by Shawn Fink | Nov 2, 2023 | Recent
I wrote obituaries in my first job as a journalist 20 years ago.
I saw this as a setback in my budding career but it was the foot in the door I needed to become a print journalist.
Writing about dead people taught me so much about the life I wanted to live and how vital it is to leave a legacy.
So often, the women I wrote about were simply “good mothers.” As if they weren’t anything more.
Since then, I have been helping women play bigger in their lives because while we are here we should do what we can to make this world a better place.
This is why I love helping female founders navigate the Brave Yes Journey by helping you create a specialized methodology, develop your voice and put your work out into the world.
But first, what is a Brave Yes?
A Brave Yes is a scary but exhilarating leap that gets you closer to creating a life and business you want. It’s a stretch goal.
Finding your Brave Yes can take weeks or years — depending on how entrenched you are in your own comfort zone. My clients usually find theirs within three months.
Here are 3 Brave Yes Sparks to help you Journey Toward Your Brave Yes
- What do you want written about you in your obituary?
- If money or time wasn’t an issue, what would you work to change?
- What makes you angry? Write a list.
The bottom line is this: You are so more capable than you know. When you believe in yourself enough, you can do anything. Begin by dreaming bigger for yourself.
by Shawn Fink | Sep 29, 2023 | Recent
When I was little, we lived with my grandparents for a few years while my mom got on her feet as a single mom.
That was fine with me. I was an only child. My grandmother was (is) everything to me. (She turns 90 next month.)
My grandparents lived on a huge property with 50 sprawling acres of forest and creeks — and this may explain a lot about who I am now.
On weekends, I spent hours in the woods with my best friend from birth. She and I would envision elaborate forts in the trees. She had her rooms. I had mine.
Our vision was amazing for two 8-year-old very imaginative girls.
Our vision was bold, creative, and unlimited.
Our execution was pretty pathetic.
Our reality was that we had limited resources.
This is what happens with a lot of creative entrepreneurs I know.
Your vision doesn’t always match the reality of your life circumstances – and that’s OK.
It’s like those business goals you set for the year.
They didn’t happen the way you thought, did they?
You didn’t get the social media traction you thought?
You didn’t finish the project you wanted to finish?
That piece, that offer, that sales page — it didn’t do the idea justice, did it?
Actualization is tricky.
It’s tricky because we’re human beings, not human doings.
We are not computers with perfect computing and execution.
We are living, breathing souls with life circumstances to account for every single day.
- The senior dog needs let out.
- The puppy needs attention.
- Heartbroken kids need to be tended to.
- Health issues that rock our world.
- Insomnia.
- Complex relationships and emotions
So, what I mean is … we’re all carrying quite a load and it’s no wonder actualization doesn’t always match the vision. We must remain bendy.
My Brave YES Mindset reminder for you this week is this:
When you are building, creating, or starting anything, the final product may not match the vision you had in your mind — the one you so clearly mapped out and put into the planning of it all.
Your plan was just your ideal vision on paper.
That’s where the work begins.
This is the glass butterfly effect Elizabeth Gilbert talks about in her book Big Magic.
As artists, creators, thought leaders, consultants and business owners we put an offer, a product, an idea out there but the final product is never quite like the one we had dreamed up, schemed up in our heads.
Because, people.
Because, timing.
Because, exhaustion.
Because, life.
Because, limited resources.
Because, imperfection.
Actualization is messy. It’s hard. It’s complicated.
NEED HELP ACTUALIZING? Let’s set AUDACIOUS goals together & create the strategy you need to get there. That’s what I do as a Business Design Strategist and Courage Coach! Learn more about my private coaching program here.
To see something to the end is courageous.
The Courage Move: So what if everything doesn’t go as planned?
On Friday, I led a Brave Business Vision masterclass for a group of entrepreneurs. I am passionate about visioning and have been for a very long time. I lead my clients through Brave YES Vision Quests all. the. time.
You need a BRAVE vision to start anything. You must know where you want to go. You must be able to see it, taste it, and feel it to believe in it.
The more vivid the vision, the more clearly you can actualize it.
But, you must be willing to allow that vision to change with the pulses of life and reality — and the resources you have in place.
