Courageous Communication: The Wins and The Losses

I’ve been talking about courage recently. The conversations have been about a variety of topics—mostly around being courageous when communicating with others: 

• Being transparent with clients about how your partnership is going.
• Waiting to hire your ideal candidate, rather than settling to have mediocre help now. 
• Sharing feedback even when you think it may be tough to hear.
• Asking for help before you need it.

Being a Parentpreneur takes more courage because you take educated risks in your business that may also impact your family. 

A great leader shares how things are going within their business—the wins and the losses. Often, this is done in a company meeting. If you’re using a system like Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS), you’re talking about how the business is doing each week. 

So what does that look like when you are a Parentpreneur and your team includes your family? 

When you bring that great leadership into your family, you share with your loved ones how things are going for you as a business owner—the good stuff and the tough stuff.

It’s easy to share the good stuff, so let’s talk about sharing the tough stuff. Time to be vulnerable.

Before I let go of my most lucrative client, I discussed it with my family. I shared how things were going, what was working, and what wasn’t working. I explained why this client had consumed the majority of my time and why the work I was doing for them was now impacting my family time. We discussed the pros and cons of my letting the client go. We decided, together, that the financial reward wasn’t worth it.

The stakes were too high to keep going. I value my well-being and the well-being of my family. 

I didn’t know what would happen.

What I did know is that I had some financial reserves which reduced the worry and gave me a choice. It also helped knowing I’m surrounded by quality people and part of some supportive business communities. 

The good news is that letting go of a bad-fit situation created space for me to say yes to three new opportunities. 

“We spend precious hours fearing the inevitable. It would be wise to use that time adoring our families, cherishing our friends, and living our lives.”  – Maya Angelou

Are you a part of some supportive business communities?

Do you have 25 people to whom you can reach out when you need some support or advice? If “yes,” fantastic!

If  “no,” I encourage you to start to build your support network by reaching out to one or two people you think would be amazing mentors to you. It just takes one connection to broaden your network. I encourage you to ask before you need help. It just may give you more choices when faced with a tough decision.