In a break from tradition, this blog post is about me and my own personal journey, rather than about you, your PR journey or PR in general.
I want to let you in to what is going on behind the scenes, because social media isn’t the best platform for me to share what’s going on (there’s too much emphasis on the image, the short-form copy and the hashtags)
If you’ve read any of my previous blog posts, you’ll know that my love is with short-form content, so anything else feels like I’m not able to fully show up as ‘me’.
(There will be a blog post on speaking your truth and authenticity coming up, so stay tuned for that as I have a lot to say about it 😂)
At the moment, I have no idea where this blog is going to go, just know that I’m about to be open and honest with you, hoping that you’ll be able to relate to some of what I’m seeing, saying and experiencing.
However, if there’s one thing that I can guarantee, it’s that this blog will *probably* be the least PR-focussed blog I’ll ever write
WHERE TO BEGIN…
I’m going to start from where I am now and work backwards, because something that happened to me four weeks ago has led to this blog being written today. Rest assured I won’t be taking you back to 2013 when I first launched my business, I’m sure you’re not that interested in my journey. Plus, that’s something to keep for a book, not a blog post!
(For context, I will dart around all over the place to give you the necessary background info that you need – and as you may have noticed if you’ve ever booked a consultation call with me, nothing I do is ever linear – hello neurodivergence 👋)
In September 2023 I applied to be on the next cohort of the NatWest Accelerator (which would start in March 2024). One of my business besties had joined the previous cohort and kept telling me that I needed to apply. So I did (mainly to get her off my back) but also because I was curious about the programme.
It’s fair to say that I was a little dubious about the programme as my ego was saying to me ‘you’ve spent tens of thousands in coaching over the past four years, what more can you possibly learn’. But I’m open to opportunities, so I applied.
Fast-forward to February this year and I was awarded a place on the accelerator.
We started in March with a two-day, in-person event, which is literally my idea of hell. I’m not great in a room full of strangers, I’m sensitive to energy and as an introvert, need at least one day to recuperate after an event. Alas, I got through it and really enjoyed it, so I knew it was a room I was supposed to be in
(Just don’t ask me about the ice-breaker we had to do on day one, it was proper cringe and I wanted to ground to open up and swallow me whole)
During the second day we were put into small groups of people to coach each other, using NatWest’s GROW model. We each had 10mins to bring a challenge to the table and seek advice from those in the group.
My 10mins in the spotlight made me realise that I’d been looking at my challenge through the wrong lens. What I saw as a negative and a weakness, they saw as a positive and could prove why.
The very clients I didn’t think I could attract because of xyz reasons, are the very same clients that they’re working with. That certainly shut me up and got the cogs whirring!
…..AND THEN…..
Then I had my first 121 session with my NatWest coach. Within about 15mins she was able to articulate something that I’ve been struggling with for the past six months
It was a full-on ‘how the fuck did you do that?’ moment
The reality is, she simply took what I was saying to her and then repeated it back to me, adding in her interpretation of what I was saying. It floored me. I’ve never felt such a sense of relief. Someone else, who knows nothing about me, my business, or how I work, had managed to understand what I was saying and where I wanted to go.
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
She then said something else that stopped me in my tracks.
When speaking about where my business is now vs where I want it to be, she said:
“the teaching, training and mentoring side of your business becomes a passion project, Laura.”
In that moment it made sense. For so long I’ve been feeling like I’m running two separate businesses: teaching and training for entrepreneurs vs strategy and tactics for SMEs and well established businesses.
The reality is that I can’t build the teaching and training side of my business without the cash injection from SMEs and household brands, so I’ve felt stuck for quite some time.
Yet all of a sudden I could clearly see the path ahead of me 🙌 🙌 🙌
Until three days later when the weight of her words hit me. A sense of realisation hit me, quickly followed by embarrassment, and then shame 😩
I’ve spent the past four years growing a part of my business that I can’t grow any further. I’ve invested tens of thousands of pounds into a part of my business that I can’t grow any further 😩
I felt embarrassed that I’d invested so much into something that isn’t getting me to where I want to be. Not long afterwards that embarrassment then turned to shame.