You must be OK when life hits and hits hard and there were bumps and the final product didn’t get done on time — or at all like you thought it would.
There were detours and breakdowns. There were rest stops and flat tires.
And, most certainly, the destination doesn’t look like the version you had in your head.
That’s OK.
Because the final version is better than the original vision because it’s the one YOU were BRAVE enough to put out there. The Brave YES is where you were courageous enough to say “YES, this is good enough … time to let it go.”
by Shawn Fink | Aug 30, 2023 | Recent
You are busy taking action all week long, leading in ways you never dreamed.
You have a clear set of goals and intentions, even if it’s imperfectly executed.
You may even count your wins and celebrate the successes you experienced.
But, are you taking time to truly reflect on your actions, your behavior and your mindset?
Self-Reflection can be one of the highest forms of self-care for founders and leaders at any level.
And, it also is one of the best ways to become braver and more confident in your leadership.
As a business strategist and courage coach for founders and their teams, I naturally build in a lot of self-reflection with my clients both during private coaching sessions and during my Brave YES Leadership Team Retreats.
In fact, sometimes the first 20 minutes of a private coaching session is the reflection piece, which is so powerful because this is often where ah-ahs pop up and the real areas of coaching work can begin.
>>>> In my upcoming Brave YES Power Squad — a 12-week group coaching program — weekly reflection is built in so that we are making sure to honor progress made while trying to push ourselves to take brave action. In fact, each week there are lessons to bring your focus and awareness on key areas of taking risks, being authentic and leading more courageously.
Reflection is the foundation for building on what’s working. No foundation, no growth.
Taking time for self-reflection isn’t something that we’re taught and because our society is always focused on new and more and different we tend to just keep moving ahead and taking action, even if that action isn’t working anymore.
When you take time to reflect on your actions, your wins, your struggles, your obstacles, you are not just venting or becoming more aware of what’s working and what’s not, you are also creating new pathways in your brain to start to make much more powerful decisions.
I’m often amazed at how people operate without doing any self-reflection but it is a thing for some — my husband is one of them. While he may do a little hindsight 20-20 while driving or working out, he’s not someone who will sit and journal and reflect on his day or his week.
That’s my territory, for sure.
Self-reflection can cover a lot of things but the one thing it is not covering is more doing, more learning, more striving.
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No, self-reflection is about …
- honoring what has happened
- noting how you are feeling and what you need now
- noticing patterns
- recognizing limiting beliefs
- making space to think bigger by building on what’s working
Here are 6 tips to start your own self-reflection practice:
1. Choose Core Self-Reflection Themes
More often than not, we all have a lot of areas of growth or improvement we want to focus on in our lives and work. That isn’t advised when starting out a self-reflection practice.
Instead, choose a few core areas — themes — to focus on.
Themes can relate to anything that is important to you such as …
- Personal or Family Life
- Health
- Leadership
- Creativity
- Sales or Marketing
- A certain Project
- Self-Care
It’s up to you to personalize and decide on themes that are meaningful to you so that you are truly reflecting on what matters most.
MY PRACTICE: I call them themes in my life and I usually focus on no more than 6 themes in my own life and work. My themes vary from week to week or month to month. I always make sure my own self-care and family life is a priority in my self-reflection as well as key areas of my business and my creativity/writing.
2. Decide on Self-Reflection Recurrence and Timing
Self-reflection works best when it’s done consistently and over a long period of time. The more you notice, the more you’ll start to notice and pick up on patterns and limiting beliefs that may be holding you back.
But, it’s not necessary to do this practice daily, especially as you get started. But, it is important to establish a ritual that keeps it meaningful and relevant for you.
Consider your own life and schedule and decide how much time you want to spend and how often you can commit to your self-reflection practice.
Some options include:
- Daily
- Weekly
- Monthly
- Quarterly
MY PRACTICE: For me, I do some reflection daily usually in morning pages or evening pages in my journal but I also do a more formal practice every Friday that is a weekly review and reflection.
3. Settle on One Container for Your Self-Reflection Practice
It should be noted that I am a passionate journaler. My home office closet is filled with little else but a mini-mountain of filled up journals.
