One core element of my media training is to help clients build a story that is bigger than themselves. The more meaning, the more impact, the more urgency it has, the less pressure you put on yourself to be perfect. It’s instrumental in building confidence. And it’s become instrumental in helping me make better business decisions.

There’s a little-known addiction in entrepreneurship: an addiction to the launch. It’s very exciting to come up with a new idea. And it’s very exciting to get other people excited about your new idea. You can have the energy of “business” without actually doing business.

Building a business should be simple. Step one, sell a product. Step two, market this product. Find new ways to tell people this product is for sale. Step three, amplify your marketing with media exposure (this is where I come in). And yet so many businesses try to rush through all three steps; especially when there are so many digital marketing tools at our disposal and so many options to market ourselves.

One of my core standards for myself and my business is to be very intentional with how I spend my time and my money. I don’t spend either frivolously and I hope when I do, both will lead to growth and abundance. This is especially true when it comes to in-person networking.

What I love most about creating this series every year is the chance to mark the personal growth the entrepreneur journey has provided. I’ve done A LOT of work on regulating my emotions. It might not be obvious to others, but I know I am a lot less reactive. Very rarely do I make emotional decisions (even grocery shopping while hangry. I always make sure to have a snack first). But making emotional decisions is not the same as making decisions based on emotion.