Taking That CEO Step—Am I there yet?

First things first, stepping into the CEO role is a challenge, to say the least. All the technical aspects of spearheading your own business are already so difficult to manage.

Taking in the role with flying colors mentally and emotionally? Now, that’s a different story. You see, it’s almost impossible to visualize yourself as that person without working through self-doubt first.

I feel like I have the authority to say this because when I was getting started with my business, I had constant panic attacks, sleepless nights, all kinds of fears about the future— the list goes on.

In this blog, I want to talk to you all about this self-doubt mentality, how it actually affects how you cater to your clients, and how it affects your overall experience in your business. I also want to share a personal story that led me to become much more self-aware about how I show up in the world, in everyday life, and in business.

Bad Business Investment | Making decisions out of alignment

When I was just getting started, I received a lot of feedback that certainly gave me a whoop. Here’s the honest truth: we may not often realize it, but feedback can put us off our track. It has the power to force us to make decisions that are completely out of alignment with our business— and I have just the story for that.

Some time ago, we came across this particular client who was requesting something that was out of Meraki Media Management’s line of services. I know now that it should have been something that I had investigated prior to onboarding, to know if I should be charging them for something that was going to take me more hours or resources than planned (which was exactly what happened).

As an overview, the goal of the service was to launch their new product on LinkedIn and Instagram. So, right off the bat, I knew I had to get an auto-posting app that posts on different platforms. I came across this application which I thought would be a good investment without realizing later on that it does not work for me. 

The thing here is I had a 6-month contract with the client. I already invested so much into this service only to realize that I was not getting what I paid for. So, I consulted with my uncle, who is a lawyer, on what actions I should take to opt-out of the contract. The good thing is I had all the proof to support my claim that the app wasn’t producing and working the way I had invested in it to do so for my business and my team. If I hadn’t had proof, I might not be able to get out of that contract.

Long story short, I did find my way out of that experience— and as traumatic that was, it taught me such a valuable lesson that I don’t think I’d be able to learn any other way.


Lessons Learned | Conquering self-doubt
Of course, there were lessons learned throughout the whole experience. The very first is not to make decisions that are not in alignment with my business and to always read and review the fine print prior to signing any agreement with a client. These were the technical lessons I learned, which I believe apply to any business and any industry.

But the biggest lesson it taught me was that we're all human. We make mistakes; and things happen. As simple as that sounds, my bad business move experience gave it much more meaning. How?

Doing business in social media isn’t exactly a linear path and this is something I already know getting into the whole thing. When the client and the request came in, I knew that I was going to invest in something that does not guarantee the results I was hoping for. I knew there’s little chance that the application would be able to take Meraki Media Management to the next levels on Instagram, Facebook, and hopefully, expand into marketing regions— still, I jumped on the idea and made the decision consciously.

It goes without saying that it led me to a downward spiral of self-doubt and fear. For a little while, I lived life with such an unhealthy mindset. But ultimately, that experience and all the other mistakes I made as a businesswoman and as a human, in general, are what made Meraki Media Management what it is now.

A Positive Shift | Am I there yet?
I am now slowly but surely stepping into the role of CEO with much more confidence, trust, and light. I conquered all the self-doubts I had through healthy self-talk. It pivoted me to a positive impact and taught me to see the lessons instead of hounding myself.

Today, I listen and I try to understand every internal dialogue I have with myself— and this has shaped how I approach my business, my clients, and my life in general. Now, I am able to show up with a clear head filled with so many positive intentions.

If you’d like to know more about this story, listen to the full episode here.