Let me start by saying I hate being vulnerable. As a young person, I was inspired by the Michael J. Fox movie "The Secret of My Success," where his character always seemed to have an answer, right or wrong. In the movie, no one at the company was making decisions, just passing the buck. Michael made decisions and he succeeded. Boy, business was going to be easy, I thought as a kid. I love making decisions and telling people what to do.
But running a business as an entrepreneur is a journey. It is full of ups and downs. As a marketing firm, we recently had some slower months and had to lay some people off. Making decisions didn’t seem so fun anymore. Life isn’t a movie.
Journey to New York
Over the past several years, we’ve been able to grow from a startup to over $1 million in annual revenue. Through this journey, I’ve participated in learning opportunities such as Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses and most recently the Entrepreneurs' Organization Accelerator (EOA) program. I’ve picked up skills and grown my knowledge in many areas: finance, billing, sales, operations and more.
This year, I’ve been blessed to graduate from the EO Accelerator program into the EO program. Moving from EOA to EO, you participate in a full-day EO Forum training before being placed in a Forum. So, luck would have it, I was in New York City to visit my daughter, who was there for her summer internship, at the same time an in-person EO Forum Training was taking place at EO House NYC. It is a co-working type space where members can have their forum meetings, group events or simply work while in town.
Personal Growth
I showed up for training at the EO House location on the fifth floor in Midtown, took the elevator to the floor, got there on time and met a group of people from all over: Atlanta, Massachusetts and a few from New York City. Some were EO members, and some were SLP (spousal/life partners).
Early in the forum training, I learned that growing a business is about a lot more than growing your operations, sales and so on. To grow your business, you need to grow yourself. Personal growth. Ugh. Sounds like vulnerability.
They say the skills you need to bring to grow a company from $250,000 to $1 million are not the same as those needed to grow from $1 million to $3 million, the next hurdle. This training emphasizes emotional intelligence, strategic thinking and the ability to build and lead a strong team. It shares how, in Forum, you need to open up about the 5 percent of your life that you don’t share with your team members, spouse or others: The stuff you worry about personally or professionally that you seldom share.
Me? Okay, I’m skeptical. I’ll listen, but I’ll stick to the operations and sales stuff, thank you.
The Forum Experience
I learned a lot about how to participate in Forum, and that was good. But toward the end, I watched a mock Forum “issues presentation” where the trainer and one person dove into a real issue they were facing. For forum confidentiality, I’ll not share the issue. After the issue was shared by the presenter and coach, we went around the room providing our “experience shares.” This is where you can share a story of something related that happened to you and how you dealt with it — not give advice.
Sitting there, I listened to the others' stories. One of the last items shared, through tears, seemed to flip the challenge on its head. Hard to explain, but wow. It provided a completely different perspective to the person with the challenge. Mind-opening.
At the end of the day, I walked away with newfound friends that I’d like to keep in touch with. And maybe, maybe, vulnerability isn't so bad after all. I saw how both of those people grew right before my eyes. Being vulnerable helps provide insights into leading others and being open to areas where I need improvement.
I realize that to lead BigOrange Marketing to new heights, I have to grow too, improve my emotional intelligence, learn to delegate effectively and develop a strategic vision for the company's future.
So I didn’t climb a proverbial mountain to gain these insights, didn’t even climb any stairs. I did take an elevator, though, and visited another EO location to flip some ideas about vulnerability on their head. Just like in "The Secret of My Success," where Michael J. Fox's character learned that real success requires making tough decisions and sometimes taking risks, I discovered that true growth, both personally and professionally, comes from embracing vulnerability and opening up to new perspectives.
Vulnerability can help:
Build authentic connections.
Foster trust.
Encourage empathy and support.
Enhance self-awareness.
Embrace imperfections.
Acknowledge mistakes.
Take risks.
Develop resilience.
Strengthen character.
Inspire others.
Promote open communication.
Squeezing the Day
At BigOrange Marketing, we are passionate about what we do. We believe in the power of American businesses to make a difference in the world, and we are dedicated to helping our clients succeed. We are committed to providing exceptional digital inbound marketing services that are based on honesty, transparency and a deep understanding of our clients' needs. At BigOrange, we bring award-winning StoryBrand messaging and design together for MSPs, manufacturers, builders and landscapers that want to get leads and grow.
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