Two Things I've Learned This Year

I just finished my first year in business and here are the two big lessons I've come away with.

1 - Always be ready to say yes.  
Many times this year I've allowed my limiting beliefs to almost convince me I should say NO to opportunities.  "I'm not ready" and "It won't be perfect" are a couple of the lame excuses I allow to sometimes creep in.  
The thing is, I'll never be ready enough.  
And if I ever do get to the place where I think I've got this gig figured out, it'll probably be time to move on.  
And Lord knows it will never, ever, EVER be perfect.  
When and if I hear that thought creeping in I know I need to move forward with a Y. E. S.  
The idea of perfection is a crap lie!  

And another thing - when I try to perfect it or control it, God loses the glory.  The success of my story will be His to own, because I am nowhere near qualified or  knowing what I'm doing (STILL).

2 - The values that I hold most dear will be challenged and even doubted.  
This year has caused me to doubt one of the foundational beliefs that I wanted to build my business on ... that women in business can support and encourage one another with authenticity and a heartfelt "I got your back" attitude.  
I guess I still believe this is possible, but what I've learned is that it's just not common.  
We haven't taught our girls how to become this woman, and in business "beating out the competition" is the norm when it comes to attitude and ideas.  
I believe competition is healthy, when the people involved are healthy, and that it can make us better.  
But I think competition for women is tricky because of the way we tend to view another woman's success as our failure.  It can get real ugly, actually.
No matter the challenges this year has brought me in this area - I still want to grow my business with a heart of community and connection when it comes to my competition.  
And more than that I want to grow women.  
My dream is to employ women who are willing to embrace this philosophy of lifting and supporting one another  and to create a team of badass girls who are willing and ready to show the world how to do things different.  

Oh, and the pic.  Today my first ever fashion shoot was published in Lake Lifestyles magazine.  This was one of those "I'm not ready for this moments" where I doubted myself and feared it wouldn't be perfect enough, but I said YES anyway...and I'm so thankful I did!   The day was super fun and the girls were so rad and I couldn't have asked for better shoot even if I had planned it! :   )