I have a vulnerability problem.
This may shock you since I’m sending this article out to thousands of people around the world {who periodically send not nice comments}, but the thought of putting myself out there or of someone declaring me incompetent or untalented makes me quiver in my boots.
The only problem is that the fear of being vulnerable is a fatal flaw for an entrepreneur.
So let me burst your bubble. You don’t know everything. Neither do I.
And, when we reach a pivotal part in our companies where we no longer have the answer, we stand to destroy everything we’ve worked for if we don’t stand with courage and ask for help from someone’s who been there.
I am the epitome of technology for dummies. Ask me to install something on my website and I will be near tears in minutes.
This summer I was at a conference with James Wedmore, who runs a million dollar business teaching people how to use YouTube {in other words a very smart, technical fellow}. My progress was totally sidelined by a simple issue…I couldn’t install a plug in on my site.
Before I asked for help, I honestly thought to myself, “This should be simple. No one else is having this problem. Am I a total idiot, I mean I need some technology to run my company right?” It was followed by “I can’t believe this is what I am asking.”
To be honest, this is a little moment, but it’s representative of a bigger problem I {and a lot of entrepreneurs I work with have}. I had shamed myself into believing my inability to not be able to do everything, made me a failure, or worse, left me looking foolish.
Sometimes my everything is quite big…trolling through data for hours can leave me dumbstruck; I am perpetually growing as a leader and have made some whopper mistakes with my co-workers; and the recovering perfectionist in me still likes to rear it’s ugly head.
Do I tell myself I should be better? I shouldn’t let anyone know lest they think me not enough? Or do I tell myself the truth…no one can do it all on their own and open myself up to having someone stand alongside me?
This after all is what true courage does. It takes us outside of our comfort zone and says that regardless of the reaction, we are worthy of help no matter how big or small.
I don’t know where you are today. Maybe you are pushing gloriously through work. Maybe you are scared of the future and what it holds. Maybe the little details have paralyzed you. Maybe the idea of actually selling to someone has left you so terrified you’ve retreated into a shell.
Perhaps it’s as simple as letting yourself believe the lies that you should be enough. That as a leader, business owner, teacher, instructor or healer, you need to have all the answers.
Let me whisper the truth to you…you don’t stand alone.
Set yourself {and your business} free from these lies. Relish help and watch as your business grows.
Find a mentor, confide in a friend, share your fears and even more powerfully, what you’re ashamed to admit and watch the taboo slip away. I promise that the power that stands on the other side of this leap is extraordinary, life-changing, business transforming.
And, best of all, you’ll likely learn that you aren’t alone. This fear and vulnerability unites all entrepreneurs…when we harness it innovation is at our fingertips and change is ahead. I for one can’t wait to see where we’ll go.
Lise
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