The Bravery of Being an Entrepreneur
My son is graduating high school this month. What?! And last week I was hanging out with high school and college girlfriends in NYC, doing a lot of reminiscing.
Needless to say, I’ve been in a reflective mood.
When I graduated high school, I had no idea what the hell I wanted to do with my life.
Thank goodness for liberal arts school (basically 4 extra fuck around years before hitting the real world).
I ended up graduating from college with an art history degree, a photography portfolio, and only a vague idea about something called “graphic design.” Not exactly prepared for adulting.
It’s kinda wild how it all worked out. I’m really lucky someone took a chance on me and hired me as a junior designer from that photography portfolio.
Almost 27 years later, I’m still happy doing design work. But even when I didn’t love my work, I never considered trying something new.
Many of my clients are much more brave than I’ve ever been. I’m so inspired by the women who come to me after dramatically changing course mid-career. Or after leaving corporate.
I’ve learned that making a big career change is much easier when you have two things: clarity about who you are now and the confidence to step into that new identity.
That’s where I can help.
Deciding to pivot takes courage. Making it stick takes strategy.
My Branding Roadmap helps women get crystal clear on their unique value and how to talk about it. We then create a brand and website that makes them feel legit and ready to own their expertise in that new space.
But a new brand isn’t just for those major career pivots. Sometimes you just outgrow your brand. It doesn’t fit like it used to.
Maybe you’re still doing the same work, but you’ve evolved, your expertise has deepened, or your ideal clients have changed.
You don’t need to hang out in that in-between space.
When your brand catches up to who you’ve become, you show up with more confidence. You raise your prices because your brand finally matches what you deliver. And your website starts selling for you, instead of being something you apologize for.
Still figuring out what’s next? That’s cool. Life is long.
But if your brand has just fallen behind where you already are, that’s fixable.
Goodies Just For You
WHAT I’M THINKING ABOUT: I just finished Season 2 of the FX/Hulu show Paradise. It’s not great television. It’s preposterous and sometimes overwrought. And I really really love it. I inhaled season 2 through copious tears and I can’t wait for season 3.
WHAT I’M MAKING: I’m in a rut, friends. I keep making the same few things for dinner over and over again. On Sunday I assembled an outrageously delicious meal, though. Not healthy. Can’t really call it cooking. But really delicious and almost all the ingredients were from Trader Joe’s. Listen: Trader Joe’s carnitas layered on tortilla chips with LOTS of TJ’s Mexican cheese, and TJ’s guacasalsa. Cook the carnitas first, but then put the nachos in the oven at 375 degrees for a few minutes. And then on top: sliced avocado and Momofuku chili crisp. I’m telling you — divine.
WHO I’M ADMIRING: Bev Feldman is an Email Marketing Strategist and fellow Wesleyan grad (although she’s younger, so we met on LinkedIn!). If you’ve been meaning to set up an automated welcome sequence but feel overwhelmed and unsure where to start — I get it. I did it myself and I wish I’d hired an expert. It was HARD! Bev knows what she’s doing. Check her out.
