In April last year, I found myself sat in the shower, tears pouring down my face.
The realization had hit that I was going to have to attempt to launch my latest book, Be Brilliant, in the middle of a pandemic where the majority of us weren’t feeling spectacularly brilliant at all.
Traditional book retailing and marketing channels had slammed their doors shut. And with international borders closed, my plans for a world Book Tour became a fading dream.
The thought of the last 18 months of research and hard work, the endless (and lonely) early mornings and late nights of writing and the many missed functions with family, friends and my children because I had to meet a publisher’s deadline – all potentially going down the drain – it was heart-breaking. I was feeling all the feels.
But I also knew that I had to do something. Sitting wallowing in my own self pity wasn’t going to get me anywhere. I needed to dig deep, to be brave enough to reach out and ask for help.
Later that day, I jumped on to a call with one of my inner circle, Shane Hatton – and wow did he give me a reality check. (ps check out his book Lead The Room)
“Janine, you have to use your own IP”, he said.
“What do you mean?”, I responded.
“Your IP in your book, It’s Who You Know. You have to practice what you tell everyone else – you have to reach out to your network and ask for help,” he said.
Duh!
But wait, it gets worse…
“But why would they want to help me, Shane? What’s in it for them?”
“Seriously Janine, you have helped so many people over the years, you’ve given so much and impacted so many others. Plus you talk about value exchange, well now is the time to see how this works”.
Double duh, swiftly followed by facepalm and rapid berating of self.
The Quest to be Brave
So, I rose to Shane’s challenge, dug deep, recorded a video asking for help and with a significant amount of nerves and trepidation I pressed send and my vulnerability and fear was sent to the ‘interwebs’ for all to see! (here’s the link if you want to take a look)
The response blew me away!
Hundreds of people from across 4 continents – many of which I didn’t know – came together, on one zoom call, to be part of the Be Brilliant ‘Cheer Squad’.
As Rachel Wotten, business, life coach and energy healer said, “Of course I’m in. Let’s together reimagine and reinvent a book launch”.
The results of this collaborative effort speak for themselves. Be Brilliant achieved…
💥 #6 globally in the self-improvement category
💥 #2 in Australia in the self-improvement category
💥 #14 globally in business books…
….and this is all because of the combined collaborative efforts of the Cheer Squad.
This living and breathing experiment in the power of connecting and collaborating in the right way has been incredible and continues to inspire me to keep pushing forward.
It has reminded me of what can be achieved when you have one clear goal and a collective energy to succeed.
Of what can be achieved when you are brave enough to create the space to allow others to unleash their brilliance, to use their individual skill and ideas to achieve that goal.
Check out some of the Cheer Squad below.
We all need a personal cheer squad
During these times of uncertainty and challenge, of unknown and ongoing questioning, of disruption to existing plans and strategies it’s not about hiding or playing safe. It’s about embracing the power of a collective and shining brighter together.
Like so many over these last 18 months, I’ve had to dig deep to gain a new perspective, to ask the new questions, and to explore the new possibilities.
Equally, I couldn’t see the proverbial wood for the trees and needed someone else, someone who cared, to point out the obvious opportunity that was right in front of me.
Your personal Cheer Squad is closer than you think. They’re already encouraging you to do more; they want you to succeed.
Open your eyes and ears because your Cheer Squad is right in front of you.
You simply have to be brave enough to reach out