Bowman Lake, Glacier National Park, Montana

When I started this business in 2018, I heard from a few people who told me how brave I was. Some said they, too, had always wanted to start their own business but had never had the courage to try. Their comments didn’t make sense to me at the time. I felt far more scared than brave. Since that time, I have realized we all have different definitions for bravery.

When I attempt to define courage, I am reminded of one of my most vivid memories from my childhood. It took place at an indoor waterpark when I was 7 or 8 years old. I can still smell the chlorine and hear the echoing, gleeful screams of the other people in the huge concrete room. I had decided it was the day to conquer the tall, straight, fast slide I watched my family members go down multiple times. I had been too scared before, but that day I felt brave.

My dad got in line with me. A few minutes later we had made it to the top of the waterslide. I looked down, and the slide wasn’t even there. All you could see was the water far below. The fear started to creep in again, and I backed away from the edge.

Dad and I had a little conference off to the side. I don’t remember the exact conversation, but I am sure I must have expressed how crazy anyone must be to go down that slide. I couldn’t do it. It was a death trap. But I also hadn’t seen any injuries from people who went down it, I guess. Mom, Dad, and my older sister had all survived, after all. And I remembered the decision I had made minutes before to give it a try myself. I had to do it. I would do it. But I knew I didn’t have the courage on my own. I asked my dad to push me. He agreed, and we cut into the line and walked back to the edge.

My mom and sister were waiting at the bottom of the slide watching the whole time but unable to hear the conversation I had with my dad. Watching us back away. Watching us talk. Watching us come to the edge again. Watching me lay on my stomach on the mat at the top of the slide. Watching me close my red and teary eyes. Watching my dad give me a shove.

At first, the pull of gravity seemed so strong. I was falling, and there was no way to stop. But soon my fear turned into excitement, and I finally opened my eyes about the time I started gliding across the top of the water toward my family again.

My dad came down right behind me. He immediately was met by a very angry wife pounding him on the shoulder. He quickly defended himself saying, “She asked me to! She asked me to!”

The rest of the day, all I wanted to do was go down that slide. I had conquered it. All I needed was a push.

The past couple of years I have thought about that day hundreds of times. I see my mom and sister waiting for me in the pool, cheering me on. I feel my dad’s rough but gentle hand on my back, giving me just the smallest push to start me down that slide. That day, bravery looked like asking for help to reach a goal. Because I went down the slide, even in my fear, I knew I could do other hard things, too.

One of the hard things I have decided to do is scale back my business and accept a full-time position in marketing at a local non-profit. I am excited to work for an organization I love and with a talented team of people. H Squared Communications will continue, as I still hope to do some freelance writing, public speaking, large proofreading projects, and short-term communications consulting outside of normal business hours.

For three and a half years I have worked hard to run this business on my own. Under normal circumstances, business ownership can be lonely, but then came the pandemic. I have so missed being part of a team. I miss collaborating with coworkers and all the noise and chaos of being in an office. While I didn’t feel brave in 2018 when I started this business, I do feel brave today in admitting it isn’t for me and acknowledging my need for more engagement with other people.

Three years ago, I would never have envisioned making this decision, and it’s scary to make another career change. I am still grieving the plans I made that all were torched in 2020 and learning more and more about the person I am today. But I also keep picturing that little curly-haired girl at the top of the waterslide who asked for the push she needed to conquer her fear. She’s been inside of me all along.

I’m still not sure starting H Squared Communications was a courageous act, but it did teach me so much about myself, about other people, and about what matters. When I look back at this time, I hope I can focus on the fact that I was brave enough to try. I even succeeded. I grew. I experienced something truly remarkable. And then I moved on to the next hard thing.

The Mountain Bluebird’s feathers are much more flashy than its song.

When I was in fifth grade, my teacher announced a reading challenge. She taped a poster on the blackboard with all of our names listed, and after each name were squares to fill with star stickers for each book we read. If we read a certain number of books by the determined date, we could have a pizza party, but students who didn’t read the number of books required would have to sit in the hallway during the party.

Star stickers, a deadline, and a pizza party for a reward are all this girl needs to get the job done. Of course, I read all the books. But as the deadline neared, it became clear not everyone was reading all the books. I looked at the poster and noticed the names of the kids who didn’t have as many star stickers as I did. Some of them were my friends.

I don’t know the words I used back then, but I do remember a very passionate and tearful conversation with my teacher. It wasn’t fair. Did it really matter if they didn’t read the books? Couldn’t everyone participate in the pizza party? Whatever I said must have been convincing, because no one sat in the hallway the day of the pizza party. Everyone celebrated together how many books we had read as a class.

Clearly, I have always been a fairly assertive person, and especially because one of my biggest strengths is empathy, I am often compelled to speak up for others. However, it hasn’t always been easy for me to find my voice. It can feel really scary to be the one who finally says what everyone else was thinking. It can be even more scary when you realize what you said is not the most popular opinion.

It has taken me a while to get here, but I am attempting to be truer to myself and speak out on issues that I feel are important. More than anything, I don’t want to let myself down, but I also know that if I stand up for my personal beliefs, it may affect my business.

During these challenging times, we all are wondering anew how to navigate difficult community conversations. Businesses, organizations, and brands that speak up regarding social issues have a lot of opportunities to get it wrong. You can alienate clients, customers, and sponsors. You can anger employees and board members. But if you don’t take a stand and stay silent, you could disappoint the most important person, and that’s yourself.

So how do you speak up and do it well? Here are some tips for finding your voice and setting it apart in the midst of so many competing opinions.

