Why I sometimes feel like Serena Williams

I remember seeing Serena Williams on the tennis court when she which shouted at the umpire "I AM A MOTHER!!“ and I thought, my goodness, you may be, but so are billions of other people in this world!

The interesting thing is that sometimes I feel the same thing in terms of running my business.

Lots of entrepreneurs say their business is like their baby, which is probably often why it’s such a personal labour of love. It can feel sometimes that you’re the only one who’s done it; that you’re struggling more than anyone else, when in fact many millions / billions have gone before me as well.

There is such a wonderful gift of going through this entrepreneurship process and that is appreciation.

I walk down the street now and look at examples of where people have had to step up, have confidence and believe in themselves:

🥬 The grandfather, father and son who have been running the fruit market stall for 20 years, who get up every day to go to the markets at 2am to go and get their stock, so I can have the joy of fresh fruit in the morning.
⚒️ The hardware store with the two brothers, who every day put out various brooms plants and knickknacks that we might possibly need.
🍝 The young couple who have just poured their heart and wallets into a restaurant refurbishment and now wait furtively for the customers to come

I appreciate the concept of stock and how much of a commitment that is, how frightening that must be (that is not something I'm having to deal with at the moment, thank goodness).

And yet everywhere around us, EVERYWHERE, are these examples of courage. 

Every business that we look at is an example of tenacity, determination, overcoming fear and confidence in the face of the unknown. Each one is the face of sleepless nights, early morning minds whirring and personal sacrifices made.

I guess when you work for a big corporate where your pay-checks come regularly, you can take holiday (mostly) when you like and the machine supports you, it’s not necessarily something which is totally front of mind. But, when once you start to understand the tremendous complexity around even these little businesses, the admiration and empathy grows.

Wherever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision.  Peter Drucker  

So now I do Google reviews for small businesses whenever I can. I help people more than I did before if I can in terms of getting them on the right path. I’m super grateful for the sacrifices they make and the courage they’ve shown so that I can have; we can have, all of these things at our fingertips.

And I just hope that I can have that same courage in the future for my business journey too.

#entrepreneur #courage #selfconfidence #coaching #lifecoaching #executivecoaching #confidencecoaching