My kiddo used to walk right up to strangers on the sidewalk and say, ‘Hi! My name is Sully! What’s your favourite hot sauce?!’
This is just a prime example of how he was never the shy kid.
He makes friends wherever he goes. Easily.
But, admittedly, his anxiety has been ramping up over the past year or so and we’ve noticed a shift in him.
He is more hesitant to participate and much more cautious. He expresses how nervous he is and how he doesn’t want to fail.
We pride ourselves on being a soft landing place for him and trying to coach him. But it has been breaking our hearts, and we have been working on getting him lots of supports.
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βSo, when he came to me and told me that a Christmas Market was happening at his school and that he and his best friend wanted to sell their comic books, I was all in.
Like, ALL IN.
Like, arranging MANY playdates for them to copy their OG hand-drawn copies and spending absurd amounts of dollars and hours at the photocopy place trying to get the reproductions juuuuussst right.
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βWhat can I say? When it comes to making my kid happy, I can be extra.
This kid NEEDED a win.
As the day got closer, I was the anxious one.
What if he didn’t sell any?
What if he backed out?
What if all of his hard work went to ‘waste’?
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My husband and I prepared ourselves for the worst outcome and to figure out how to help our kid navigate the big feelings that would come with that.
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βWell, I have never been more wrong in my entire life.β
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We walked into that Christmas market with 15 copies of his comic ‘Dan’ and 15 copies of part 2 ‘Dan – The Revenge of Nad’ and my son stood on his chair and became The Greatest Showman.
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‘HEY YOU!! DO YOU WANT TO BUY MY COMIC!?!?’
‘WHAT ABOUT YOU!?!? THEY MIGHT BE A COLLECTOR’S ITEM SOMEDAY??’
‘ONLY 7 COPIES LEFT!! GET YOUR LIMITED EDITION COMIC BOOKS!’
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WE. WERE. FLOORED.
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βHe sold out. Completely. Hours before the market ended.β
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I needed to keep my emotional shit together because I was on the verge of tears. This anxious, self-doubting kiddo put himself out there and sold out. EVERY. SINGLE. COPY.
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βHere’s the lesson (you knew it was coming π)β
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You can be shy, and do it anyways.
You can be anxious, and do it anyways.
You can worry that no one will buy, and do it anyways.
But when you work hard, and believe in your product, people FEEL that.
People feel how invested you are, and they can’t help but pick up on that energy and want to check your stuff out.β
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So, the next time you get nervous about selling, channel my 10-year-old kid.
It was magical to see him in his element.
I want to see you in yours.
Your Email Marketing Fairy Godmother πͺβ¨
Ps. Following my own advice… You may be wondering, ‘Where in the heck is that course Jenn was talking about?’. Well, after pulling out of my launch last Fall, I decided to pull everything apart into bite-sized pieces so you can go on your own ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ with your email marketing journey based on your specific needs IN THIS MOMENT.
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Want to be the first to know when it launches in February (and get a little discount code for being so patient with me)?
