The Luncheon Was A Success.

Last week right before I left town for Texas, I went to that luncheon I mentioned. I had been asked to speak in front of a powerful group of women entrepreneurs about me and my journey as a woman owning and running my own business. Well, I was freaky nervous because I had never spoken in front of more than a handful of people in the past, so, you see, I was feeling a bit sick to my stomach. When I was finally introduced by Ann Holmes, the author of the book I had been mentioned in, I approached the podium, took a deep breath and realized something. I am who I am. I am not in High School anymore. I put myself in the shoes of the audience and thought, Why would I attend a luncheaon like this? To hear and learn what other people are about, so maybe I have something to share that might be interesting to them.

I began speaking to about 60 women staring at me and after a few moments, I became completely comfortable in my skin as I had never been before. I think at that moment I became an adult. I was saying who I am, what I had done to get here and most importantly, the ideals I live by and integrate into every aspect of my daily life.

Through everything that I do, I maintain honesty, fairness and respect of others and myself-always. This is my core. This is who I am and this business will never break that. So whether I am successful or not, I must maintain my belief system. Isn't that what our parents tried to instill in us? Isn't that what I do every day with my own two kids?

After I ended my chatty story and the luncheon ended, a number of women approached me to tell me how inspiring I was for them and a lovely woman told me I was a great storyteller....that I could have a future in public speaking inspiring others. That made me laugh out loud because I had almost threw up from nerves 15 minutes earlier, and I told her so. She said she could tell, but that it had passed quickly.

So I end on this note: Be true to one's self and always remember what it would feel like on the other end of you, which is another way of saying, "Treat others the way you want to be treated" and then you will be proud of who you are on any day of the week. And, if you ever get a chance to speak in front of a ton of people and you feel like you are going to die, just do it. You will learn more about yourself than the audience will learn about you.