But I’m nobody important!

Last week, I had a conversation with Dana Sipper about a friend of hers who was looking for someone to talk to about starting a business. Dana explained her friend was someone like me, loves to write, and trying to find her way in the world…and wants advice from me.

Of course I said that yes, I would be happy to chat with her.

And then the doubt set in. The “but I’m nobody important” feeling consumed me.

I just started my business. I’m still trying to figure this all out for myself…how in the heck am I going to be able to help someone else just starting out? I have no idea what to say to someone. What if I tell her the wrong thing and she doesn’t like me? What if I tell her the right thing and she doesn’t like it?

Then I took a step back from myself and thought about all the incredible businesses that I respect and realized one thing. Those people probably have doubts too! They probably question their abilities some mornings, and wonder how they got where they are.

Alfred Peet probably had wondered more than once why anyone drank his coffee.

And I am sure Bill Gates questioned why people kept buying his system.

Then of course in the beginning, Walt Disney was probably confused why anyone liked that little mouse he created.

More importantly, each of these extremely successful corporations were all started by one person, with one idea, and a whole lot of effort. They all started as a small business owner, and turned themselves into big business owners.

That’s me, a small business owner (wow, so weird to actually be in that category!), who is going to work my butt off to be a big business owner. I’ll continue to have doubts along the way, but it is those doubts that keep me working harder. It is the concern that maybe I’m not important that will force me to prove that I am.

And I think that is exactly what I will tell her.

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3. What makes writing so important?