Courage.
I was at a local bookstore last week with my mother, sister, and 3 nieces during my much-needed 2 week vacation (ooooh! I love old school bookstores!). One book with bright orange, yellow and pink lettering jumped off of the shelf at me, and my mother bought it for me, just like when I was a kid. #sweetmama
It’s actually an “older” book by writer, researcher and one of Oprah’s beloved Super Soul Sunday guests, Brene Brown. In it, she writes a profound definition of courage:
Courage is a heart word. The root of the word courage is cor – the Latin word for heart. In one of its earliest forms, the word courage meant “To speak one’s mind by telling all one’s heart.”
Over time, this definition has changed, and today, we typically associate courage with heroic and brave deeds. But in my opinion, this definition fails to recognize the inner strength and level of commitment required for us to actually speak honestly and openly about who we are and about our experiences — good and bad. Speaking from our hearts is what I think of as “ordinary courage.”
― Brené Brown, I Thought It Was Just Me: Women Reclaiming Power and Courage in a Culture of Shame
Being a successful entrepreneur takes courage. LOADS of it!
A few years ago, it took so much courage and vulnerability to claim that I’m not your typical lawyer.
Inside, I knew I was a trailblazer, visionary, and alchemist, full of Legal Love™. But to bring that out to the world so everyone could see it? So, freakin’ scary.
I just wrote about this exact topic in my chapter on “Courage” in my upcoming book because finding the courage to stand up and express your non-traditional views is not easy, my friend.
After all, I have been an attorney for 20 years, formerly working in a large corporate law firm in Health Care and Bioethics.
But after a time, the corporate world didn’t suit me (or my adrenals!) very well, and working long desk hours living on peanut M&Ms® and Starbucks® didn’t work anymore either.
I became a Life Coach through CoachU (back in 2003) and then a Health Coach through the Institute of Integrative Nutrition in 2012 to get a grip on my sugar cravings.
I dove in as a Health Coach and worked with 1:1 clients, giving 72 corporate wellness seminars in just over a year – and came out of my sugar lows as I cleaned up my diet.
But my Health Coach friends knew I was a lawyer and kept asking me legal questions. They said they were leery of corporate lawyers, even scared of the law, and kept coming to me because I was a Health Coach too.
So with the gentle nudge of my private coach Carey Peters of HCI (formerly HMBA), I combined my powerful legal experience with my caring coaching skills and carved out a new niche as a Legal Coach® (and even trademarked the name!)
The result?
I now provide the best of both worlds – a lawyer and a coach who gets online entrepreneurs.
And I have developed a multi-6 figure business that’s helped hundreds of heart-centered biz owners get legally covered (exhaling with relief!) and protect their income, biz, and brand.
I have become my own self-made success.
And right now, I’m excited to let you in on the scoop of even MORE self-made successes like me so you can get on the path to success right from the start.
I invite you to check out April Iannazzone’s Self-Made Success Summit.
I spoke very openly and vulnerably about my path to “self-made success” and joined 20 other self-made entrepreneurs with 6 & 7+ figure businesses who are sharing their paths to success too. (To even be invited to be part of this Summit, you had to be a multi-6 figure biz owner with a list of over 5,000, so I’m a small fish in this pond!)
Click HERE to register for the Self-Made Success Summit.
It’s a 5-day virtual summit of webinars & interviews where you’ll get the inside scoop on:
- How I built a multiple 6+ figure business – including my “didn’t-go-as-planned” transition from my day job.
- My #1 strategy for building my biz from the ground up back in 2012 that I still use today!).
- Low-cost or no-cost ways to guide online traffic your way.
- The reality behind international speaking, global brand recognition and building an audience that stretches across 3+ billion global internet users (including my own path – and resistance! – to getting bigger!).
It’s going to be worth your time. I look forward to seeing you there!
Here’s to having the courage it takes to be a self-made successes!
