My ‘One Word’ this week is: CRIED

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐈 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐫, 𝐈 𝐬𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝!

Not tears of joy. Not freedom. Just fear. What the hell did I just do? That was my first thought.

I had just walked away from 25 years in corporate brand building. A steady paycheck. Prestige. Structure. Security. After the tears, my second thought hit harder:

I am never going back.

Everyone gets excited when you make a bold move at 50.

💪🏻 “You’re so brave.”

💪🏻 “You’re going to crush it.”

💪🏻 “You inspire me.”

But what no one sees is the after:

❌ The deafening silence when the emails stop.

❌ The pressure to prove everyone right and the fear of letting them down. 

❌ The mental fortitude it takes to create something from nothing.

❌ And the years upon years of testing, doubting, refining, rebuilding, and holding the vision when no one else could see it.

𝐄𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫, 𝐈 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐭.

I took the same process I used to help billion-dollar brands stand-out with 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝 and took a chance on bringing it to people. But translating it from corporate brands to personal brands was not simple.

I had to test. Rework. Listen. Scrap what did not land. I had to learn the right questions to ask to extract the information needed to find the thread that leads to a person’s 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝. And I had to build something compatible for people from everything I thought I knew.

My 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦 did not arrive in a flash of brilliance. It came one hard-earned insight at a time. And not just because it works. But because now, after eight years, I finally believe I can make it work.

So if you’ve made a bold leap and you’re in the messy middle, let me tell you this: You are not alone. You are not behind. You are just building your belief.

And sometimes, when you keep going, you get a surprise opportunity to share your idea on a 𝐓𝐄𝐃𝐱 stage. Not because you chased applause, but because you never gave up.

Keep going. Someone out there needs what you are building.