Being brave looks and feels different to everyone and that's the magic of it, we all have our own unique flavour, comfort zones and intentions. In this episode I give you the top ten bold, brave moves I have made in business to date.

I talk about the bravery behind stepping out on your own and grappling with not having a higher authority or structure to hold you accountable, as well as speaking to the power of doing things before you're ready. 

Sit back, relax and get your dose of courage from this week's episode of Brave In Business!

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5. Top 10 Brave Things I've Done in My Business - Transcript

Hi, I'm back. McFarland from popular business and popular career. In this podcast, I'll be speaking to entrepreneurs who have overcome adversity, made difficult decisions, challenged the status quo and achieved amazing things in their businesses. Welcome to brave in business. Hello, Hello, It's back. McFarland here. Helping you do better and be better in your careers and businesses. Welcome to another episode of Brave in Business. So today's episode is a solo episode, which means that it's just you and me having a chin wag about life today. I'm going to share with you 10 really brave things that I've done in my business. I have no doubt that I'm going to be talking about these situations in greater detail down the road. But in the meantime, I just thought I'd jump straight in and share some of the things that spring to mind. When I think about how I've been brave, I actually think this will be quite interesting. One of the things about bravery is that it does look different to everyone. You might hear my list and think that none of these things really seem like that big of a deal, or you could be the other end of the spectrum and to be feeling your pants, thinking about being in my seat. But this is the magic of bravery. We all have our own flavour of it. We all have our own unique comfort zones, and we all have our own intentions. That, my friends, is exactly why I wanted to create this podcast, because I know that it will be so interesting hearing from my guests about the way that they've stepped outside of their own unique bubbles of comfort and what that has meant for them in their businesses. So what about my own story? Well, here, 10 brave things I've done in my business. Number one. I quit my day job. I shared a little about this in my first episode, and I was completely transparent about the fact that my husband earns enough that we wouldn't be massively affected financially by me saying goodbye to a regular income. But does that mean there was no bravery involved? Absolutely not. Sure. I knew that we wouldn't starve to death if I quit my job. But bravery isn't just about financial risk. Although I'm an introvert, I have always worked in teams in fact, for quite a long time I've been managing teams. I've been working with others, having structure in my day and my weeks and being driven by a higher authority. Quitting my job and going out on my own meant working from home, being alone and having to be self directed, which on one hand is an absolute dream, and the other him is an absolute nightmare. As a woman with diagnosed a d h D, I am not always the greatest at following through and getting work done. So I was scared. The good news is that it's been a few years, and I found that being a full time entrepreneur works for me and I wouldn't give it up for the world number two. I moved before I was ready and took risks. This is actually a really common thing for me. I hired before I was ready. I moved into an office before I was ready and I took other financial risks before I was ready. I think a lot of the time we can sit on risks and decisions about risks for way too long. In actual fact, I am quite a risk averse person. I'm not a big fan of risk. I don't much like spontaneity unless I am driving it and I don't cope well with change. But I am also unapologetically building an empire. Now I'm aware that my position here comes with a great deal of privilege. But there have been many a situation where I've decided to take a leap and trust that the universe would catch me. I'm not an overly spiritual person, but I do believe the universe has my back, and I do believe I have the power to manifest my future. These beliefs helped me to make risky decisions, and although sometimes I do regret them, I feel like I would have regretted not knowing the outcome if I didn't try Number three, I started developing a personal brand. This is something I did around the time that I quit my job in the public service. At the time, popular career was a brand that was not human centric. I was very much in the background and if you visited my website at the time, it was full of carefully curated and colourful stock imagery, mostly of models wearing spectacles. Because I am a sucker for some sexy frames. Most people in my circle know this about me. But to cut a long story short, it was my good friend Kate Diggle, who one day told me that my brand was un relatable and that I needed to change. I'm glad that I listened to her. I stepped out from behind the popular career brand and became visible, and I did it with the knowledge that I am not for everyone and that that's totally okay. Today. I'm reasonably well known in local circles, and it's not unusual for me to be recognised from social media, where my face appears regularly, usually with a freckle philtre, because I'm hashtag cute and I just can't help it. Number four I launched an e commerce business. This here is a recent development, and I can't tell you yet whether I regret it or not. A few months ago, I made the decision to start a brand that's all about gifting for small business owners, classy, sassy gifts for entrepreneurs to celebrate the winds and commiserates the els. When I decided to do something I don't usually hold back, and this time was no different. I had already been meeting with suppliers and putting through orders before my team even caught wind of what I was doing. So far, I have invested a significant sum of money into this project, and at the time of recording, we have only done a very small soft launch. I've just received my new product photography, and we'll be going bigger with our launch strategy over the coming weeks. Who knows what will happen? I guess that's the fun of it. I just wanted to take a quick break to tell you about my amazing business community. Bex business besties. It's a business membership with mastermind vibes, and it is a jam packed with value. They don't say value is my middle name for no reason. Join us for live master classes, group coaching sessions, online Coworking content creation sessions and so much more. It's without a doubt my