Being a woman in Business comes with lots of challenges! It does not matter if you are Latina, Caucasian, African American or Asian! We all face the same barriers!
But if we surround ourselves with other women who are going to be willing to support us, encourage us and motivate us, the obstacles along the road to success and excellence are going to become easier to navigate.
Be bold, take calculated risks and do things that are out of your comfort zone. Stretch yourself and do things even if they scare you to death. Get used to feeling uncomfortable until it becomes comfortable. At some point, this just becomes your lifestyle and nothing will scare you anymore!
I remember five years ago when I conducted my first live webinar. I was scared to death and all I could think about was when I first came to the U.S thirty-nine years ago and I did not know how to speak English. Here I was ready to start my first I-9 live webinar with 32 participants. I was scared to death and since I believe so much in affirmations as well as “fake it, fake it, until you make it”, I started saying aloud to myself: “Yes, I can do this, yes I can do this, Oh God help me, yes I can do this, yes I can”. I kept repeating that about 10-12 times. All of a sudden, I hear in my headphones the webinar coordinator saying: “Elga, turn off your microphone, everyone is listening to you”. No, No, No…I wanted to evaporate from the earth in that second! But then, about a minute later, I hear the webinar coordinator again saying “Welcome Elga”. What did I do? Well, I did what I had to, I just started my webinar with my traditional “Good morning, good afternoon everyone, depending on where you are right now and welcome, welcome, welcome to our Form I-9 Compliance Update Training”.
Yes, I was so embarrassed and I just wanted to block from my mind what everyone heard me saying before starting my webinar. Six years later do you think sharing this story embarrasses me? Not at all, I actually think it is a cute story to share to motivate not just women but everyone to push themselves to do things that can make you feel uncomfortable.
As a matter of fact, I am now always looking for the next challenge. It is like if you become addicted to that adrenaline rush you feel in your body when you are about to do something that you never thought you would have the courage to do. After you conquer your objective you will feel like “Super Woman” or “Super Man” and that feeling that you will experience is indescribable.
