Is getting there the right way, the old fashioned way – being naive? I didn’t care when I first launched, I just so badly wanted to prove to myself I could do it…That I would have done almost anything.
Or so I thought.
You can buy success.
Yes, it is true.
You can buy your way into books, fancy tv shows and buy your way into being an authority.
There are two schools of thought here… One, this is a dog eat dog world AKA business is tough and you do what you gotta do OR two… Be authentic about how you made it, make it and sell it.
The truth of the matter (and why I am so passionate and one-sided about this topic) is that when I first started out in business I felt inadequate.
Totally and utterly a fraud.
I was however, not a fraud. I was just ill equipped for what lay ahead of me.
I held many people on a pedestal…They were the relevant experts to my mind. They were where I wanted to be. So I set about following in their footsteps… Mistake number one. They had featured in magazines, written and co-written books and created this very believable, self-made credibility. Which of course made me feel left out, not good enough or like I had to have A LOT of money to buy myself there.
When you first start out, it is all about the hard work, the inner mindset game, the constant ebb and flow. The months of sacrifice of not going out with your friends – but going out to network. Spending the bus trips home from your day job sweating over your ideal clients’ avatar. But getting so annoyed because you didn’t even have a client yet, so how the fuck do you know!!!!! Arghhh so you download a guru’s magic formula and cookie cutter your way out of the hot oven! Mistake number two!
Because I had no book, no fancy look at me I am an expert “as seen on” logos… My credibility was in the people I had served already, the past colleagues and business owners I had helped. And in hindsight, that’s what I should have been focusing on instead of looking at other peoples badges of success. Let’s face it… Competing with that kind of ‘expert’ when you start out is hard. A lot of people who give pedestals to others will fail to see their own uniqueness.
So now part of my role as a leader is to even the playing field. I show you behind the scenes of what can be done. If you see me on a cover of a magazine and it is NOT an interview…Please listen to your very sensible head and know that I paid advertising money to be there.
Is it wrong to buy the success?
If it is part of your value system then…No. But if you would blush if someone found out…Then perhaps you know it isn’t in alignment for you.
When you aim for the top, do it with full integrity. Get there because of the true help you gave people, not because of the piece you paid to get written in the Wall Street Journal. Build credibility, because you earned it. I can’t help but be this way. It is the way I have always been.
I now coach from the sidelines. Literally cheering you along with the decisions YOU make, based on what YOU wanted, needed and felt intuitively guided to do.
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