“I’m disgusted by you. You stole all of my ideas, copied my logo and have the exact same business with NO QUALIFICATIONS!”
Those, some of the last words I remember my best friend of 20 years sending to me over text in our last conversation. She blogged about it days later.
Honestly, at that point, I was so tired (life was a bit of a shit-sandwich at the time), the words didn’t even sear the way they were intended to. That didn’t happen until months later when I re-read the exchange.
Weeks before this falling out I had excitedly sent her my new logo – the first sign my new business plans were legit. I was REALLY doing it! YAY ME!!
I had seen her just two months before over brunch. I was in her city for a conference and I had so much to tell her.
I told her I was going through some pretty massive shifts….old friendships were ending, I was elbow-deep in learning about something called “the law of attraction” AND I had just been asked to write a chapter for an anthology by an already published editor. Woot!
We talked for hours and I told her I wanted to start my own business…could she tell me how she started hers? What’s involved? How did you do your logo? – it’s so nice! Your website? How do you find clients? There were so many questions from a very green-to-business me. I knew NOTHING and I wanted to find out the logistics from someone I loved and trusted.
She had been in business for about a year herself doing communications and video production. She was happy for me. Enthusiastic to share what she knew.
Then, only two months later I sent her my logo. I had designed it from a cheap do-it-yourself logo template tool I had found online (because we all start somewhere, right?).
When I did hear back from her, she began by texting me she was upset I “copied her logo”. I was totally perplexed…they were nothing alike.
She went on to annihilate me for copying her business and being a total fraud because she had qualifications and according to her, I did not.
I almost stayed small. I ALMOST believed her.
I almost stayed small. I ALMOST believed her. Luckily, I had been well into mindset work at that time and had stopped believing the bullshit stories people tell you when you start to rise.
My reaction wasn’t soft.
We both got petty – me with sarcastic quips, her with blood-curdling meanness. Her rage and desire to keep me in my place was nothing new. It had happened before…a few times. But that was years ago – we were really young back then. I thought that part of her – of us – was over.
I tried to explain the differences in our businesses – totally different services, different client base, completely different branding. It didn’t matter. There is no defending yourself to a story that doesn’t exist.
For a long time, I was really angry.
It was the final straw for me in trusting anyone – especially women. I was going to be FULLY me, and since that didn’t seem to sit well with anyone in my current life, I would go-it-alone.
But as I nurtured my business, as it began to evolve and change into this beautiful thing it has become, the anger went away. I began seeing women support each other.
I began serving women who also wanted to see me rise. I was blessed to befriend many women in various businesses – some similar to mine – who HELPED me moved forward.
I realized me and my old friend were just in totally different places. Our energetic pattern was being shifted and we were no longer aligned. It HAD to breakdown. This situation was just the easiest out.
But as I nurtured my business, as it began to evolve and change into this beautiful thing it has become, the anger went away.
More importantly, I began to heal the wound by deciding I would never try to keep another woman small. I would always, ALWAYS try to help women rise. As high as they could rise – especially if it was higher than me.
My way of dealing with the pain and the rejection of that situation was to create a new story of acceptance of myself and of other women for who they were, and where they were right now.
My business went from a generic business writing service to a business built on creating deep, meaningful connections between soulful businesses and their people through content.
Vulnerability is what truly connects us. It is what heals the world and provides hope to those seeking refuge from their fears, struggles and worries.
I want to help women RISE through their voice.
I want to help women see the value of who they are, and what they offer the world.
This is my calling and it honours me to be even a small part of any healing, any connection, any uprising.
The only way any of this can happen is through vulnerability. Vulnerability is what truly connects us. It is what heals the world and provides hope to those seeking refuge from their fears, struggles and worries. Through this vulnerability, we can create a new day for how businesses create relationships with people – and how women create relationships with each other.
My story is what propels my business forward. It’s what keeps me grounded every day in the knowing that I am here to help people connect in a meaningful, authentic way. And it’s what brings my soulmate clients to me.
So I ask you this: What’s your story? How can you be vulnerable in a way that will be a light for others who are looking for your help right now? THIS is your story. THIS is what needs to be told, so those who need you can find you. Start telling it now.