What does bravery have to do with business?

My dad has always told me that he admires how brave I am. As a child, I was super resilient. I would get hurt time after time and I would still get back up and keep going. Fighting for my dreams was natural to me.

I’ve always been happy to travel and explore overseas on my own.

I’ve changed jobs almost more times than I’ve changed underwear.

I’ve experienced tragic loss that almost broke me but I had the bravery to believe that it was all for a purpose. Spoiler alert: it was!

I quit my six-figure corporate job, without any sort of safety net, after spending 10 years building a lucrative career.

I’ve done things in my business that were new and risky and then when they were established and profitable, I reinvented myself in pursuit of my soul’s calling.

People have called me crazy to turn my back on a program (that was a money machine) in order to do something far less certain.

People have called me crazy to be so open about my spiritual nature, my practices, my rituals and my beliefs because it will ‘turn people off’.

Honestly, I don’t know any other way. Bravery is in my DNA.

But I’ve come to realise that bravery doesn’t come naturally to everyone!

So what is bravery?

The words ‘courage’ and ‘bravery’ are often used interchangeably. But there is an important difference!

Courage is the ability to do something that frightens you.

Bravery is the act of doing said things (e.g courageous behavior).

Bravery comes in many forms and often what might not seem courageous or brave to one person might be to another.

Sometimes it’s doing what seems crazy.

Sometimes it’s valuing something that no-one around you gets.

Sometimes it’s stepping out of a proverbial closet of some sort.

Sometimes it means giving up on something that has brought success in pursuit of your soul.

Sometimes it is when you keep going.

Sometimes it is taking a job you don’t really want to feed your family.

Sometimes it is getting bridge work to ease the pressure while you “create”.

Sometimes it is listening to your soul without any idea what the outcome is.

Sometimes it means standing up for your values amongst people who disagree.

Sometimes it means showing your family or friends who you really are.

Sometimes it means really feeling what is going on rather than numbing out.

I’m not here to teach you how to undertake massive feats of bravery like jumping in front of a bus to save a child.

I’m here to teach you how to be brave in your everyday life and business. To be the heroine of your own life. To rewrite your own story. To finally follow the call of your soul and launch your work into the world!

So what does bravery have to do with your business?

To put it simply, business requires you to take courageous action.

Whether that means writing the blog post…

Or hopping on the live video…

Or changing directions without knowing the outcome…

They say business is the biggest personal development that you’ll do in your life.

That’s because it requires bravery.

[bctt tweet=”And without bravery, you will never be the person (or have the business) that you were destined for.” username=”kathhocking”]

You could do all the training…

You could get all of the support…

You could have all of the knowledge…

But without brave actions, nothing in your life or business will change!

So how do you bring more bravery to your business?

I don’t believe that we talk about bravery enough – especially as women in business.

In our current society, it’s only little boys who are taught to be brave. While little girls are taught to be perfect. Research by HP found that women are far less likely to apply for a job if they don’t meet 100% of the criteria. Whereas men are far more likely to apply – even if they only meet 60% of the requirements!

So as women in business, how do we beat the odds and breakthrough to bravery?

Bravery isn’t always easy but it WILL be worth it! Are you with me?