tapestries

Welcome to my blog. This is my first entry. I'd been thinking of starting a blog for some time and wondered how I would fit it in to an already busy schedule. I'm not alone I am sure.

But last night at our Company of Women meeting, I heard an amazing speaker who inspired me and whose wisdom I wanted to share with all who could not hear her.

Carol Denman is someone who has won all sorts of awards - Canadian Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Award, Canadian Women Mentor's Award to name but a few. She's grown her business to become one of the PROFIT 100 Top Women Owned Businesses.

Yet she stood before us last night and shared that when she won those awards, there were times when she felt like an imposter, and that soon everyone would discover who she really was.

But much of her talk was focused on her most recent achievement - getting her pilot's license at 50. What does that have to do with running a business you may ask? Plenty. It takes courage, a sense of adventure, and just as when you start a business, an element of risk.

Carol shared that in flying "take off" is optional, but landing is imperative. Just as the women in the audience, mainly business owners, had taken off in their businesses, none of us know for sure just where we will land! But she encouraged us to stay the course. Often she found that when the going got tough and she was about to give up, she turned a corner.

In business as in flying, Carol advised us to face our challenges head on, to work through our problems with integrity. When you're honest and upfront when you've made a mistake, it goes a long way to rectifying the situation and helps you build a reputation as someone who cares and can be counted on.

Since starting Company of Women, I've had the pleasure to hear many successful women share their stories and I have come to realize that the stories that stand out are the ones told with humour and honesty.

These women, like Carol, are real. While many have achieved great success, they have not forgotten their roots, nor have they got a false sense of who they are.

So as I take off with this blog, I hope you will stick around to see where we land. It could be a fun trip.