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Hey Fabulous Founder!

Welcome to the 46th Issue of the Brave YES Biz Playbook, a weekly newsletter by me, Shawn Fink, with musings on courage, business strategy and having the capacity to play bigger and live your best life. I am SO glad you are here. You may want to allow for images to show up in this edition for a better reading experience.

What if I am playing too small in my business?

What if I am not leading as bravely as I talk?

These were the words that came to me last week after I had a huge ah-ha moment that has, quite honestly, rocked my world.

We do this, don't we?

Whether or not you believe solidly in yourself and your work, there's always more work to be done.

I was preparing for my brand new, game-changing Braving the Business Arena Masterclass that I hosted on Friday. (Did you miss it? No worries. I'll be scheduling another one for February and will announce soon.)

Not that you care, but I do my best visionary and planning work -- and writing -- in my jammies, in my bed right before I go to sleep. This is when I am my most relaxed. (I now know why this works so well ... more on that later at the bottom.)

During one of these visionary writing and planning sessions crafting out the details of my masterclass I realized something huge about a blocker in my OWN business.

There is ONE really big area in my business I've been staying solidly in my comfort zone.

>>>>>> And it's costing me time -- and money.

{Actually, since that night, I also realized there is one other area where I am staying in my comfort zone and all the signs from the Universe are waking me up to that one. This one is big but not shocking.}

I shared about having an ah-ha on my LinkedIN page and several amazing humans resonated with my words and reached out to me -- and signed up for the masterclass. They were feeling it.

The truth is when we are really, truly in our comfort zone -- and not in a good way -- we can't even see it until it's too late. Money's lost. Time's lost. Confidence lost. Power ... lost.

Are you playing it safe in your comfort zone? What's it costing you?
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Here are 2 questions to use as a gateway to unlock the truth:

• What are the shoulds that keep running my week? And are they connected to me feeling safe and comfy?
• How might I thrive if I tried something different, something that brings me more alive?
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Now, let's chat about your answers. And, if you aren't THRIVING as the founder of your business right now, book a call with me to sort it out and get the support you need to right the ship. ADD ME TO YOUR CALENDAR HERE.​

XO

In Gratitude & Peace,

Shawn Fink (she/her)

​Business Strategist & Courage Coach​

​Book a FREE coaching exploratory call with me.​

Listen to my podcast: Brave YES Business Show.​

P.S. If you like this newsletter, you can support it by ...

1. Forward this email to a fave entrepreneur you know could use a weekly courage boost ... suggest they sign up to receive these emails each week by signing up here.​

2. Refer a business bestie to my private, customized business coaching. I offer business design strategy & courage coaching and am holding coaching exploratory calls for March start dates as my calendar is full this month. Learn more here. (Deep gratitude)

3. SAY HELLO --> HIT REPLY and say hello and tell me which B.R.A.V.E step you want to take this year in your business! Are you clear on what it is or do you need help figuring it out? Or, just hit reply and say HI and let me know you are here and that I am not speaking into the void. :)

Brave Leadership Links for YOU, the Founder because this is always a growth area to work on.
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CHASING VALIDATION ... This piece really stood out to me recently as I'm not someone who needs much validation but certainly there is a point where NONE can be harmful and frustrating. Your team. Your family. Your friends. Your people. Someone may be wanting some validation from you. But, what is enough? And, there is definitely such a thing as needing TOO much validation. But ... A little validation goes a long way.​

ARE YOU READY TO RECEIVE NEGATIVE FEEDBACK? What do you do with negative feedback? Dismiss it? Eat it? Feel shame around it? Attack? Loved this thought piece about how to truly process negative feedback. But, first, before we can process it, we must put ourselves in a situation to receive it. I can't think about the idea of receiving feedback without thinking about Brené Brown. She has so much to say about this. But her Engaged Feedback Checklist is a go-to resource to use for sure.

WHY I DO MY BEST WORK SLEEPY --> Talk about validation! I found this piece called TRYING TO STAY AWAKE this week and wow. This explains my bedtime visionary work. "Actually, my speciality is not sleep itself, but the hinterland of sleep, the point of entry to unconsciousness. One of my earliest memories of sensual pleasure (though there must have been earlier, watery ones) is of lying on my stomach in bed, the bedtime story told, lights out (not the hall, leave the door open, no, more than that), the eiderdown heavy and over my head, my face in the pillow, adjusted so that I had just enough air to breathe. I recall how acutely aware I was of being perfectly physically comfortable, as heimlich as I ever had been or ever would be, and no small part of the comfort was the delicious prospect of falling slowly into sleep. Drifting off. Moving off, away, out of mindfulness. Leaving behind. Relaxing into hypnagogia (a condition I may always have known about and desired, if not been able to name), anticipating the blurring of consciousness."