organisation offered me another opportunity to speak to another group of business students. And, I said yes. And, it was an amazing opportunity, and all the students really, really enjoyed it, but it scared the crap out of me. So, entrepreneurship requires courage, to say yes to those opportunities. Now, think about what opportunities you have already said yes to in your business. Think about what opportunities you maybe said no to because you were scared. Sometimes we do that and that’s okay. But think about what things you can say yes to. That requires courage.

Entrepreneurship requires courage when we create content. Every time we accept a speaking engagement, we create a video, we write a blog post, we put something up on Facebook, that requires courage, because we are expressing ourselves. And that can be scary. It takes courage to create content and to put it out there and to write a newsletter and to send out that newsletter knowing that every time that you send out a newsletter someone is going to unsubscribe, because it always happens. Some people unsubscribe. And that’s okay. It takes courage. It takes courage as I said before to be yourself, but it also takes courage to follow your own path. Because your path of entrepreneurship is not going to be like anyone else’s path. You can model your business after other people’s businesses and that may work for you or it may not. It takes try courage to do your own thing. And to do what works for you and your business and not follow others; because your path is different and it takes courage to walk your path.

So, I think we have established that most of us have already expressed, have experienced, have exhibited, courage in our journey of entrepreneurship. But I think it is important to maybe demystify how courage actually feels. It doesn’t feel like the hero that runs into battle with that riling music that just stirs your soul and gives you so much energy, momentum and courage; it is not like that. It often feels like fear, it feels scary because it is a step outside of your comfort zone but you do it anyway. Courage feels like taking action, even when it’s a stretch. It is not necessarily the absence of fear, it is that of being ready, willing and able to take action even if you are scared.

Courage feels like perseverance, sticking it out when things are hard. It feels like following your heart and your dreams toward your goal. It feels like standing up for your own values and your dreams and believing in yourself. So, if you are not feeling particularly courageous it might be useful for you to make a list of all the things that you have done since you started your business that you had never done before; all the new things. All the things that were outside of your comfort zone, all the changes you made, all the times you stepped up to be visible. All the ways that you expressed your unique self. All the ways in which you have grown since you started your business, because I think that awareness is the first step of changing your mindset. Acknowledge what you have already done; acknowledge the things that you have been too scared to do; and think about all the things that you need to believe about yourself in order to step up and be more courageous. So, what do you need to believe about yourself to do the things that you have been scared to do? And, if you were to do those things, how would your life change? How would your business change? How would things be different for you if you actually took another step outside of your comfort zone, and had the courage to do the really big scary things?

Think about the big things that you would love to do in your business, maybe it’s starting a podcast, maybe it’s starting a YouTube channel, maybe it’s running your first webinar. Maybe it is approaching someone to do a joint venture with you? Think about those scary things that you have been procrastinating on and take one step towards one of those things. Have the courage to make it happen, have the courage to do those scary things. Because you do have that courage it is in you, you just need to exercise your courage muscle. And the more you exercise that courage muscle the stronger it will become. And the easier it will be to step up and do these big things. You have already got it within yourself, it is just a matter of exercising that muscle so it becomes easier.

And, also, doing the mindset work. I mean I know a great amount of the work that I have done in transforming my mindset, using Psych-K®, and now I am using my own process, a great amount of that work has gone into building my courage which makes it easier for me to take that action and do those scary things that are outside of my comfort zone. Never doubt what you are doing and what you plan to do. If you have a dream of having a successful business, and being an entrepreneur and having all the little elements that are part of your vision, believe in yourself, believe in your business, believe in your ability to create that business. Have the courage to take the actions you need to take to create that vision and to make it a reality. And if you need to do mindset work to develop that courage even more, to make it even easier for you to take action, do the mindset work. Like I always say, it could be, you know, find your own technique, find what works for you, it might be Psych-K® it might be tapping it might be hypnotherapy, it might be something else, but find whatever it is that you can use to transform your mindset into a mindset of courage. Recognising that you have already exhibited in your business and developing that courage muscle. You may feel like you are not super courageous, you may feel that you have lost your inner strength or your courage, but it’s in there and the more that you exercise that muscle by doing little steps, taking little baby steps towards your goal, taking little baby steps outside of your comfort zone, that’s exercising your courage muscle, you have that strength, you have that courage, it is already within you.

So, I hope you found this interesting and useful, as usual. And I hope that this has inspired you to maybe take some steps outside of your comfort zone but also recognise the importance that courage has in building any business. It is easy to miss. It is easy to get stuck on the hamster wheel of entrepreneurship and not realise how far we have come and how much courage it took ;to get where we are, but it is there, you have got it, you can do it and I look forward to seeing what you do with this. So, as always, I am welcome, I welcome your comments, so either you know, leave comments on my blog, I would love to hear from you, send me an email at: [email protected]. Yeah and I would love to hear from you, let me know what you thought of this episode, please reach out and connect, that would be great.

And, I would also like to invite you, if you are a women entrepreneur listening to this, I have a private Facebook group that I really, really, enjoy, where we talk about business mindset stuff. So, if you go to: https://www.hollyworton.com/Group that will redirect you to the Facebook group and I would love to see you in there. So, just send me a request to be added to the group and I will accept.

So, that’s all for now, hope you found this useful and have a great day. Thank you for listening and remember to visit: hollyworton.com/188 for the show notes on this episode. Thank you.