How courage is a core skill for small business

I have courage as a core value but it’s also a core skill for my small business. I want to let you in on how I use it to help me and my business.

Courage and conflict

How does Courage in conflict or confrontations help me?  It helps me & my business in a few ways:
– stand my ground
– stand up and say my piece
– hold my boundaries

Ok, so not always full on ding-dong arguments, but I do use courage when approaching difficult situations. You see, I’m a recovering people-pleaser, learning to install and maintain boundaries in my personal and business life. I don’t like letting people down and I hate upsetting them. In the past that has meant that I would concede and then feel used (because I was).

It allows me to hold firm with difficult customers. It gives me the strength to keep time for my family. I draw on it when managing contractors (or staff when I had them). It also allows me to knock back opportunities that may appealing but actually don’t support or move my business forward.

Courage in conflict gives me the ability to generally avoid conflict and to often achieve better outcomes than had the conflict occurred.

Courage and leadership

I’ve held a few leadership roles from taking over as Senior Bank Teller after a robbery through to managing a Quality Assurance Team who were close to retirement and had a two-year backlog of work. I have to admit that the mentor roles I’ve had through the years have even required courage.

Now that I run my own small business, I do need to remind myself that I do still have these skills. I tend to forget that I built this muscle and I just need to wake it up – that takes courage. A few years ago I realized just how different I was in the Social Media Marketing space and I had to be ok with that. I’ve now applied that to my role as coach and mentor – and I’m ok with that.

When it comes to leadership, I’ve had to develop the courage to:
– Stand up
– Listen
– Speak up
– Be different

This has really made me draw on my own self-confidence, which honestly can be shaky at times. I’ve had to draw on my Imposter Syndrome toolkit to make sure I’ve got the right focus.

The other thing I’ve had to be ok with is actually being a leader and mentor. While I do formalize the role in my client work and work with Flinders University, it’s when others see me as a leader but I do not directly work with them. When the person infront of me at a conference tells me that they travelled interstate to hear me speak. When people come up to me and say that I inspire them. This is when Imposter Syndrome hits me hard as I know I’m only being true to myself. This is when I need that courage in my role as a leader the most and to understand that I don’t get to determine if others see me as a leader, that is a role I am given and I need to be ok with that too.

Courage and forward thinking

I’ve recently written about forward thinking and how it helps small business, the thing is that to be a forward thinker you need to have courage. You need to act from a place of courage. You need to trust in that courage.

I can tell you that being out there on your own makes you draw on the courage you have. It will test the courage you have. And when you succeed you will have that courage renewed and reinforced. And that makes it worthwhile.

Courage and growth

One of the unexpected benefits of acting from a place of courage is how you grow, personally and as a business. You will discover things you never realized about yourself. You will also become more self-assured. This has been the best thing for me.

But how can courage help you and your small business grow?
– financial growth, including
– courage to promote your business
– emotional growth, including
– overcoming obstacles, fears, challenges
– learning/experiencing new things

I’m curious to know how you will use courage in your business now? Let me know in an email or leave a comment below.