Learning Your Worth

Fanning Your Fire of Self Belief

In this post I want to talk to you about something very raw and very real.  So far, I think I’ve been pretty candid about the struggles and elations of starting a business.  In this post, I want to help you by showing you the importance of learning your worth, of fanning your fire of self belief.

One of the the hardest parts of starting my own business, was a hurdle of my own creation.  After six jobs that lasted only a year or less, and a few attempts to start something of my own, I began to embrace self doubt.  My friends, once you let self doubt into your life, it’s one of the hardest things send packing.  We just installed new counter tops – so let me try this example.  Dabbling in self doubt is like applying liquid nails.  You put it on, then you wallow a bit, allowing it to dry…and then you’re stuck with it.

Sometimes I feel like the only way to get rid of liquid nails is to burn it all down, like scorched earth and start over.  So that’s what I did.  I read Liz Gilbert’s Big Magic and gained the courage to really explore who I am and to see the value in myself, in my experiences, and what I have to offer.  Big Magic was like the kindling to build my fire.  It gave me what I needed to get started.

The rest was up to me.  So I built my website, the sticks to carry on the kindling.  I pulled together my first couple clients, like the logs to give my fire structure and support.

But making the learning your worth, is like any skill, it needs to be practiced or else it is lost.  So throughout the whole process of starting my business, I saw just how important fanning your fire of self belief really is.  Starting your own business isn’t one and done either.  It’s a journey, a continually evolving one that will take you to all kinds of new places.  Mine so far has literally taken me to Amsterdam and Sweden…and West Virginia (not a stab at that beautiful state – I’m happy to call it my neighbor and plan to visit often).  The whole time, from traveling and catching three flights and multiple trains, to pitching Idea Hunt to strangers, in a completely foreign environment, to looking ahead at the future and wondering if I could do it – the whole time required the constant fanning of my fire.

The point of sharing this anecdote is so that you know, the moment those feelings come creeping back in, that it’s normal and even expected; so that you remember that there is a way out of those feelings.  Or if you are about to embark on the journey of starting your own business, this will be a journey full of ups and downs and constantly fanning your fire of self belief and reminding yourself that learning your worth is a lesson that is never quite finished.

Go confidently out into the world and tackle your dreams!