People
Who are your people? That’s my question as I start writing this lovely afternoon. I know that’s a vague question that sparks a handful of follow-up questions like “who are your biggest supporters?” or “who are the people that are most prevalent in your life?”. Ideally, there is some overlap between those two follow-up questions. Even with all these subsequent questions, I’d like to think that there was at least one person that initially came to mind when you read the first sentence. If not, I understand that I may lose credibility points (but I like to think I gained them back considering I’m two for two on keeping my promises since I am taking today to talk about ‘others’ like I said I would).
I want to clarify that I don’t consider myself an expert in this topic – I simply want to share how I am choosing to think about and categorize certain people in my life related to this project. They are (in order of level of fear when it comes to sharing my business plan and goals – from lowest to highest): supporters, collaborators, and audience. Introduction over. Here comes the meat and potatoes of it:
- Supporters – these are the people that are closest to me that I have no or little hesitation sharing my ideas and goals with. They are the people that I know will support me (hence the name) in my ventures and pick me up when I am down. The significant others, close family, and extremely close friends. Can we get a round of applause for these people because they are rockstars when it comes to encouraging us to pursue our dreams! I challenge you to include yourself in this category because you are also a rockstar and need to support your dreams and goals too! Okay, that wasn’t that scary was it? You have these people in your corner so let’s move on.
- Collaborators – people that you can rally into your corner to help you check boxes and take names (my not-at-all-fancy way of saying complete your action items). For me, these are former professors or employers that may have connections to help you reach certain clients or personnel and friends that have skills like making logos or websites. Maybe some of these people are also supporters in which case, the hurdle of sharing your project with them is already cleared. For those who aren’t, though, this group of people can be a bit more intimidating when it comes to sharing. At least for me, I find that I need to overcome more vulnerability when reaching out to these people for their resources and advice. Phew – connecting with those people may have gotten the heart rate up. Go run/dance/shake it out, drink some water, and calm yourself because we are moving on again.
- Audience – those reading/using/interacting with your product, service, or whatever it is that your heart desired to pursue. Starting out, it may be a handful of people or maybe you already have a small country’s worth of people in your audience. If the latter is the case and you are reading this, I welcome and appreciate shout-outs. In either case, reaching out to your target audience is a way of advertising to the rest of the world that you had these dreams and goals and are actively working to accomplish them. That can be terrifying – especially if there is any fear of failure lingering in your subconscious. If you are hesitating to take that leap into this territory, I ask you: if not now, then when?! Now go! Sometimes all is takes in a click of a button (publish, post, belly, etc…) then the scariness is [theoretically] over. Good work!
“All the hurdles have been cleared and [INSERT NAME HERE] has finished the race!” Except, this isn’t the finish – it is only the beginning! Along with my amusement with oxymorons (refer to yesterday’s post), I also love a good cliché. I know this teetered on the edge of a semi-meaningful motivational speech – at least I hope there is some meaning in here. And if it did nothing for you, I still have spirit to continue on so thank you for humoring my arguably selfish motives.
