There is a Lion Inside of Your Lungs

A few weeks ago, I stood alongside hundreds of others in my church, listening to our youth band lead the opening worship time. I get chills every time they’re up on stage playing, singing, and unapologetically sharing their gifts. They’re up there smiling, playing, singing, and spreading more sparkles of joy than they realize just by showing up boldly to share their beliefs through music. 

The last song they sang, Gratitude by Brandon Lake, had a few lyrics that caused a visceral tingle down my spine. I’ve sung this song numerous times on the same stage, but the words hit differently this Sunday. Specifically, this part:

So come on my soul,Don’t you get shy on meLift up your song‘Cause you’ve got a lion inside of those lungsso get up and praise the Lord

It’s hard not to let those words inspire you, Christ-follower or not. It’s a prayer to ground yourself in something bigger and use that strength to get your voice out into the world. Just like our youth band did. Just like we’re all called to do. 

I believe now, more than ever, the entrepreneurial world needs more people to raise their voices with humility, vulnerability, and transparency.

That call to be humble, vulnerable, and transparent isn’t easy, yet I believe it’s what’s needed to inspire others out of the trenches of burnout. 

As online entrepreneurs, we work in one of the loneliest settings — from behind a screen in our home office. Roadpreneurs are equally in need of extra doses of inspiration because we’re RVing, which can sometimes feel lonely, too. Our connection point is often social media, which continues to be wrought with the hard, ugly, fighting, bickering, and trolling. 

RVers are surrounded by so much incredible natural beauty, and then thumb up to open their phone and are met with two competing things:

Neither of those feelings is good. 

We’ve been given an online platform to inspire, encourage, and equip others. But to do so effectively requires us to show up vulnerably, authentically, and transparently.

Let me offer you some solidarity before you get itchy about this idea. Sharing your business and life on a public scale can feel hard. As the very much UNpopular kid in high school, I know the feeling of wanting to shrink to the shadows all too well. Those feelings of past rejection caused me to shy away from putting myself out there publicly and with personality for a long time because it made my palms sweat. 

The Internet can feel like a public, everlasting yearbook where people can sign whatever they want on those back pages, and everyone at scale can read it. That’s a terrifying feeling but the reality is you don’t have to share all of the nitty-gritty details. 

Having a lion inside of your lungs can mean roaring with inspirational, encouraging, and equipping messages. For example, your audience doesn’t have to know the details of your field poop to feel inspired to go camping, just like they don’t have to see your messy first drafts to feel inspired to put their work out there too. 

Vulnerability builds trust. Sometimes, things go wrong. A lot of times, things go wrong, actually. Business is wrought with failures. RVing is wrought with failures too. Things break. Tires blow. Being vulnerable and sharing about those things that don’t quite work out the way you want is okay. It gives others permission to make typos in their writing, mistakes in their business plan, and errors in assumptions about what the market wants. 

What that vulnerability also does is build a layer of trust. When you take a failure and share it publicly, you give others permission to experience the same thing and come out okay on the other side. You then get to follow it up with the lessons learned and the path forward out of those mistakes, leaving your reader trusting you to shoot them straight and offering a light of hope beyond the errors. 

Personality gets people’s attention. We live in such an AI-generated world these days, and many of us don’t even realize it until… 

… until we’re met with a dose of creative genius that only a flawed human with some very real life experiences can unravel. Stories about your life plant the reader in your world for a split second. Sharing those stories with personality, flare, and creativity keep that reader there for longer. That attention in today’s whiplashed world is gold. Pure. Gold.

Quick shameless sales pitch: Want to know how to find your voice? I will help you add personality to any piece of content, copy, or collateral in 7 days with this on-demand course. 

Transparency offers that slap of inspiration we all seem to need these days. I’m way too plugged into the online business world. If your inbox isn’t inundated with launch emails every launch cycle (the overwhelm is one BIG reason I got out off that ride) and you’re not getting pitched a million things every day, you might not be seeing the pattern I’m seeing: Things are rapidly changing in the online business world.

It seems like every day I get a message similar to the one I shared a few months ago about reinventing yourself. So many prolific and private online business owners alike are closing the doors on old programs and products to shake up how we’re showing up. What’s lacking in that shake-up is the transparency around why. 

The why is what helps others avoid falling down the same traps.

Transparency helps others stop looking sideways as they run their race and instead look forward to coming up with fresh takes on how to show up effectively in today’s world. 

The transparency stops people from huffing and puffing while trying to copy your model and instead inspires others to create with more ease what’s in their mind, heart, and lungs. 

October 19 — Impact Incubator Open House: I’m leading an in-depth, highly-tactical, private workshop inside the Impact Incubator later this month.

If you’ve ever wanted hands-on support, guidance, and attention on building out your course or program — the kind that lets you earn while you explore — this program is THE one to join. I have personally worked side-by-side with the creators Angela Greaser and Melissa Camilleri on multiple projects and can vouch for their expertise in this space. There’s no one I trust more to guide Roadpreneurs on the path to designing a course, program, and membership that leaves an impact and is profitable.

Tomorrow, they’re offering an open house to talk about what’s possible for you when you raise your voice and share your knowledge with others — even from the road. Join them at this open house. Then, join me inside the Impact Incubator as a guest expert on October 30. 

October 25, Noon PM Eastern/9 Pacific: I wrote a book with three other outstanding women called, Discovering Something Greater, a book about finding joy, purpose, and fulfillment on your terms. It’s ideal for RVers and entrepreneurs who are eager to earn while they explore.

While the book won’t be released until November 21, we’re leading a book club ahead of and in the month after the release. As part of that book club leading up to the release of our book, I’m leading a free workshop on how to find your voice. This workshop will be different than the one inside the Impact Incubator program!  I’d love to see you at both.

On-Demand: Are you ready to hit the ground running and don’t want to wait for any workshops? I’ve got you. Join my on-demand course where I teach you seven copywriting techniques to make your copy POP.

Every day for seven days, I’ll send you a copywriting strategy you can apply to your existing content to add more personality, interest, and lightning bolts. By the end of the seven days, you’ll have rewritten whatever mumbo jumbo ChatGPT spit out or the messy first draft you started on your own. What you’ll be left with is copy that draws attention and makes SALES (even when you’re off-grid.