I always knew I’d be a writer when I grew up — until the world convinced me that I’d never make any money doing it.

Despite early childhood memories of writing feverishly at my desk year-after-year, with the acknowledgment and support of many-a-teacher, I eventually conceded “they” were right about the starving artist thing … and decided to major in business instead.

That decision sparked my 20+ year-long career in sales and marketing.

I rock at sales because I love people. To me, it’s always been “just a conversation,” an opportunity to help and connect. Inside of that, I found myself in the ultra-sexy world of selling electronic components to fortune 500 companies.

After a few years, I decided to go out on my own and started my own company in the industry. I grew that tech company from $0 to $3 million in annual revenue in our first two years in business.

I had 5 amazing years in that business —problem is I was open for 7. Long story short, regulation changes in the industry caused our revenues to plummet. I didn’t have the heart to lay off employees, so my optimistic self declared: we’ll just sell more! That worked .. until it didn’t.

I spent the next 6 months confronted with the loss of my 7-figure business, a huge mound of debt, and feeling like a failure. But, through a lot of inner-work and the support of friends, I realized a couple of important things: 1) I was still the same person with the big heart that had accomplished so much in my lifetime. And, 2)

I never wanted to sell electronic components when I grew up, anyway. I wanted to be a writer.

I decided to share my story with the world publicly for the very first time. It took me 2 months to write my 1000 word blog post for HuffPo (because I was scared!).

But, the moment I hit “submit” something magical happened.

First, the tremendous weight and feelings of shame I had been feeling lifted immediately. You see, shame can’t survive vulnerability. Then, I started to get messages of gratitude from all over the world. My authentic share inspired others to do the same. So cool, right?! And, I’ve even gotten several new clients from that blog post: “Can I please hire you to write my story with me?” Yes. Yes, you can!!

And, that, my friends, is the power of owning your story!

And, it’s why I get so freaking excited about working with people like you to do the same. My clients have described their storytelling experiences as cathartic and liberating, closer to true-self. And, it happens to be pretty darn good for business too.

So, what’s YOUR story? Let’s work on how to share it.