That said, the container you choose for your self-reflection practice needs to feel good for you so that you’re willing to do it when you want to be doing it.
By choosing one container — and not being scattered and all over the place — you are able to look back and past reflections and see evidence of growth, progress or ah-has.
There is no wrong container except one you won’t use.
Here are a few of the possible containers for your self-reflection practice:
- A Journal
- Notion Page
- Google Doc
- Spreadsheet
- Apple Notes
- Planner
- Voice recording app
Let your own practice container be something that energizes you and keeps you reflecting!
MY PRACTICE: I use three containers. I use a catch-all journal (this one, in fact) for my informal, daily reflections or I use an online platform for writing my morning pages. Then, I have a Weekly Review & Reset Notion Dashboard that I fill out weekly. Clearly reflection is a big part of my process — both creatively and as a coach — so I spend a lot of time in reflection.
4. Identify the Most Important Questions To Ask Yourself
You want your self-reflection practice to get to the heart of what you need to discover so you’ll want your questions to be powerful enough to get yourself thinking more deeply than surface level.
It’s essential that you ask yourself hard questions and be honest with the answers.
While simple questions may get you through your practice more quickly, true self-reflection requires quiet space to think and get below the surface of where the obvious lives.
Become a powerful question asker and collector.
If you run across a favorite question you’ve heard from someone else — say, in a meeting — write it down and add it to your practice.
Questions to Consider:
- What was my biggest win?
- What gave me energy?
- What zapped my energy?
- Where did I struggle?
- What went well?
- What needs improvement?
MY PRACTICE: I have a set of standard questions that I ask myself each week but my informal daily practice focuses on a three-prong approach: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow. I also have reflection prompts I use to mix things up and get me thinking differently. I keep a long list of these in a Notion page just for reflection journaling.
5. Keep Digging for the Lessons
Self-reflection is no use to you if you don’t find areas of growth to make in any theme you are curious about or passionate about right now.
So your practice needs to be messy and imperfect. Keep digging until the real lesson — the real area of progress — shows up and makes itself clear to you.
For example, let’s say one of your core areas for self-reflection is productivity. Lately you’ve been getting distracted and not taking enough action on your goals. Writing each week about what’s distracting you – and why — should lead to some real answers and solutions. If you are only venting about being distracted, you’re not asking the right questions.
By asking clarifying questions you’ll get closer to the lessons you need to pay attention to.
A few clarifying questions to consider …
- Why
- What now?
- What do I mean by this?
MY PRACTICE: I follow a much customized journaling practice I learned a while back from a colleague that I call YES, NOPE, SPARK. When I find an area where I am struggling, I write a list of what the YESES are — what’s working, what makes me happy, what feels good. Then, I wrote down all the NOPES, what’s not working, what doesn’t feel good, etc. Then, I write a list of SPARKS, which are the actions I need to keep moving forward, maintain, or remember. The SPARK list is the medicine from my reflection.
Process and Take Actions on Your Lessons Learned
The whole point of self-reflection is to become more self-aware of what is working for you and what isn’t in any given area of your life, business or leadership.
To make the most of this practice, you’ll want to make sure you take what you’ve learned and implement it in some way going forward. It’s useless to reflect and not put what you learn into action. Otherwise you’ll be repeating the same mistakes over and over.
Take time to put some actionable tasks or reminders in places you’ll see them through your week. Dig a little deeper if you don’t have any actions to take.
Ways to Process and Grow Through the Lessons
- Journal on each lesson you discover
- Take a walk to process the lesson
- Meditate with the lesson in mind
- Reach up for support to verbally process
MY PRACTICE: As a coach, I hold space for a lot of people trying to make sense of their obstacles and self-sabotage. And so, naturally, I am in a lot of conversations each day that help me process and cope with many struggles. That said, I also do all four of these practices to process and grow through my lessons. I spend a lot of time reflecting and processing so that I take right action going forward.
I’d love to hear about your own self-reflection practice! Do you have a favorite question to ask? A favorite ritual?
by Shawn Fink | Aug 9, 2023 | Recent, Sovereignty + Self-Worth
I love the work I do because my whole life I have dedicated every ounce of my being to the advancement and empowerment of women and those who identify as female.
