Embrace Your Past and Tell Your Story   1:20 Sharing Your Story 6:38 Three Reasons You Should Tell Your Story 14:44 How to Tell Your Story with Jamie Ivey 39:10 Encouragement: Wisdom Is Not Weakness Resources 2020 Business Boutique Goal Planner Get going on your goals and make 2020 your best year yet! Order the new Business Boutique 2020 Goal Planner at BusinessBoutique.com/Planner and use the code BBPLANNER to receive Christy's Setting Goals video that you can watch right now! If you have a success story you would like to share with the Business Boutique community, email me at [email protected]. New podcast episodes are available every other week. For years, I've been sharing my story of growing up with a single mom who built a business (a cake shop) when I was six months old to raise and support me. This story is a huge part of my passion and heart behind Business Boutique. I love sharing the memories I have of our late nights and early mornings in her cake shop. I learned so much from those years helping my mom build her business from the bottom up. But you know what I don't share as often? How hard it was. There were so many hard times we had to walk through together. Like the time her cake shop was broken into at two in the morning, or the time we ran out of gas on the side of the road while it was raining. Many of those early years were spent in the trenches watching my mom raise a child and build a business completely on her own. But it was both those good times and those hard times that made me who I am today. See, there is power in telling your story. When I share my story, it really ignites the passion in me to champion women from all walks of life who are chasing their dreams like my mom was. And this is the same reason I'm constantly telling you to tell your story too. I tell you to not worry about selling, but to just tell your story-to start with your why. But the truth is: A lot of people are scared to share their story. When we start to explore our past, we tend to focus on the negative parts of it. And when we see only the negative parts of our story, we immediately feel inadequate and disqualified to do the things we want to do. But I want to encourage you today: It might just be those parts of you-those "inadequate" beginnings-that position you to do something that no one else can do but you. So, let's talk about some of the unbelievable benefits that come when you tell your story-both the good and the bad: Three Reasons You Should Tell Your Story 1. It creates connection. Sharing your story causes a ripple effect. It's contagious! It's amazing how many people think they're the only ones who feel the way they feel or have experienced what they've experienced. But when you open up and share your story and your heart, others realize that there are actually other people out there who can relate to their situation. And you know what? Realizing they're not alone gives them the freedom to open up and share their story as well! I love how Craig Groeschel puts it: "We might impress people with our strengths, but we connect with people through our weaknesses." 2. It brings hope. Think about it this way: Your story's not just yours. Your story is something that God wants to use to give other people hope for the future-to give them hope through hard times and scary moments. Are you going through something hard right now? Maybe God wants to use you to shine a light to others. It's not just an option for you to share your story. It's your responsibility to steward this story that God wants to use to bring hope to other people. 3. It can become your passion. Dave Ramsey has built an incredible business helping millions of people get out of debt. How did this become his job? He went bankrupt and lost everything in his 20s. Because of that experience, he vowed never to take on debt again-and today, he's successfully...