{"id":44998,"date":"2023-10-20T15:40:17","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:40:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/stop-saying-i-had-a-lucky-break-how-to-own-your-story-as-an-entrepreneur-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:40:17","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:40:17","slug":"stop-saying-i-had-a-lucky-break-how-to-own-your-story-as-an-entrepreneur-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/stop-saying-i-had-a-lucky-break-how-to-own-your-story-as-an-entrepreneur-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Stop saying “I had a lucky break”: How to own your story as an entrepreneur – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/div>\n

Margie Warrell\u2019s a woman who has fascinated me for years, who I discovered after feeling particularly drained one morning and flicking on the television to see her sharing advice on how to build your everyday resilience.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since then, the author and media commentator has written a number of columns for Women\u2019s Agenda<\/em>, (including my favourite, in which she offers what she\u2019s learnt ten years after the birth of her fourth child) and participated in a live Q&A with me in front of an audience in Melbourne.<\/span><\/p>\n

So perhaps it was somewhat serendipitous that we should speak on the phone last week, just as the state of Florida started swinging Donald Trump\u2019s way.<\/span><\/p>\n

Warrell oozes sensible and pragmatic positivity when it comes to women\u2019s empowerment — something I needed at that point.<\/span><\/p>\n

She likes to share tips and ideas on how we can take as much self control over our lives and careers as possible, but also promotes the idea no one should blindly follow the advice of a so-called \u2018expert\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

Speaking to me in the lead up to her appearance at the Fearless 2016 event with SheBusiness later this month, I asked what she\u2019s hoping the audience of mainly female business owners will learn.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy core thing for women is about taking ownership of our own story,\u201d she tells me.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEven just financially, where we need to step up and own our role and responsibility in managing finances. Then above that level, I find women can often doubt ourselves too much and back ourselves too little.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s no one trick to getting through that, but Warrell shares a number of ideas for better appreciating your own self worth.<\/span><\/p>\n

One is to start writing down a list of what you\u2019ve achieved over a designated period of time \u2013 you might be pleasantly surprised by how much you\u2019ve done.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe second thing to do is to look at your language and see where you\u2019re demeaning and diminishing yourself,\u201d she says.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThings like, \u2018I had a lucky break\u2019 or \u2018it was the right time\u2019 will only hold you back. Don\u2019t talk down how you got there, don\u2019t look for other things to attribute your success to.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

From there, she warns against giving too much authority to other so-called \u2018experts\u2019 (despite admitting she\u2019s a coach herself).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere are so many people out there telling us how to market ourselves and how to build a brand \u2013 that can become unauthentic,\u201d she says.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDecide what feels true to you. You can take on other opinions, but don\u2019t give too much authority to experts who say you should be doing one thing over something else.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a cop-out she says, to rely on the opinions of others.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt take away the onus of responsibility on us to make our own decisions,\u201d she says.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s easy to say, \u2018an expert in social media or something else said I should be doing this\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to decide what\u2019s right for ourselves. Give yourself permission to make mistakes and to try new things.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

That can require a certain element of bravery \u2013 something Warrell also actively promotes, having written a book about it.<\/span><\/p>\n

It also requires getting comfortable with failure, something that\u2019s not always easy in a culture that prefers to celebrate wins.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe fear of feeling ashamed shouldn\u2019t prevent us from putting ourselves out there,\u201d she says.  <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTake what works and fits for you, but be your own person. Don\u2019t just be like someone else.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Inevitably, given we talk as the US election results are coming through, our conversation turns to Hillary Clinton.<\/span><\/p>\n

Is there much we can learn from her as a role model \u2013 or can looking to role models too be a cop-out, another way to put-off making our own decisions and being 100% authentic?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s great to look at other people and think, \u2018I\u2019m inspired by her being a trailblazer\u2019,\u201d she says, noting she particularly likes how Clinton can walk into a room and own it.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBut take from such role models what works and fits for you, and just be your own person.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

This article was originally published on Women’s Agenda. <\/em><\/p>\n

Follow StartupSmart on<\/em> Facebook,<\/em> Twitter, LinkedIn and iTunes.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Margie Warrell\u2019s a woman who has fascinated me for years, who I discovered after feeling particularly drained one morning and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":58967,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,25,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44998"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44998\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}