favourite place to hang out on the Internet, and I know it could be yours to join us at popular business dot com forward slash BBB Number five I closed down the resume writing arm of my business when I first went out on my own and quit my job. My business was all about resume and selection criteria writing. I did career coaching as well, but the bulk of my money came from my done for you writing services. Here's the thing, though it may be miserable. I hated the fact that I was always working to a deadline, and it was always someone else's deadline. I hated waiting for feedback and having that nervous anxiety over whether my work would be valued. I hated the fact that I was always stressed about getting the next application finished and that I never felt like I could have any downtime. Remember Kate Diggle from the story about me developing a personal brand? Well, it was her younger sister, Holly Diggle, and my best mate, Steve, who showed me the error of my ways when they face time to me a little drunk one night and told me that I should stop writing resumes and selection criteria responses immediately because I hated it. And so it was number six. I invested the big bucks. I have always had a business coach. I have always invested in my own learning and personal development. I have always invested in help. Now again call me privileged, but I have always been in a position where I've had the money to invest. That doesn't mean it hasn't been scary, though. It's taken a hell of a lot of bravery to write those checks and invest in me. I don't really have a lot more that I want to say about this. It's consistently been a brave move, and sometimes I have regretted those decisions. But I do learn from them, and I don't make the same mistake twice. Number seven. I launched a conference. Yeah, I launched a conference cheering a bloody global pandemic. Many might think this was a stupid idea, but I am standing by it. I identified a need. Canberra needs a good quality business conference. I knew I had the connections and the spirit to pull it off, so I decided to make it happen. Now, unfortunately, we have had to postpone the conference until March 2022. But the way that I see it is this. People bought tickets even in the middle of a pandemic. If that's not validation of an idea, I don't know what is. The conference is costing a fair whack of money, and at the time of recording this I am operating at a significant loss, but I am trusting that this won't be the case, and I am working with my team on how we can promote the popular business conference more broadly and engage new potential clients in Canberra and beyond. Watch this space. And, of course, if you want to join us at the conference head to pop your business dot com forward slash conference, we would love to see you there. Number eight. I hired an apprentice I mentioned earlier that I hired early. I have always hired contractors before. I really need them. I've always envisaged myself with a big team because I love leadership in managing people. It is in my bones. But earlier this year I hired my first payroll employee, Ashlyn, who is on a school based apprenticeship. Did I need her? Probably not. But after inviting Ash to undertake the work experience placement with me, I found that I loved her attitude and her work ethic, and I knew that she would be a great fit for the team. In the long run. She is green. I can train her up and mentor her, and we will both benefit greatly So I put my big girl pants on and told Janita, who is my Swiss Army knife slash bookkeeper slash support manager slash wearer of all the hats to upgrade our zero account because now we are doing payroll and I can tell you I'm really down happy with this decision. Number nine. I did loads of solo networking. This one may not be a big deal to the extroverts listening, but I am an introvert bordering on hashtag hermit life, and I am shy. I used to hate networking when I worked in recruitment. It was all about the numbers. How many business cards can I collect? How many people can I then follow up and try and sell to? When I started my own business, I decided to reframe the way that I felt about networking and use it to just start meeting people and gravitating towards people that I thought were cool. Over the past 6.5 years, I have done so much networking locally and interstate I've gone to business conferences where I haven't known a soul, but I have gone with an open mind and an open heart and a willingness to be seen for who I am. I actually credit a large part of my business success to networking. Despite this 6.5 years after opening my business, I still sometimes get a bit nervous when it comes to events and social situations. So this is something that causes me to be constantly flexing my bravery muscle. And finally, number 10. I ran a retreat last year. Yes, mid pandemic. I got a really bad chest infection and was border lining pneumonia. I couldn't shake it, no matter what I did. So I ended up on steroids. For anyone who has been on steroids, you'll know that feeling of being wired a F and not being able to settle. I was literally a PhD on steroids during this time. I had a brilliant idea. I wanted to run a retreat in six weeks, Manju. So I put the word out to my community, and within a few days I'd sold out the retreat, booked accommodation and started making other plans. When the steroids were off, I was in shock. What the hell have I done? Who am I to run a retreat? This is where the bravery had to come in. Thankfully, I stepped up and my team stepped up. We pulled it off and it is one of the highlights of my business career. We had the most amazing time, but oh boy, I really didn't think I was going to make it happen for a while there. So there you have it. 10 brave things that I have done since starting my business. Can you relate to any of them? Come and find me on social media and let me know what you think. I'd love for you to take a screenshot of this episode and maybe even share it with a friend. Anything resonated with you, that's all for now. I will see you in the next episode, and until then, have a magical day And remember to be brave in business. Thanks so much for listening to this episode of the brain in business Podcast. Don't forget to hit that subscribe button. Leave me a rating. Five stars, preferably and a review. You can also join me over on socials at popular beers. If you want to hang out with me and my fabulous community of small business owners, you should definitely think about joining Bex business besties. It's an online membership with mastermind vibes and is honestly my favourite place to hang out on the Internet. You can find out more at pop your business dot com forward slash BBB. I'll see you in the next episode.