There’s a sneaky way we hold ourselves back without even realizing it: by sticking to what we can do instead of what we truly want to do. It’s easy to keep doing what’s familiar, what’s safe. After all, it works. But if you feel that pull—that whisper in the back of your mind telling you there’s something more—you’re limiting yourself.

During one of our sessions, she expressed hesitation about a marketing decision. I asked her, point-blank, “Amy, is this your 3 getting in the way?” After a thoughtful pause, she realized her fear of being seen as a failure was holding her back.

It’s rare you’ll find a branding agency who has one person dedicated completely to you. There are many people involved in your rebranding process which can lead to miscommunication, delayed turn-around time on your project, and the need for you to repeat yourself, sharing the information multiple times with multiple people.

Much like Grandma Lucy, you are a helper. You’re a salt-of-the-earth person who has a dream and works hard to pursue it. Unlike my grandmother, you know your worth and have the ability, and desire, to pursue your dreams.

You know you have good things to share with the world to make it a better place. You might be an accountant helping locally owned cannabis businesses create good cash flow and profitability or a business coach working with nonprofits. Maybe you’re helping create brave spaces for women to take adventure trips or a photographer with a passion to tell stories.

I will never forget a conversation I had with one of my clients at the time. She and I had built a great relationship in the few years we’d worked together, and cared about more than just getting the marketing done.

We logged into our monthly call, said hello, and chatted a little. Just before I could start in on “business,” she stopped me and said, “Now Jamie. Before we do any marketing, I want to know, how are you doing?”

Imposter syndrome.

It’s the feeling that eventually you’ll be found out. You are a hack who doesn’t really know anything about anything. It’s the pit in your stomach when you look around and see all the happy, smiley business owners on Instagram who appear to be slaying the game.

It’s a sneaky SOAB and one of those things that I believe, the more we talk about, the less power it has in our everyday lives.

It really pushed me. It caused me to wonder what it looks like to be inclusive and also feel safe. So many typical business spaces push to be inclusive, but they are starting with mainstream society and inviting the marginalized in. But there, in that space, the very marginalized among us were pushing to invite other people in- marginalized or not.

How do we create that space with safety?

There must be a way.

I think it starts with a table.

“Tell the one about being handed a live chicken on the bus in a remote village in Africa!” “Oooo, what about the one where you almost failed your polygraph because you forgot you paid less for your sushi than you were supposed to?!?” “Remember that one time when you stole drugs from a drug dealer?”

If you ever tell me a story, in particular a very entertaining story, and we’re at a gathering with new people, I’m the one who’s going to make you tell it again. Because some of the very best parts of human connection come from stories.