A year into business, I am learning that knowing your worth and actually believing in it every day are two very different things.
There are days when I feel completely certain about what I am building. I know why I started Unmask Your Potential. I believe in the work. I can see the difference a good conversation, the right question or simply giving someone time and space can make.
Then there are other days.
Days when networking feels hard. When I walk into a room and wonder what everyone else is thinking. When it seems as though everyone around me has a full diary, a thriving business and an endless stream of opportunities.
At least, that is what social media tells me.
Of course, social media rarely shows the quiet Tuesday when nobody replied to the email. It doesn’t show the event that didn’t fill, the proposal that went nowhere or the moment somebody sat looking at their laptop thinking, Am I actually any good at this?
It shows the launch. The new client. The celebration. The fully booked programme.
And if we are not careful, we start comparing somebody else’s highlights with the bits of our own business that nobody sees.
I am trying to get better at looking forward rather than constantly looking sideways.
Passion matters, but so do your people
One of the biggest lessons for me has been that passion and belief matter enormously, but they are not enough on their own.
You need the right people around you.
Over the last year, I have learned how important it is to build the right support around me. Different people give me different things — challenge, perspective, encouragement, business thinking or simply space to talk. I have stopped expecting one person to provide everything.
I also need time that has absolutely nothing to do with business.
Me time. Us time. Family time. Business time.
I am still learning how to protect each of them.
It is very easy when you run your own business for every spare hour to become a potential working hour. There is always another email, another idea, another post, another connection to make.
But I am beginning to realise that rest isn’t time away from building the business. It is part of being able to keep building it.
A question I am asking myself more often is:
What do I need today — and which part of my life needs some attention?
Networking when networking doesn’t come naturally
I find networking difficult.
There, I said it.
I can talk to people. I enjoy finding out about what they do. I love connecting people who could help each other. But walking into a room full of strangers and introducing myself as a business owner still pushes me outside my comfort zone.
I have been described as a “walking LinkedIn.”
I laughed when someone said it, but I actually quite like it.
I am often thinking, You need to speak to this person, or I know someone who might be able to help with that.
Connecting people comes naturally to me.
Perhaps one of my challenges this year is trusting that other people are doing the same for me.
Mentioning my name when I am not in the room.
Saying, “You should speak to Helen.”
Sharing one of my posts.
Forwarding my website.
Remembering something I offer when someone they know says, “I could really do with some help with this.”
Business doesn’t only grow through selling.
It grows through conversations and connections.
Which makes me wonder:
Whose name do you mention when they aren’t in the room?
And perhaps more importantly:
When was the last time you told them that you had?
There is room for all of us
Another thing I am trying to hold onto is this:
There is plenty of work for everyone. We just need to find where our work is.
That isn’t always easy when somebody else launches something similar to you, wins a contract you would have loved or appears to be doing brilliantly in an area you are trying to develop.
Comparison can creep in very quickly.
But somebody else’s success doesn’t automatically take something away from mine.
We don’t all work in the same way.
We don’t connect with the same people.
Our personalities, experience, approach and strengths are different.
The person who chooses to work with me may not be the person who chooses to work with somebody else and that’s OK.
Perhaps business becomes a little less exhausting when we stop viewing everyone as competition and start asking:
How could we support each other?
Could I introduce somebody?
Share an opportunity?
Recommend someone when I am not the right fit?
Celebrate another person’s success without immediately questioning my own?
There is something powerful about building a network where we genuinely want other people to do well.
And then somebody gets in touch
Running a business is not easy.
There are moments when I question things. There are ideas that don’t work. There are plenty of things I am still learning.
But then an email arrives.
Or somebody sends a message.
“I’ve been following what you’re doing.”
“Someone gave me your name.”
“Could we have a conversation?”
And suddenly all those small things you have been doing begin to join together.
The coffee meetings.
The networking event you nearly didn’t attend.
The post you weren’t sure anyone would read.
The introduction you made six months ago.
The conversation somebody remembered.
Those moments remind me why I keep going.
A year into business, I don’t have everything figured out.
But perhaps that isn’t the goal.
I know more about what matters to me.
I am clearer about the people I want around me.
I am learning to recognise my own value rather than waiting for someone else to validate it.
And I am slowly learning that building something worthwhile takes time.
So, if you are building something too, perhaps these are useful questions to sit with:
- Where are you comparing yourself with a version of somebody else’s life that isn’t the whole story?
- Who are the people who genuinely support, challenge and encourage you?
- What would change if you stopped looking sideways and concentrated on your own next step?
- Whose business, work or name could you recommend this week?
- And what would knowing your own worth look like in practice not just in theory?
Maybe supporting each other is part of the answer.
There is plenty of work out there.
Sometimes we just need to help each other find it.
And finally, thank you
To the people who have coached me, challenged me, listened to me, encouraged me, referred me, shared my work, made introductions, checked in, and reminded me why I started.
You know who you are.
Building a business can feel very individual, but it really isn’t. The right people around you make a huge difference.
So thank you for being part of the first year of Unmask Your Potential.