If you are an entrepreneur, you know what it is like to keep investing into your business or a big project. You also know what it feels like to keep up a false front and look like you’ve got everything together when in fact you really don’t.

Well, I had come to a place in my business when I could no longer hold up a false front. It was the Monday before my book launch. I needed $868.88 in 24 hours to buy the books. I didn’t have it. I invested all I had and was at zero. Every dime had gone into self-publishing this book.

Credit was maxed.

I woke up with anxiety that morning and knew I needed to do something so I headed outside to walk in the lagoon near my house.

A million thoughts ran through my head.

You are a fraud.

You aren’t worthy.

You are a failure.

Give up.

Quit.

As I walked, crying, trying to clear my head, I started to pray.

“God, if you want me to publish this book, then please give me $1,000 today. Yes, God. You’ve got that right. TODAY. Tell me what to do. Show me what to do.”

I got one answer in return: tell them everything.

“Really? Everything?”

Yes. You know exactly what I’m talking about.

A few weeks ago, I was at that same place of “nothing” and my bank account was overdrawn. The women in my mastermind told me to be real and honest about my situation and ask for help.

I ended up asking for help, but wasn’t real about the negative balance in my bank account. So here I was again, getting the same message: be real and honest. Tell them everything.

I took the easy route and told my best friend. She told me that she’s been here before and now she’s got money in the bank, which she wants to use to support the people in her life, so she’d be happy to lend me the money to order the books.

My mind tried to trick me and say, well, you don’t have to share the full vulnerable story since you’re covered. But then I wouldn’t actually be getting the message fully: share from the most vulnerable, authentic place. Be with this — all of it. The details of your story matter. You matter.

It took me until after lunch to finally build up the courage to post my story on Facebook and email my list.

I squeezed my eyes shut, shut my computer, and prayed. Oh geez what did I do?

When I built up more courage to look at my Facebook again, I saw messages from people supporting me. When I checked my email, Paypal messages were already there. People were actually sending me money!

By the end of the day, I totaled up what had come in. A few dollars short of $1,000. Exactly what I had asked God for.

We always have a choice:

Be stopped by circumstances and fail to see the lesson or see the grace of God in the circumstance, flow with it, and grow from it.

I will not be stopped.

I asked for support.

I told the truth.

And I opened my heart to receive.

I learned that I am not defined by the number in my bank account. I am not a fraud. I am not any less of a leader if I vulnerably ask for support.

If anything, it made me more of a leader. People saw me as a role model. People were inspired. People wanted to contribute and did so happily.

This is the business heroine.

Courageous in her vulnerability.

Unstoppable in asking for what she needs.

Inspiring in her raw truth.

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May 2014 Issue