Success is waiting just outside your comfort zone…

My coach is forever repeating this statement to me, and I absolutely know she’s right. 

We all have things we don’t feel comfortable doing. For some people, it might be that they’re terrified of asking for that pay rise they know they deserve, or applying for that dream job (because it triggers a feeling of unworthiness), breaking up with a partner, for some, it can be as simple as feeling uncomfortable asking people for help and support.

For me, there are many things I have struggled with taking action on due to fear. Some things have been huge, like walking away from my long-term relationship, to something small, like not being able to do videos on social media that I have needed for my business.

At one point, the thought of talking and putting my face on the internet for all to see absolutely terrified me! I knew I had to do them to help promote my business, and I would spend hours recording videos and taking images and then deleting them, but in the end, I’d never post anything. It was a total waste of my time and energy.

I turned to my coach, Nina, for advice and support. She gave me some great tips and encouraged me to push through those uncomfortable feelings and just post a video! Eventually, with practice, a lot of support and plenty of ideas to implement, I finally found the confidence to go ahead and just post a video. I actually had a great response from it, and this really helped build my confidence to do more… a few weeks later and I was doing live videos, something which I wouldn’t have dreamed I would ever do before!

Having a coach is probably one of my top tips for anyone feeling stuck, no matter how large or small your issues are. A coach will help you look at things from another angle, and will offer practical solutions, support and encouragement.

Now let me confess something else to you… I am actually really uncomfortable with selling.

Yes, that’s right… selling makes me feel uncomfortable, in fact, it makes me cringe! This may come as a strange confession considering I’ve been in sales my entire life! Having worked as a travel agent for almost 15 years, I sold many millions of £’s in holidays and I’ve owned several businesses including a cosmetics shop, and a Vintage dress shop!

Of all the things I’ve done, I’ve never truly been comfortable with the selling part! The thing is, no matter what your business is, no matter what industry, there is always an element of sales involved. So, whilst I’ve done ok with these things, I have never hit the level that I needed to live my dream life… My comfort zone was far too comfortable and I got so used to not asking people to buy from me!

At the time when lockdown was announced back in March of this year, I had been running my magazine publication for six months. I had got by selling the advertising space to people I knew, or that were recommended to me, but I hadn’t done any major hard sales outside of this comfortable way of gaining clients, I was basically plodding on. Now lockdown had hit though, I began to give myself even more reasons why people wouldn’t want to buy my services. I told myself that if I picked up the phone, people would tell me to get lost or accuse me of being insensitive at a time when they were struggling. I assumed nobody had money to even spend on advertising. None of these limiting ideas were true, there were actually many businesses doing very well throughout the lockdown, and those who understood the value of advertising, even if they were limited at that time. Being honest, it was excuses on my part, excuses to stay stuck in my comfort zone.

I had started my coaching with Nina around this time. She was literally my lifeline. She held an invisible mirror towards me to really help me understand that I was the one who was stopping me from doing what needed to be done to ensure my businesses survival, not the outside world. Each week she would ask me what I wanted to achieve the week ahead, and I’d tell her, then she would ask me how I would achieve it, and I’d come up with a way of doing it. The next week she’d ask how I’d got on and what I’d done since our last meeting to move the needle in my business, and I’d fall flat, make excuses and basically fob her off. Four weeks later and I still hadn’t done what I had said would. Nina eventually blurted out, ‘Bev, you’ve been saying this for four weeks now, do you seriously think you’re ever going to live the life you want if you never implement the things you need to do to achieve your goals?’. This shocked me at first, I was paying this woman to help me, not make me feel worse. As it turned out, it was exactly what I needed to hear.

I knew I had to rethink the way I was doing things, stop my excuses and change my mind-set surrounding my thoughts and my actions around sales. I had to take action; I could no longer sit around hoping the advertising space would sell itself. Nina’s words resonate with me even to this day, months on, and she constantly reminds me that my success is there, sat just outside my comfort zone.

As I say, I run a magazine publication and I spent 6 years in university learning how to do what I do, but not once did I learn how to sell a single thing! Let’s face it, without selling, my magazine wouldn’t even be here! It’s not just advertising space I’m selling, but my ability to write stories that do justice to the subject, and my ability to create words that sell products and services. Ultimately, I could spend months writing amazing articles and interviewing fascinating people, but without those businesses wanting to use and pay for my services, it would all be pointless!

I’ve just recently launched this website you’re reading this on, and again, what would be the point of me writing blogs to inspire people to book their trips or buy courses that help them, and spending 18 months creating an amazing website platform to do this on, to then let it all go to waste because of my reluctance to step out of my comfort zone and promote myself?

I still have Nina on a fortnightly basis, she is truly a miracle worker and I really don’t think I’d be where I am now had I not used her coaching services.

OK, so I’m still not 100% comfortable selling, but I’m getting much more confident as

time goes on by continuing my coaching, implementing the strategies I’m learning, and repeatedly working on my mind-set. I am realising that feeling uncomfortable asking a stranger to buy from me is much less uncomfortable or scary than the idea of not achieving my goals. If I want to reach the career success I need to live my dream life, then I have no choice but to step out of my comfort zone and make things happen! Even just the small steps I’ve taken so far have proved that stepping outside your comfort zone really does pay off!

Success, your dream life, anything you desire, is all there waiting just outside your comfort zone.

If you’d like to have a discovery call with Nina to see if she can help you, please click here to be directed to her website. Nina also posts lots of blogs which are really helpful and insightful.