Empowerment is one of those overused words, though, and often loses its meaning after a while.
What I really mean to say here is this: I am here to see you feel confident enough to do what feels good for you and to feel ready and willing to do what is uncomfortably necessary to grow your influence, your success and your power.
And, in business, this means daily — or multiple times a day.
No time is better to do that than when you feel like you are not feeling aligned or when your business is a runaway train, like you’re off track but the train is speeding along and there is no end in sight.
In those moments, or seasons, something isn’t feeling right and you feel powerless.
- Perhaps you are feeling invisible or as if you are playing too small
- Perhaps you are feeling swamped and finding yourself leading a team and feeling out of control in your own life or creativity.
- Perhaps you feel like you are calling in the wrong kinds of clients or not earning enough income for yourself.
- Perhaps you feel like you are spending more time in your day doing what you do not love and what doesn’t bring you joy.
Any of these scenarios – or many others – can create friction in your role as a founder.
You went into business for the freedom but, if you are not careful, you won’t have the kind of freedom you really want.
I work with my clients on the Entrepreneurial Freedom Trifecta: Designing business and offerings that create time flexibility, meaning making and identity freedom.
All of this, though, requires that, we as women founders and entrepreneurs, feel empowered and stay in our power as we make key decisions and take bold action.
The goal for me as a coach is to empower my clients to reach a place of sovereignty in their business – in their offerings, in their revenue, in their leadership, in their marketing and sales, and in their daily activities.
This involves a lot of outer changes and inner shifts that results in more confidence and feeling much more empowered in how they show up in their business and for their team — and personally.
For instance, I have a client who was barely leading her team, not expecting enough from her team and slowly came to realize that she needed to step up and lead more boldly. That meant she had to make a lot of changes, including becoming a more sovereign business owner.
What does it mean to be sovereign?
As a founder and entrepreneur, you decide how your business is going to be shaped and the culture it will operate under.
When you are no longer making those decisions that benefit you or your business vision, or when you are pleasing others far more than your interests, you are not operating in a sovereign way.
But, what does sovereignty really mean?
According to Merriam Webster Dictionary, Sovereignty means:
a : supreme power especially over a body politic
b: freedom from external control : AUTONOMY
c: controlling influence
: one that is sovereign
especially : an autonomous state
I work with my clients on what I call Brave YES Power Moves, which include a myriad of bold actions especially sovereign business practices that give you back your power, your ability to influence your role and your business, and freedom from other people telling you how to do things or what you can and can’t do.
When you operate as a Sovereign Founder you are embracing power within that reminds you that you are the visionary and the leader of your business. And you get to be the boss. You get to be authentically you and design your business around what works for you. This doesn’t give you permission to be a jerk or a bad leader. It doesn’t mean powering over your team or being unavailable for your clients.
It simply means you are grounded in presence because you have a clear understanding of what is happening and what you need for your highest good of service in this world.
Why Sovereignty is Essential for a Thriving Business
Far too often, entrepreneurs burn out and bottom out in business because they lose control of how they are spending their time and where their energy goes. This can be from working with clients and service delivery or it could be working with a team.
When you have sovereignty, you feel like you are in control and that you are able to make decisions from a place of empowerment not power loss.
Running and growing a business takes a lot of patience and discernment.
The more you feel empowered, the happier and more balanced you are going to feel.
I wish someone had told me more about staying in my power and being sovereign early in my entrepreneurship journey. I would have made some different key decisions that benefited me more in those early years. Instead, I let others influence how I ran my business and what decisions I made.
Once I stepped into my power and truly felt like I had agency over my decision making and leadership, I found the balance and joy I had been searching for at that time and the confidence to take some strategic risks that I had been holding back on.
It’s never too late to devote yourself to empowering yourself to bolder leadership and taking more aligned, braver action in your business and that’s what we work on in my private coaching program as well as my Brave YES Power Squad, a group coaching program devoted to boosting your courage, confidence and inner power.
When you feel powerful, you can do anything and you will do anything. Do not think that your power is too much or excessive. Your POWER is the driver of your creative energy and your generosity. It is the core of your business. Your team relies on you to put your POWER to use for good. Your power can shape every single member of your team into a star. If you use it. This is essential inner work my clients are ALL are encouraged to do with my business and courage coaching program.
