Hey there ,

Today we're going to talk about the f-word.

No, not that one.

The scary one.

FAILURE.

This email is the first in a series that might be 5 emails and also might be 50 about FAILURE - specifically about business failure. MY business failure.

I am the proud owner of a business - my first - that, based on all of the 'official metrics,' IS a failure.

• It's not profitable.

• It's not growing like gangbusters.

• It's not particularly visible.

And a big part of me has NOT wanted to talk about this for a long, long time.

I am embarrassed by this 'failure'.

I am disappointed by it.

And, as a business coach, having a 'failed business' feels wrong.

It leads me to feel like a fraud, to question my expertise, to wonder if I'm valuable, and to worry what people will think (more than usual) - even though I KNOW that really, having this 'failed' business has been more blessing than curse.

So.

I've decided that this 'failure' is a dark corner that needs some light.

As my coach pointed out to me the other day, the real reason WHY I feel embarrassed, disappointed, un-expert, and fraudulent in relation to my first business (it's called exSTEMsions, btw) is because I am 'measuring my success using someone else's yardstick.'

And just ew.

No thank you. No thank you to having someone else, anyone else be the arbiter of MY success.

When I sit down and think about my business journey, I wouldn't be here, today, helping people, writing this email, coaching, sharing what I know without exSTEMsions.

And I know - as a teacher, as a parent, and as a human - that failure IS NORMAL.

But that doesn't mean I've allowed myself to LET IT BE NORMAL.

Instead, I've made is a state-level secret.

Which is ridiculous.

Because there is SO MUCH GOOD to be mined from this particular failure.

Hence this series.

Over the next weeks (months? years?), I'm going to pull apart MY failure into all it's different component parts -

• the tactics,
• the decisions,
• the mindset,
• the things we should have known but actually couldn't have known,
• the tools,
• the money,
• the platforms,
• the way we (mis)spent our time, energy, and money,
• what we overcomplicated (you know, besides ALL of it),
• how we did and didn't connect

- so that it can be USEFUL for YOU.

Today, here at the start, there are a couple things I want to share.

1. I am willing to be SEEN as a woman-business owner who has had a business that failed. I know that in this I am in FANTASTIC company.

And I want to invite you to feel welcomed in to this space if it fits you too.

There is NOTHING to be embarrassed about or disappointed in around failing.

I'm choosing to be done with thinking I have to feel this way, and I invite you to choose the same.

2. I am willing to say that I failed, and I want you to know it really IS okay for you to say it too.

We use LOTS of euphemisms for failure, and my teacher brain does NOT like to say I failed (even right now it's YELLING 'BUT YOU LEARNED!! YOUUU LEARNNNNED!').

But I CAN and WILL say it. I will make it okay for me and also hopefully for you.

I can fail AND learn. This is actually how it's SUPPOSED to work.

We all shy away from failure. It's how we're conditioned. It's what we're told we're supposed to avoid (while also being told it's okay to fail, just don't do it again...hmmmm).

So maybe the biggest lesson of all for this series will be this:

It's not only okay to have failed, but it is okay to ALLOW YOURSELF to have failed.

It's okay to OWN your failures.

Hell, it's even okay to own them and then NOT turn them into learning.

It's going to feel funny, and I can tell you that it's going to be uncomfortable AF.

But imagine all of the things that just might open up to each of us if we could own our failures, feel the feelings, NOT make them a problem, and move ON.

You can fail. You can choose NOT to have it be a problem. And you can choose to learn from it.

Welcome to this space where failure just is what it is.

Warmly,

Sara

PS. If you have a minute, hit reply and tell me your thoughts about the f-word (failure, or the other, really, both are fine, :))...I'd love to hear from you :)

AND.

In April I'm hosting a FREE webinar called UNcomplicated Selling. You should sign up (you have to register ahead).

Sign up here, it's going to be more useful than spoons, and spoons are pretty damn useful. :)