The importance of not doing it alone.

Rcently I got to do one of my favorite things, go away for the weekend with my friend and fellow coach/business owner Kate.

Not only is it a delicious balm for the soul to spend two days focused solely on good food and walking and just existing without expectations, but spending time with your peers is an essential experience for anyone who owns a business.

Especially women.

Especially women who shame themselves for not having everything figured out all the time.

It’s me. I’m women.

One of the biggest challenges I have as a person, but especially as a business owner is that I struggle to ask for help and to admit where I’m struggling.

My go to was always the “fake it till you make it“ strategy while I frantically worked to try to figure things (and myself) out, hoping like hell I could do it before someone found out and realized I was a big fat fraud!

It’s taken me YEARS to get to the point where I can acknowledge when I’m not OK and share that.

It’s why it took me so long to actually get coaching and figure stuff out because I truly believed that asking for help was bad.

Acknowledging that I need help means I’m weak.

That I’ve failed.

That I’m not good enough.

I have a perfectionist streak longer than US Route 20 and admitting when I’m stuck is the single hardest thing I ever do.

Which brings me back to my wonderful weekend with my friend.

Who not only gets it because she's a business owner herself, but also because she's a coach.

Having someone on your side and on your team is unbelievably valuable.

Having someone who can hear your struggle and go “yeah, me too. That's normal love!” is deeply validating.

And having someone who can look at you with love and say “OK, that's not working, let's work out a new plan.” is priceless.

Often I’m asked by people what my advice for new business owners and female entrepreneurs in general is, and this is one of the most valuable things I've learned.

Don’t let your insecurities and shame rob you of your support systems.

Get a coach.

Make some business owner friends.

Create a community.

This journey has moments where it can feel really hard and scary, don’t think that you have to do it alone.