Here are 10 Essential Sovereign Business Practices Every Female Founder Needs to Put into Place:
1. Set Bolder Boundaries.
I’ve been a full-time entrepreneur for 10 years and I learned many boundary lessons by NOT having boundaries in place.
The truth is that no one can tell you what boundaries you need to have in place to feel empowered and energized. You have to figure them out and implement as they come up.
Boundaries are your inner and outer personal rules to abide by that help to protect your joy, your energy, your resources and your time. Often, we are good at setting boundaries with clients and, perhaps even, team members.
The thing is, though, powerful boundaries that you set WITH YOURSELF are just as important and will help you advance and be proactive not just reactive about your goals and vision are also equally as essential.
In other words, setting boundaries to protect you against your own self-sabotage is just as important as the ones you set with others.
>>>> Sign up now for my Bolder Business Boundaries Boost FREE Challenge here.
2. Lead with Your Brave YES Edge
Everyone is talking about being authentic these days.
And, for some, being authentic is performative and splashy.
But, what if you are beige? A bit too vanilla?
Well, that’s perfect, too!
This is where my passion for helping you discover and Own YOUR Brave YES Edge comes into play.
I’m not just a business coach.
I’m a business strategist who also specifically offers courage coaching to help my clients uplevel and do hard things — and I work with my clients on their next Brave YES Leaps.
And, you’re not just a … landscape architect, book coach, graphic designer, painter, writing coach, etc. etc. etc.
Your Brave YES Edge is the key to drawing people to you and the work you do and how you can help them. It’s what sets you apart.
Your Brave YES Edge is how you stand out, NOT how you fit in.
>>> Get started with finding your edge by Discovering Your Entrepreneurial Courage Style!
3. Step into Brave Leadership
The state of our future relies on YOU putting your genius out into the world —- whether that is in speaking up and speaking out, your ideas, your services, your art or your energy, your products, your offers, your voice.
When you stand for something and express it, this is how you claim — or reclaim — your power.
Our systems are broken and bold creators and thought leaders like you are going to save us — by leading more courageously and creating work that bridges us to the New World we all crave and desire.
Once you know what you stand for nothing will stop you and you can make an impact … with your influence, your money, your leadership, your ideas and your power.
Be willing to be a leader and not a beginner. Step into your expert status now. Let them see your brave.
4. Say YES Before You’re Ready
It’s so easy to think you need to learn more and experience more before you say YES to a big goal or dream you have for yourself or your business.
The thing is, at some point you have to move beyond your beginner’s mindset and step into your expert status.
For women entrepreneurs this can be especially challenging. Unlike our male counterparts who tend to walk into a new experience confident, we tend to hold back, play small and wait for clear evidence we are ready to take a risk or try something new.
In order to get your business where you want it, you’ll have to start saying YES before you think you are ready.
5. Determine How YOU will influence and market in your business
When you let the Big Guys dictate how you will market based on their needs and wants and how they set the algorithms, you are not in your power.
If you love video and video is where your happy place is, that works well for you. If you do not love video, you do not have to use video. Most of my clients do not love video or consume it so we use many other ways to market our work.
When you step into your power and listen to what you know works best for you and your business, you can determine how you will influence and market your business in a way that feels fully aligned with your passion and your values.
Your Entrepreneurial courage style can absolutely guide you in how you approach sales and marketing.
6. Set Brave YES Intentions for Yourself, not just your business.
I have a general rule — well, it’s more a bit of an anarchist/non-conformist/anti-authoritarian streak — where if you tell me exactly what to do, I’m not going to do it.
My clients know this about me. 😄
So, when all the craze several years ago was picking a word of the year, the more my brain tried and tried, the more my heart and soul resisted.
So I started setting intentions instead and that was all great.
But sometimes intentions are a little too comfy.
Setting Soul Goals & Brave Yes intentions is not a left brained exercise.
- It’s right brained.
- It’s spiritual.
- It’s time consuming.
