Just Go For It

I kind of feel like a hypocrite saying this. There have been many times, and there still are many times, when I don’t “just go for it.” Times when I talk myself out of doing something by making up some ridiculous excuse to not move forward. It doesn’t benefit me. It kind of just keeps me stagnent in the same place.

But I recently found myself in a situation where the Just Go For It mindset worked. Seriously worked. (Actually, this mindset pretty much seems to work every time you put it to use.)

I pitched to a conference and was selected to speak at a roundtable. This is unfamilar, new territory for me. And it’s only presented itself beacuse I didn’t overthink things and just went for it.

5 years ago, I had a small fashion and food blog that I worked on at nights while I had a job in pharma during the day. I really loved working on it. It fufilled this need for creativity while I was working in a less than creative job.

I was hanging out on Instagram one day and saw a post about a fun creative entrepreneurial conference happening in Salt Lake City that summer. A conference for creative entrepreneurs? I was sold! After a few days of angonizing about cost, logistics, and general social anxiety, I took a leap of faith and bought a ticket.

And for the months leading up to the conference, I was an equal mix of nerves and excitement. I was nervous to put myself out into the world, nervous to do it alone, and nervous to actually share my career aspirations out loud, with other people. But I was also determined to shut the nervous down and just go for it.

The conference was incredible. I was inspired by so many people that I came into contact with for those few days. And I was also super inspired by the speakers. They were go-getters, hustlers, and creators who were carving out a career for themselves doing something they loved. And I really longed to do the same.

So, sometime around the middle of last year, I received an email for Alt Oasis 2019 in Palm Springs. It was a call for speakers.

The thought crossed my mind… “you should pitch and try to speak at this conference.”

My next thought- “Who are you kidding? You don’t have any experience speaking.”

Followed by- “Can you stop doubting yourself, google how to make a pitch deck and just freaking pitch your idea? Just go for it.”

Over the past few years of building Wear Bare Bones with my partner, I’ve learned a lot about running a customer-focused eCommerce business, as well as how to use social tools to communicate with customers. I had ideas. I had experience. And I had a feeling that this information could help other eCom shop owners.

So I spent a few days crafting a deck about using direct messaging on Instagram to communicate with customers. I then submitted it without overthinking and pitched the idea.

I got back to life and forgot all about it after a week or two.

Then the weirdest thing happened. I got an email from Alt that I had been selected to lead a roundtable on my pitch at the Alt Oasis conference. Wait- what?!

I proceeded to have a mild freak out. I was excited about the opportunity to go, to meet and connect with talented people, and to take on a brand new challange outside of my comfort zone. (But to keep it real, I’m also so freaking nervous!)

So today, I find myself working on this DM presentation and getting hyped for the event at the end of March. It’s an opportunity for me to get uncomfortable; to meet new people, present myself in a new way, and step into the person I’ve been working on becoming over the past few years. But all of  it is happening because of one small decision that kicked this thing off…

Just go for it.

I’ll be back soon with more on the steps I took to select and pitch the presentation. And I’m going to vlog at the conference.

I hope you have an awesome week!

XO,

Lauren