Why Getting Vulnerable Will Help You Stop Playing Small in Your Business

Hey, hey, Kathryn, here I am so glad you're tuning in to today's episode why getting vulnerable will help you stop playing small in your entrepreneurship space. 

I’m so glad you’re here. If you’ve been around for a bit, you know I’m all about keeping it real with you. Showing you all the sides of entrepreneurship (& life). I mean it’s all connected, right? 

I have no desire to sugarcoat things or paint this picture that this entrepreneurship journey we are on is all rainbows and butterflies. What I promise to bring is truth and transparency to each and every episode and that requires me to get vulnerable. I also won’t promise that I have everything figured out because let's be honest who does?

My hope with each episode is to bring you along on this entrepreneurship journey with me as I learn and grow. As Brene Brown says, if you’re not in the arena getting your ass-kicked, I don’t want your feedback. Well, I want you to see me as your friend in the arena equally getting my ass-kicked but inspiring you to keep going because I get it. I’m living it too. 

And that the perspectives I share on the show are real life, in the arena types of perspectives, like the one I’m going to share with you today.  

Because I want you to know that we all experience moments where we aren’t playing full out because we’re scared things won’t work out or we’re worried about what others might think. 

And I want you to know that it’s totally normal. The fears you feel are normal. But they are also here to keep you playing small. And I’m here to empower you to step up and play full out. But we gotta get vulnerable!

Because my big mission has always been to help make it easier for people to express themselves authentically and get paid for it. But more importantly to create a world where we embrace each other even if we are different. Because I believe a lot of our world's problems boil down to our inability to accept our differences and we spend so much of our energy trying to change people, or write them off if they don’t agree with our views.

The thing is it’s our differences that make this world a beautiful place. And I believe entrepreneurs who choose to carve their own path on this entrepreneurship journey have the capacity to change the world for the better. But before we can accept others we have to get vulnerable with ourselves so that we can accept ourselves. 

So, I invite you along this entrepreneurship journey, because together we can make the world a better place, and encourage more people to express themselves authentically and stand up for what they believe.

With that, I want to know who you are, and what you do, and if you find these episodes inspiring, empowering, thought-provoking, vulnerable and I’d love for you to take a screenshot of you listening to it and tag me @creativelyowned in IG stories. This way I know you’re finding the content valuable, and who you are. That way I can share the love back.

Awesome! Now let’s dive into the good stuff, shall we? Today as I mentioned, I’m going to get a little raw and vulnerable with you about what I’ve been up to over the last year and the lessons I’ve learned (& still learning). Entrepreneurship isn't for the faint of heart.

It’s been a year now since I stepped away from my brick-and-mortar business to go full-time in my online business. It’s also been a full year since I launched my group coaching program Messaging that Sells. 

And if I’m being honest, I’ve hesitated re-launching it, because serving my 1:1 clients felt safer. I've been playing small for sure. And even recognizing that required me to get vulnerable about my entrepreneurship journey. I grew up playing competitive sports so winning and losing have been ingrained in my brain from a young age. 

Even more ingrained is the meaning attached to each one. Losing doesn’t carry the good feelings as winning does. Losing comes with what could I have done better, how I showed up today wasn’t enough, maybe I need to try harder; while winning brings this sense of satisfaction like all the hard work pays off. So trying to avoid losing is a great way to play small. 

And when you’ve grown up competing it’s hard to shut that off in business. And what ends up happening is you attach similar meanings to success and failures. You might even go further with it, and attach it to not getting the engagement you expected or comments from your audience. And when you're showing up putting your heart and soul into your work, getting vulnerable with your audience it's deflating.

It’s why a lot of people end up playing small. They don’t want to feel the feelings that come with losing (or failure). So they end up trying so bloody hard to control the outcome to win (or succeed).

It’s what I’ve been doing this past year. I’ve been playing small. From the outside looking in you might be thinking, Ummm Kathryn you launched a podcast, you’re serving amazing 1:1 clients, you sold a business. It looks the opposite to me. 

And I get that. From the outside looking in, I have done a lot and achieved a lot over the last year. I don’t want to discredit that all. But it’s easy to hide behind doing things. It’s easy to fill our days with to-dos. And it’s easy to show up when we feel like it online. It's also easy to not get vulnerable with what's going on in this entrepreneurship journey 

It’s also easy to not even realize when we are hiding if you're not willing to get vulnerable. And for me, I’ve been hiding in my business without even realizing it. Out of safety of not fully stepping into my power in the entrepreneurship space.

It’s why I’ve hesitated re-launching my group program because the outcome is unpredictable. It’s showing up full out during the launch with no guarantee of the outcome. Entrepreneurship doesn't have guarantees but launching is having the eyes on you.

Whereas serving 1:1 clients is safe. I don’t need to launch, no one needs to know if my launch was successful or not. It’s easy. 

But as I mentioned at the start of the show, authentically expressing who you are and showing up as the person requires you to get vulnerable. And vulnerability is a choice we make daily. 

And as Brene Brown says, vulnerability isn’t about winning or losing; it’s having the courage to show up and be seen when we have no control over the outcome. 

This is especially true for personal brands. And something I’ve felt more and more this past year. Because I no longer have the security blanket of my brick-and-mortar. 

As the face of our business, showing up as our authentic selves requires us to get vulnerable. It requires us to let go of who we think we should be and embrace who we are. 

It’s finding the courage daily to show up, BE seen and heard regardless of the outcome. Because if you’re a change-maker like I am, playing small isn’t going to cut it. It’s going to take us playing full out to create the impact we want in this world.

So, will you play full out with me? Will you commit to finding the courage to let go of who you think you should be, and step into the person you are?  

If you answered YES to those questions then I invite you to take a peek at where you might be hiding in your business (or life).  

Where are you playing small? Where are you diluting your voice and brilliance out of fear of being fully seen? Where aren't you willing to get vulnerable?