Saying yes to the things that scare you a bit
This year I've been trying to say yes to things that push me a bit out of my comfort zone, rather than finding a reason to hold back.
A couple of weeks ago, that meant taking my Google Business Profile talk out of the online webinar world and into a room full of business owners at a Women Who Pershore meeting.
It was something I was definitely a little nervous about beforehand, but also exactly the sort of thing I've been trying to say yes to more this year.
It started as a one off online talk
The whole thing began a couple of months ago as a one off online talk I gave to Women Who Online Networking event. I wasn't planning on turning it into anything ongoing, it was just a talk, but the feedback was so good that I decided to turn it into a proper monthly webinar, the Google Glow Up.
I've been running it for a couple of months now and we're getting some really good feedback. People have left five star reviews afterwards, recommended it to other business owners and told me they've found it genuinely useful for their small business.
Then came the chance to do it in person
The opportunity came up to deliver a condensed version in person at a Women Who Pershore meeting, so I put together a 15 minute talk with a bit of time for questions afterwards.
Presenting isn't completely new to me. I used to do it almost weekly, on my own and with others, through university and in past jobs. But it had been a long time since I'd done anything like that and somehow that made it feel like a much bigger deal than it probably needed to be.
Funny how quickly you can talk yourself out of something you used to do without a second thought.
I won't pretend I wasn't nervous walking in, but I actually really enjoyed it once I was up there, more than I expected to. The room was full of lovely female business owners and once everyone had settled and we got going, the whole thing felt far more like a conversation than a presentation.
My year of yes
I'm part of the Women Who network and their motto for 2026 is the year of yes, which is something I've properly taken to heart.
Standing up in that room was exactly the sort of thing I could quite easily have talked myself out of. I could have told myself I was too rusty, that presenting online was enough or that I didn't really need to do the in person version, but I'm really glad I said yes.
There's also a bit of irony in running a marketing business where I'm constantly encouraging other business owners to show up and be more visible, then having to give myself exactly the same advice.
Apparently knowing all the marketing reasons why you should do something doesn't magically get rid of the nerves but I think that's what I'm taking from my year of yes so far. I don't necessarily need to wait until something feels completely comfortable before I do it.
Sometimes I can just be nervous and do it anyway.
If you want the fuller version
The 15-minute talk gave me enough time to cover some of the basics, but there's obviously a lot more we can do with your Google Business Profile.
That's where the Google Glow Up comes in.
It's a free 45 minute webinar I run once a month where we look at what actually helps your business show up in local searches, simple ways to keep your profile active using content you probably already have and how to turn more of those views into enquiries.
There's time for questions at the end too, so you can ask about your own profile rather than trying to work everything out yourself afterwards.
It's particularly useful if you run a local or service based business and know your Google Business Profile probably needs some attention, but it's been sitting somewhere near the bottom of the to do list.
If that's you, you can join me at the next Google Glow Up.