And it needs to be done in the perfect environment — a safe space or spaciousness — where you can really open up and allow all possibilities to step out of hiding. Otherwise you end up choosing intentions based on shoulds or false illusions — those things that are based on what is beckoned to you, that shows up in front of you and suddenly you need.
But, don’t forget you aren’t just a business owner. Set intentions that GROW your own interests, dreams and visions for your life. This is where the real Brave YES yearnings come alive.
Learn more about Setting Brave YES Intentions here.
7. Define Your Own Success
There’s lots of talk about making 7 and 8 figures these days.
Let’s clear something up.
You can be successful earning less than 6 figures — if that’s where you’re at, own it and soak in the abundance of where you are currently.
It’s all in how you define success for yourself and how you live your life.
Don’t let other people’s ideas of success determine your own.
Think for yourself.
Design metrics of success that are deeply personal to you.
8. Take Actions that Scale Your Joy
If your any of your sales, marketing or business tasks make you feel ick or angry or bored out of your mind, you need a joy infusion!
If you feel resistance to a certain way of doing business that you’ve learned from someone else, that is a red flag that that system isn’t working for you.
Create your own system that is centered around what works for you, what feels good. It’s easy to think there are rules in business — that’s just because we’ve been conditioned by capitalism to operate by a certain set of workplace and business rules.
We can reject any and all of that if it doesn’t feel good.
9. Be YOURSELF
As a coach, my role in a coaching relationship is to keep a focus on your wholistic life — and our work together is about bringing all of your many fragmented parts into alignment.
We weave wholeness into everything including your own self-worth through my business coaching. Once you know yourself so well that you can see how you have been showing up in the world out of alignment, it’s so much easier to lead and create more boldly.
The key to being the change we want to see in the world beings within. It begins with no longer self-sabotaging. It begins with no longer letting energy leaks take over. It begins with trusting yourself.
10. Use Your Voice and Take Up Space
Despite what the voices in your head tell you, you are ready.
You are ready to start taking up more space in ways you never dreamed.
In order to attract your most aligned clients and you need to let them see your B.R.A.V.E … this means you need to show up, take risks and really start to put yourself out there — consistently and boldly.
You are an expert. You know what you are doing. You are more than capable.
It’s time to take up space.
It’s time to use your voice. You can do this through strategic content creation, speaking, hosting events and more.
>>>>>> Listen (or read) all about Let Them See Your B.R.A.V.E here.
11. Invest in Believing in Your Self-Worth
We have to find new ways of seeing ourselves and that means focusing more on what’s strong and not what’s wrong.
When we focus on what’s wrong, all the gaping holes of our entire existence start to show up as glaring stains on our nice clean shirts.
But when we focus on what’s strong like our strengths, like our assets, like our experiences, like our skills, we start to see ourselves for what we are: wise, beautiful survivors, people who’ve been through a lot, who carry a lot, who are going to change the world one tiny moment at a time.
All of this can carry you through a sale, can carry you through a marketing campaign, can carry you through a new program– all of it.
Once you start to empower yourself. By investing in boosting your self worth and confidence, you will see sales.
Marketing visibility offers creativity, making the hard asks become easier. It impacts the boundaries you keep and the way you communicate with others.
When you communicate from a place of self doubt or low self worth, nobody’s going to take you seriously. You’re not going to make the kind of impact you want to make.
>>> To do this, you may need to untangle your self-worth from your bank account
Any of these practices will help you stand in your already-existing power. Any of these sovereign business practices will empower you to make more sound decisions that impact your bottom line, wellbeing and team more positively. But, putting all of them into practice over time will be a game changer.
Which sovereign business practice would you like to double down on and make your priority the rest of this year?
by Shawn Fink | Aug 7, 2023 | Recent
Everyone is talking about being authentic these days.
In fact, AUTHENTIC was recently declared Word-of-the-Year by Merriam-Webster inc.
Turns out, everyone is searching how to be Authentic these days.
As a business owner who has always been leading with authenticity, we are seeing differentiation becoming more and more performative than actually authentic.
Being different is one thing.
Being YOU is another.
But, what if you are beige? A bit too vanilla?
Well, that’s perfect, too, and that is why I work with my clients on finding their Brave YES Edge™ — a clear way to stand apart from the crowd with the work you do and the messages you put out there rather than being performative or entertaining, which can lead to burnout and exhaustion.
