In Episode 90 of the Lift As You Climb podcast, host Isabel Alexander delves into a topic that can be challenging for many entrepreneurs: the fear of failure, especially when it comes to loving your business.

She explores the pressures we feel to maintain a facade of success and why it's essential to acknowledge when we're no longer passionate about our businesses. Isabel shares her own experiences and the realization that it's okay to seek new challenges and prioritize personal growth.

Join her as she discusses the journey from being deeply involved in your business to becoming the chief investor in your own life.

To register for a coaching with Isabel

About the Host:

Isabel Alexander

Your Next Business Strategist and Transformation Catalyst

 Isabel Alexander's journey from modest beginnings to global recognition epitomizes entrepreneurial resilience and innovation. With over five decades of experience spanning diverse industries, she has become a driving force in shaping economic landscapes worldwide. Noteworthy accomplishments include founding a multimillion-dollar global chemical wholesale business and earning accolades such as Canada's Top 100 Most Powerful Women.

As a mentor and advocate, Isabel empowers women entrepreneurs through initiatives like the Lift As You Climb Movement and podcasts, guiding them from startup to maturity. Serving as Chief Encore Officer of The Encore Catalyst, she dedicates herself to coaching and educating emerging entrepreneurs. Her involvement in organizations like RenegadesReinventing.com and Femme on Fire underscores her commitment to leadership and business development.

Additionally, Isabel's advisory roles with government bodies and trade associations, such as Chair of the Canadian Association of Importers & Exporters, highlight her influence in shaping trade policies and fostering international relations.

Driven by her mantra, "Lift As You Climb," Isabel embodies the ethos of mutual growth and empowerment. With dual citizenship in Canada and the United States, she values her extensive family and embraces global connections through travel and professional engagements. Isabel Alexander's narrative serves as a beacon of inspiration, illustrating how visionary leadership and strategic advising can drive global entrepreneurship and economic independence forward.

Founder:

The Encore Catalyst Facebook page ( https://www.facebook.com/TheEncoreCatalyst )

and

Chief Encore Officer, The Encore Catalyst (www.theencorecatalyst.com) – an accelerator for feminine wisdom, influence, and impact.

also

Author & Speaker ‘Who Am I Now? – Feminine Wisdom Unmasked Uncensored’ https://whoaminowbook.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/isabelannalexander/

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Hey, today I'd like to talk to you about the F word.

I know we're all grown ups here, right?

Got our big girl panties on, we're talking about tough stuff, and

we're talking about fun stuff.

And that's not the F word I want to talk about right now.

Although I hope that this will be a little fun as we explore not the F

word for fuck, but, the one that seems to scare us even more in a social

conversation and that is failure.

Why is the word failure, so frightening to us all.

Oh my gosh, there goes another F.

And particularly in the context of what's going on in the conversations I

have right now with my networks about the feeling that we're failing if we

don't love our businesses anymore.

How COVID, the pandemic, man, that was such a hard time for business

owners and even more troublesome, more of a burden for women business

owners because they were usually also juggling a lot of other personal stuff.

Caregiving, relationships, missing occasions, missing

people, missing friends.

So, Going back to failure, and the feeling of failing our business, if

it doesn't turn us on anymore, if we're not excited about it, if it's

not everything that the whole world thinks it is, that we are faking it.

The F's are just rolling today, ladies.

If we're faking it every day that we show up and put a smile on our face, but we're

really gritting our teeth because we have to answer one more complaint, come up

with one more piece of wisdom, provide one more piece of solution, find the

financial resources, talking about F's.

They keep rolling here.

And yet, none of this.

It's all failing to make us really want to jump out of bed every day and go, Woohoo!

This is everything and all that I need.

And I think that's what really is the issue here.

We're supposed to be content.

We're supposed to be extremely happy with this life that we have built.

After all, it was our choice, right?

We made the decision to be a business owner, to sacrifice a lot

financially and relationship wise, and healthcare and personal care

time, and all of those things.

So, suck it up buttercup, right?

Wrong!

What we're failing to do is give ourselves some grace and some

perspective, some distance from the situation around us, circumstances

outside our control, and also evolution, natural evolution of our lives and who

we are and what's interesting to us and what is now like that's enough.

I've learned all of that.

I've gotten all of the juice out of all of that.

I felt that myself personally, when I got close to that 20

year mark with my company.

That it was like, Hmm.

Okay.

You know what?

This wasn't easy all the time, and as sure as hell was, not always fun.

But I'm really glad for what I've done, what I've learned about

myself, and proven to myself.

Let's be honest, I think that was the big thing one day that

I went out, woke up and went,

Okay, I proved to myself that I could do it, in fact, and I wanted, then,

in that moment, I knew, maybe didn't admit it really fully to myself,

but I knew it was time for me to explore other challenges and other

opportunities to grow in my life.

And that was when I began that process of unwinding me from the

company that I had built, and the identity that was wrapped up in that.

So , if you're feeling like , you're faking it right now, if you're

feeling like you're lying , to others and yourself about how you

really feel about the company that you have toiled over and built and

sacrificed for, You're not alone.

There are so many of us, Baby Boomers especially, who are reaching that stage of

maturity in our business and maturity in our priorities in our life, what we value

now, that are ready to make a change, and that's the most freeing thing that

you can I realize is that it's okay to acknowledge the fact that you don't love

everything about what you do right now.

And then the real freedom comes from figuring out.

So what are you going to do about it sister?

And that's what I do.

That's my joy and working with women entrepreneurs and clients is helping

them figure out that Encore script to get them from where they are now, that

hands on, micromanaging, chief asset, chief , cook and bottle washer in their

company to The chief investor or to the person receiving the check for the sale

of that company or to whatever it is that they choose to do to get more of

what they want now in their life, more time, more freedom, more flexibility,

more financial security, and more fun.

So if you'd like to talk about that, stick around.

We're going to share deep dives on these conversations in the upcoming episodes.

And I'm also going to share with you some of my most incredible, inspiring

female entrepreneurs who'll share their journeys, their stories, and

their pearls of wisdom on these topics.

Talk to you soon.