What do recovering from a brain aneurysm and branding have in common? Quite a bit, it turns out. Recently, I got the wonderful opportunity to share my dramatic story at a Women Business Owners luncheon and I promised I’d post the lessons here for everyone. This will be a seven-post series.
In 2008, at the age of 35 and shortly after starting my own business, I was struck down by a ruptured brain aneurysm. Miraculously, my husband was home that day and got the ambulance there in a hurry. Doctors found the bleeding and stopped it just in time. After spending 6 weeks in the hospital and many more months in recovery, I was able to get back on my feet, back to my business and to “reboot” my life.
But there have been challenges along the way. I still have some issues and I had to adapt the way I live and work. I ironically started to see that some of the lessons I teach my branding clients are the same ones that got me through recovery, rehab, and many of the psychological and cognitive effects I faced.
I am also working on a book about this amazing journey and how it reframed not only how I approach my life, but my work, my business and my relationships. All good stuff for us busy, crazed and stressed-out business owners out there!
With humor and insight, here is my first lesson that applies to both overcoming adversity and building an irresistible business: FOCUS. (View the video here.)
How can you apply this lesson to your business? Who is your ideal customer?
