Bev Ryan – always focus on why you ARE good enough

Like most women, changes in my life have been both confronting and enriching—some by choice; some forced upon me.

After two stints as a high school English teacher, I released that the classroom was not for me. Twice I found work in the Australian Public Service after scoring in the top percentile in the entry tests they once used to run. I have trained and worked as a Certified Kitchen Designer; assisted the manager of an Adult Education Centre in Brisbane; run a regional Learning for Life program for The Smith Family.

It wasn’t until I went through a career crisis and discovered publishing to be my thing that I felt I was in the right place. My first adventure in 1997 was to publish a niche magazine, ‘Work from Home’, that sold nationally. That was sooo exciting and brought about so much change, both personally and professionally.

At the same time, I took an interest in career coaching, after recognising how important that kind of support can be at different times in women’s lives. I have been fortunate to have also had the opportunity to train and work in that space and continue to do so on a part-time basis as a consultant on a call with a career management company.

Eventually, I understood that I thrive on variety, accepted that to be my strength, and have built a business that brings me just that.

I went on to publish another magazine, ‘Honestly, Woman’ just prior to the GFC, and that lead me to the work I now do when I moved from publishing a business magazine for women to assisting women to self-publish their own non-fiction books.

As a book coach, I assist women to plan and write their books, then I can coordinate book production services to create their books when the writing is complete.

I am also the author of ‘Smart Women Publish – Write the book that elevates you in your business or profession’.

I suspect this came from being the quiet girl at school, and later the naively trusting young woman who had to find her own way out of two difficult marriages, only then acknowledging the strength that was there all of the time.

My passion now is to support other women in business and professions to stand out in their field by producing quality non-fiction books in their area of expertise.

I now face that fear down by following art makers I connect with (like Liz Gilbert and Austin Kleon) and seeing how well originality is received, then ensuring my own work has a quality about it, and still feels like a warm friend I (and others) would like to be around.

The smart, talented women I support often doubt their brilliance, especially just before they go public. As Dr. Valerie Young, an expert on the Imposter Syndrome, would agree, we seem to focus more easily on why we aren’t good enough, rather than on why we are. We often seem to need external validation and reassurance before we take a step into our own brave new world.

But while we are waiting for that validation to arrive – and who are we handing that responsibility to, I wonder? – we are doing a disservice to others who need what we have to give.

Oprah, Ita and Maggie Beer began somewhere. They brought their own magic mix of energy and ability to the table. They fought their demons, they learned, practised, refined, failed, and reinvented. They are so much more than women in the spotlight – they are about impact.