Moving through launch visibility fears

When I started my former business, Wag Theory, I pored over marketing and branding books and courses, believing that if I just had the perfect website or the perfect message, my business would take off. I could sense that I was playing small. That I was choosing the tasks that kept me busy and made me feel productive, because subconsciously, those were the safe tasks, the ones that would keep me hidden and protected.

I am a natural planner. So I planned and executed on product launches, dutifully doing all of the tasks on my to-do list, but I would wince after each email was sent and each social media post was published, bracing for the potential rejection or judgment to come. And while I had a growing set of loyal customers (to whom I was eternally grateful), my public launches always fell a bit flat. I started to build up protective walls to avoid the pain of rejection, only to experience a repeating pattern of putting myself out there (but never fully going for it, because that felt too scary), and then pulling back just as the launch was about to happen. I felt caught in a vicious loop.

Eventually I found the way out through the inner work of getting to know the parts of myself that were at odds. The part that wanted to move forward, and the part that wanted to hide. The part of me that over-indexed on the worst-case scenarios, instead of noticing what was actually working and focusing on doing more of that. Through that process of inquiry, I was able to calm the protection mechanism that had been keeping me stuck. It’s not gone, even now. But I have changed my relationship with it, and it doesn’t loop me like it used to.

If you find yourself in a similar place, the first thing to do is slow down and get curious. Ask yourself what the behavior that’s keeping you stuck might be protecting you from. Try imagining it were your friend, and offer it what it needs. Often these parts are just looking to be noticed and accepted. 

This is just one of the tools I now use to help my clients move through what is preventing them from creating the business momentum they want. Not through pushing harder or attempting to avoid the patterns altogether, but through finding new ways of relating to ourselves that create deeper, more lasting change.