Making a Movement: An Intro

“There was no other option. I just decided I wasn’t going to fail. So I didn’t.”

This was a moment. I knew it by the way the words felt as they hung in the air between us.

There we were….

My friend, graciously sharing from the experience she had starting her small business many years before.

Me, trying not to choke on my Beyond Burger, suddenly unable to swallow over the lump in my throat.

At first, I couldn’t figure out why I felt like crying, but as quickly as the question formed in my head, the answer appeared on its heels.

I am afraid to fail. That’s why I felt like crying. And so there I sat, having a tiny little reckoning with the reality that failure loomed on the horizon in a way it never had before.

And that brought about a particular breed of fear with which I am wholly unfamiliar.

Sure, I am no stranger to taking risks. I left a corporate career without another job in sight. I led a start-up nonprofit with no money in the bank and a wisp of an idea about what it wanted to become. I delivered a TED talk where I left everything on the stage, including the literal dress I was wearing.

But each of those risks was carefully calculated, the projected benefit weighed against the potential loss.

And this time felt different. Correction… this time feels different.

In this case, I’ve weighed nothing. In fact, I suspect if I did sit down for my customary cost-benefit analysis, this idea would not pass the test.

But this idea doesn’t really care. It never was one for being weighed. Instead, it is the sort of idea that has commanded a kind of courage I didn’t even know existed inside of me. So, it comes as no surprise to discover that I am going to have to walk straight through this fear to find out if there is some freedom on the other side.

And after a few trips through fear this past year, I’ve decided it’s time to make a road map of my travels. I know this trip is going to change me.

Even if I fail. Especially if I fail.

And I want to remember the steps I take, the turns I make, the way it feels to climb uphill and have no idea what’s on the other side. I want to remember what it takes to make a movement, and I want to invite you to come along with me. What can I say - I like good company, and you never know… you, too, might decide to do something that scares the shit out of you someday. If you do, I want you to have something to help you along the way.

So, here’s what is going to happen next:

I’m going to write every day throughout the next year as I work to make The Beautifull Project into the kind of movement that changes the entire world, or maybe just our tiny corner of it.

The posts won’t be polished. I can’t even guarantee they will be interesting. But I promise they will be honest. I promise I will give you an inside look at the life of an entrepreneur who has to figure out how to make a living from work that makes me remember that I’m alive. Sounds glorious and terrifying, doesn’t it? It certainly does to me.

I’ll compile the daily entries into a post every two weeks, drop them to social accounts and send them out in a newsletter. Subscribe to the updates if you want to come along and keep me company or just drop in if you’re ever curious.

And on the other side, we might have made something beautiful together.

Or I might have failed in spectacular fashion.

Or both things might be true.

Either way, it’s going to make one hell of a story, so what do you say…

Let’s see how it ends together.