My passion for helping creative visionaries and thought leader founders find their Brave YES Edge™ is personal.
I am as beige as they come.
As I prepare to enter my 50s early next year, I am coming to terms with this is just who I am.
I’m quite serious.
I’m a body purist in that I don’t have tattoos or colorful hair.
Because of my beige, I’ve had to make sure that I can stand apart from other business mentors.
Sure, the fact that I still offer affordable, 1:1 coaching that combines mindset coaching, business strategy, fierce support, accountability and encouragement as well as customized attention is likely enough to set me apart in this age of VIP intensives and high vibe ticket energy.
But, that’s not my Brave YES Edge.
My edge is what makes my business coaching different than others.
The Importance of Finding Your Brave Yes Edge™
I’m not just a business coach.
I’m a business strategist who also specifically offers capacity planning and brave leadership coaching to help my clients uplevel their confidence, self-trust and risk-taking abilities.
And, you’re not just a … landscape architect, a book coach, a graphic designer, a painter, a writing coach, etc. etc. etc.
Your Brave YES Edge™ is the key to drawing people to you and the work you do and how you can help them. It’s what sets you apart. It’s what helps you stand out as a leader and an authority.
Your Brave YES Edge™ is how you stand out, NOT how you fit in.
One of my superpowers as a business coach is having a sixth sense around what will sell. I wish I could bottle this into a formula but not all things need to be sold as an ecourse or a template.
Mostly because the process to getting to this point is idea and visioning alchemy.
Your Brave YES Edge™ is what sets you apart from the noisy crowd and it requires true thought and self-awareness.
And, it’s not necessarily your niche or the service you provide. Afterall, there’s hundreds of web designers or burnout specialists and coaches.
There’s only ONE YOU.
Your Brave YES Edge™ is what you bring to the experience, what you create during the exchange that is unique and fresh.
It’s part positioning. It’s part branding. It’s part expertise. It’s what will get people to call you up and ask you to be on stage.
When you find your Brave YES Edge™, it’s vital to protect it. It’s your biggest asset.
How to Find Your Brave YES Edge™
Want to find your Brave YES Edge™ but aren’t sure where to begin?
It’s common to feel like you have a lot of interesting spins to put on your work but one of them is going to drive sales and retention with the work you do.
To find your Brave YES Edge™, you’ll want to take time and have lots of conversations about your work, your experience and your passion.
By dedicating time each week to work on what sets your business apart, you’ll start to slow down and create that space to listen and reflect on what truly sets you apart from the competition.
Ask yourself thought-provoking questions. Seeking out new vantage points will help you to see your business with a new lens.
Once you create the time and start seeking out new perspectives, ask your clients and your former clients why they had to work with you.
If you’ve started this, and are still spinning your wheels on what your EDGE is, book a NEXT STEPS call with me and I’ll show you the next right move to make and even give you the homework to get you started.
>>>> BOOK A NEXT STEPS CALL NOW
by Shawn Fink | Aug 1, 2023 | Recent
What stops you from doing what you know is necessary to take your business to the next level?
When I’m coaching a founder who is looking to grow and uplevel their business but is stuck in fear over making mistakes, I love to share my origin story of how 12 years ago I built a 40K follower base on Facebook and ran an 8-year international membership community – without much of a strategy.
I mean, I had some strategy. I had plenty of brilliant ideas.
But, back then we didn’t have all these online business rules and frameworks that are sold to us at every turn or scroll.
We just got big, beautiful ideas in our heads and made them happen.
In other words, we lived and led by what I call The Brave YES Mindset.
Then, suddenly a bunch of gurus and experts came on the scene to tell us what we were doing wrong, and what we could do better and all the not enoughness set in.
I became flattened by overwhelm, perfectionism and exhaustion.
The result is that, for years, despite having a successful 6-figure business, I felt like a beginner despite having more experience and more revenue than others.
I kept falling for the message that I could have more, be more, do more if only I would do X, Y or Z (name any tactic being sold to us!).