Yet, instead of pushing it down and sweeping the feelings under the carpet, I embraced them. I let it all out in a conversation with another of my business besties as I knew that I needed to verbally process it to get it out of my system. (Trapped emotions can properly fuck you up, so I warned her to keep her vibe high while listening as I didn’t want her to take on my shit and drag her down.)
Once it was out in the open, I could then move onto acceptance.
IN THE WORDS OF CELINE DION: IT’S ALL COMING BACK TO ME NOW
In amongst all that, I remembered why I’d gone down the teaching and training path in the first place: the Covid-19 pandemic. With done-for-you clients dropping like flies and the inability to get any story past journalists meant that I had to pivot.
However, if the pandemic hadn’t hit, I’m not sure I ever would have moved into teaching and training, so I’m grateful for the opportunities that it did provide (and continues to provide to this day)
If it wasn’t for the pandemic, I doubt I’d have been honest with myself and admitted that I no longer enjoyed pitching to journalists. At the time I felt like a fraud, taking on clients I loved while simultaneously hating what I had to do for them.
At the time I’d just signed up to a six-month mastermind. It was during a group coaching call with my mastermind sisters where I got the opportunitiy to share my truth. I got to be vulnerable and share how I was feeling. On that call one of my coaches told me that I can still work with clients that I love, but outsource the pitching to freelancers. That way they could play to their strengths and I could play into mine.
Within the month I’d hired two freelancers and I haven’t looked back since!
VULNERABILITY IS NOT A WEAKNESS, IT’S A STRENGTH
Speaking your truth can make you feel vulnerable, but the vulnerability that I showed my NatWest coach is what allowed her to (quite easily) get to the root of my problem, and articulate a new service that I hadn’t even managed to organise in my mind. I was literally speaking it into existence without realising!
Now, four weeks on, I *think* I’ve got it all figured out in my head (and I’ve even verbalised what the new offer is and people have said that it sounds like I’ve been doing it for years – phew!)
In a way, I feel like I’m pivoting back to where I was four years ago – but I’m not. Four years ago I had to take a different route to my final destination, but rather than go straight there, I decided to go on a detour several times along the way!
Now I’m a lot clearer on where I want to go and the route I need to take to get me there. I’m clearer on who I want to work with and how I want to work with them, and it’s a completely new audience to what I’m used to.
(Trust me when I say that the mind monkeys are playing at full volume and seem to be inviting new members to their brass band every single day 🥁🎺)
HOWEVER, I can see a clear path ahead. It’s helped me to get more focussed, more strategic and more energised. Rather the feeling like a failure that I couldn’t build the teaching and training part of the business to where I wanted it to be, I know that it’s a case of ‘it hasn’t happened yet’ rather than ‘it hasn’t happened full stop.’
As you know I love an analogy, so here’s another one for you to etch into you mind:
🏹 “An arrow can only be shot by being pulled backward” 🏹
Now, don’t get it twisted and think that being pulled back is going to happen at a fast pace #sorrynotsorry! I’ve been pulled back since the end of December and I’m only just ready to propel forwards 😂 (although in fairness, I do hibernate for winter, so those feelings could have moved faster had I wanted them to)
THE MORAL OF THE STORY?
Things happen for you, not to you
Embrace change
Sit with uncertainty
Question EVERYTHING – even yourself!
It’s ok to change your mind – you’re not set in stone. Nothing is.
Don’t be afraid to go after your dreams, but don’t force them to happen either: more haste, less speed
Sometimes, being vulnerable with a perfect stranger who is there to guide you is the most powerful thing you can do.
Decision making isn’t always a case or THIS or THAT, sometimes it’s a case of THIS NOW and THAT THEN
