Hello Roses,

Last week was fantastic. I received my trademark certificate for the name Lucy Rose in the footwear space. I am officially a trademarked company! It’s been three months of waiting in case others wanted to raise a complaint but I was confident I would be okay.

I am now turning my head slightly towards investment. It’s a subject I am in two minds about. One half of me can’t wait to get out there pitching and raising finance to make this a reality. The other half of me is scared. The fear comes from a place of not being good enough, or the well documented ‘Imposter Syndrome’ which affects a lot of people. There is something inside which also says that because I am a female, I should be feeling more vulnerable. Here is how I picture the scene:

I am in a nice dress and lovely new high heeled shoes. I am walking to the stage with two big screens behind me and my laptop in front of me all containing the words that could get me from where I am to where I want to be. I look up and I see a sea of men in suits, heads slightly tilted to the left with an intrigued look in their eye. I feel like I’m the vultures’ prey. My heart is racing, palms are sweaty (weirdly I start singing Lose Yourself by Eminem to myself and a wry smile comes across my face “not now Em, not now”). I’m looking for any female investors in the room and I spot a couple floating in the sea, hoping to make eye contact. What am I here for again? What was my opening line? Try and be funny Em, it’ll break the mood. I launch into my pitch, voice wobbling, and hope for the best.

This however, is what I want the scene to look like:

I am in a nice dress and lovely new high heeled shoes. I am walking to the stage, with an already meaningful smile as if grateful I get the opportunity to be here. The two screens behind me gloriously show off my brand and product and I am ready to face the crowd knowing that I believe in myself and my product even if no one in this particular room does. I look up and see a wealth of knowledge sitting before me wondering if any of them will be willing to gift me their knowledge, once they have heard my story. My heart is racing and my palms are sweaty but I know it is out of excitement rather than nerves. I know my business like no one else. I have practised over and over and I know one day, I could become one of the ‘vultures’ not looking for prey, but looking for offspring to raise.

There is quite a difference between those scenarios and the only thing I can put it down to is self belief. I have written about how important self belief is in business, especially as a lone female entrepreneur and I know deep down that I will make it, but we have to be open to making mistakes along the way. No doubt when I do my first pitch, it will be a lot closer to scenario one. My aim however, is to be okay with that, learn from the mistakes I make and every time get closer to achieving scenario two.

Thank you for reading, please comment below if you want to!

Em x