I spent years searching for the magic bullet to take my business to the next level, to take myself to the next level. The magic bullet of copywriting. The magic bullet offer. The magic bullet planning system. The magic bullet sales strategy. The magic bullet social media system.
I spent years hiring others to help me — the beginner, the newbie who needed others to tell her what to do and how to do it, the one who didn’t know enough so she had to keep buying and buying what others were selling.
And yet, in every course, program or room I was in, I knew more than the speaker. I knew more than the coach. I knew more than the guru.
So why wasn’t I on the stage speaking?
Why wasn’t I the one leading the business program?
Why wasn’t I the one bragging about my brilliance?
This is because I was mired in the Beginner’s Mindset for far too long.
It was only when I made the shift into Expert Status that I was able to start taking myself seriously so that others could do the same.
It was only when I stopped to tune in to myself and my inner wisdom that I saw authentic success and true growth.
This is the same shift my clients need to make when we work on growing their businesses and their identity to make more money and experience their kind of true success.
- You’re not just a consultant, you’re a transformational leader.
- You’re not just a solopreneur, you’re a visionary.
- You’re not just a business owner, you’re an expert in your industry.
It’s time to start acting like the expert you are.
How does Beginner’s Mindset Show Up on the Daily?
For me, Beginner’s Mindset kept popping up by feeling like I didn’t know enough, that I needed to keep implementing new tactics or changing up my offers. That belief system led me to sign up for group programs that gave me false promises about making money in my business.
More money, they said.
More fame, they said.
More followers, they said.
What I learned: When MORE is the only focus, we lose our focus and purpose.
Common themes I see of those stuck in Beginner’s Mindset:
- buying countless e-courses to “learn more”
- keep getting more and more education and certifications
- researching and researching to the brink of overwhelm
- waiting on perfect conditions, until you are finally where you need to be
- following more than leading
- listening more than talking
- Shrinking and not taking up space
When you are stuck in Beginner’s Mindset, you are looking at the world, your role and identity and your business from the lens of not knowing enough, not being enough, not having enough.
That means you aren’t leading.
You are following.
Why is a Beginner’s Mindset so Detrimental to Your Success?
As long as you believe others have more power than you, more clout, more wisdom, you will second guess yourself and self-doubt is a trap that keeps you small.
Inside you know you have what it takes to be the one on stage, be the one leading, be the one out there in the limelight, but there’s something holding you back.
Beginner’s mindset.
It keeps you small.
It keeps you hidden.
When is it time to let go of Beginner’s Mindset and Step into Mastery Mode?
This is, of course, the secret sauce question.
For everyone, timing will vary and be fully personal. There is no just-right moment that we all slide into. It’s not like we become an expert with exactly 3 years and 6 months of experience. You have a lifetime of experiences that have led to this moment in time. They all count. Every single one of them — even that hustle that was taking orders in the drive-thru at McDonald’s.
The best way to figure out when it’s your time to move into Mastery Mode is to ask yourself a few questions:
Do you feel like you could stand on stage and lead a crowd?
Do you feel like you know more than others in your industry — or at least as much?
Do you have a slate of clients or customers and easily make ends meet in your business?
If you said yes to some or all of these, you are already an expert in the making and ready to move into Mastery Mode.
But, if you are still gathering up material, copying others and putting your ideas together in a way that feels connected to you and your work, perhaps you are truly in Beginner’s Mindset.
The trouble here is you have to rise above survival mode and do the work to see a new perspective about where you are and how you can lead. Coaching can be a great help for this. Once you zoom out and see your identity and possibility more clearly, you can start to take the actions necessary to step out of beginner mode.
To move into Mastery Mode, you need to embrace your inner Brave YES Leader. This is the work I do with my clients. We shift the energy and focus of not enough, not good enough into brave leader and visionary by leaning into your Brave YES Advantage™.
Every founder’s Brave YES Advantage™ is different and unique to you. It turns a boring business into something that stands out. It removes all barriers of comparison because you begin to follow your own strengths and superpowers.
Once you shift into Mastery Mode, you can do anything, you can be anything, you can handle anything.
GET MASTERY MODE READY … Book your personal NEXT STEPS CALL with Shawn now to see what you need to do to get started with leaning into your Brave YES Advantage™! BOOK HERE.
