For the first few years of running my business, I was a total liar.
I wasn’t lying intentionally, illegally, or in a malicious way. I hate to break it to you, but you might be a liar too. Actually, if you’re a female entrepreneur who has a blog or social media presence, you most likely are.
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From the moment I launched my business, I wanted to show the world that I was the redheaded version of Superwoman. I could do everything and be everything! I could dream up incredible ideas, execute all of them, and lead my team to amazing things. I could conceptualize, write, edit, and promote everything. I could write a book while juggling my usual workload and traveling. In first class.
That’s what I showed the world, and here’s where the lying part comes in: I broadcast my polished, perfect-looking business life–professionally-shot photos and edited weekly videos; Instagram updates from all over the world; bon mots on Twitter. What I didn’t broadcast was just how many people and how much work goes into keeping our businesses–which I am often the face of–running smoothly and growing.
I didn’t broadcast snapshots of those 2:00 a.m. writing sessions in my pajamas struggling to meet a deadline, or the days I cried my way through because of a legal situation that was affecting my entire company, or that one time the police raided my hotel room when I didn’t respond to an alarm going off for 15 minutes–because I was dead asleep after three long days of nonstop travel. True story. Â
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Natalie MacNeil is an Emmy Award-winning media entrepreneur, creator of SheTakesOnTheWorld.com, and author of The Conquer Kit (Tarcher-Perigee 2015).
BusinessCollective, launched in partnership with Citi, is a virtual mentorship program powered by North America’s most ambitious young thought leaders, Women entrepreneurs, executives and small business owners.