1. Start from a place of authenticity. The more genuine your message, the more trust you will earn, even if you don’t get every word quite right. The issues of today deserve messages from the heart, not canned talking points without emotion or personal connection.

2. Know your audience. Who are the people you are trying to reach? Who might hear your message outside of that target audience? What do they need to hear? How will they feel when hearing this message? How do you want them to respond to what you say? The biggest mistake you can make is not understanding your target audience or assuming only they will hear what you say.

3. Use real words. Beating around the bush matters zero. You have to actually say the hard words. If you want to condemn racism, you have to use that word. If you need to apologize for past insensitive or hurtful language, you need to say you are sorry. It’s that simple.

4. Tell people who you are. Use this as a time to reevaluate your values and your brand. What does your company or organization believe? In light of what is happening around you, what services can you offer and how do you want your customers to feel? Make sure your audience knows the standards your company is held to.

5. Be brief. Remember, we still are in the midst of three crises in our country: a pandemic, a recession, and now social unrest. People under stress have difficulty hearing, understanding, and remembering information. Even statements regarding complex issues should be short, concise, and in plain language. Find other practical tips for communicating during crisis in my previous blog post.

6. Put your words into action. Your audience can see through all the lip service, and the public wants a genuine response backed up with quick action. Words certainly matter, but actions prove our words.

As an adult looking back on the fifth-grade reading challenge, I wonder why those kids didn’t read the books. Were they not as motivated by star stickers and pizza? Was reading a lot harder for them than it was for me? Did they not have the support of their parents at home? Were they dealing with bigger issues than I knew?

These questions never crossed my mind back then. I just couldn’t bear to see anyone sitting in the hall while the rest of us ate pizza and laughed. That memory from decades ago is driving me to do what I can to make sure no one else is left out today, and the words I use matter more than ever.

If you need help choosing the right words for the issues of today, I would love to help you. There is no better time to find your voice and use it for good.

We’re all looking for beauty growing from the scorched earth.

These are strange times. As a professional communicator, I have been called upon in just about every type of circumstance to find the right words, to provide information to keep people safe and calm their fears. Today, as I look out at the world and how much it changes day to day because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s hard for even me to know exactly what to say.

This virus has caused each one of our lives to be upended, and we all feel overloaded with information. Some messages have been disjointed, even contradictory, and when people are unsure of what information to trust and what information to question, it causes anxiety. Anxiety can clutter your brain and reduce decision-making ability, and we need people to make good decisions right now.

Governmental and organizational leaders, as well as professional communicators, have a huge responsibility to help your audiences stay informed and remain confident in the institutions supporting them, and that is a very difficult job today. To those working behind the scenes to communicate well, whether to the public or their customers, I offer these 10 practical communication tips.

1. Tell the truth. All your listeners want is for you to tell them what you know, even if it’s bad news. Don’t wait to have all the information before you say anything at all. Tell people what you know as soon as you can so that they can make good decisions regarding their personal safety. Stick to the basics of who, what, when, where, why, and how to make sure you cover as many bases as you can.

2. Be honest about what you don’t know. If you don’t know the answer to a specific question, come clean about that. Do not make up an answer that may or may not be correct. Take note of the question, find the answer later, and remember to relay the new information in the future.

3. Provide frequent updates. You will not have all the information at the beginning of a crisis, so plan to keep communicating over time. Make sure the media, your followers, or other stakeholders know when your next update is scheduled.

4. Ensure messages are consistent. This can be hard to do during situations like this in which we learn new information by the hour. Especially when multiple people may speak to the public on a certain topic or the information is complicated, message maps are a great tool to ensure consistent communication. If message maps are a new concept for you, I can provide training on this valuable tool.

5. Keep communications short and concise. In the past couple weeks, I have received an email from every company that has ever been given my contact information, and I have not read a single one. They all are way too long. People under stress have difficulty hearing, understanding, and remembering information. Choose three main points you want to reinforce and keep repeating those statements.

6. Stay in your lane. One of the first things you learn when training to communicate during a crisis is to allow the appropriate authorities to share their own information and not turn yourself into a clearinghouse for content. Allow medical professionals to provide medical advice. Speak only to the information that is unique to your specific business or location.

7. Don’t recreate the wheel. Link to the experts like the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control, and state and local agencies when appropriate. Provide your unique audience with content specific to your business or organization.

8. Create a place where people know to go for the most accurate and up-to-date information. The main communication tactic in a crisis is often social media, because it reaches your audience quickly. But old posts also can become quickly out of date, so always link them back to a website where the most up-to-date information resides.

9. Regarding social media in particular, double-check any previously scheduled posts to ensure they are still accurate. Better yet, unschedule those posts altogether if they are not relevant to the current situation. Focus on only the important messages.

10. Take care of yourself and support one another. Being a communicator during ordinary times is hard enough, but it’s particularly stressful in times of crisis. Let the people around you know when you need a break from taking care of everyone else so you can focus on your own well-being, too.

If I can assist you in any way, please reach out. I would be honored to help you find the right words during this time of uncertainty.

Mustard blooms in a Sonoma Valley vineyard.

We all have exactly the same amount of time. Time is likely the only thing that is completely equitable each day. I have 24 hours in every day, and so do you. You have seven days in every week, and so do I. We all have 365 days in a year. But this year, we all have 366 days.

It’s a leap year, and I love Leap Year. Perfectionists like me try to line up everything just so, and then Leap Year reminds us we have all been a little bit off kilter for three years or so.

A year is 365 days, but it actually takes about six hours more than 365 days for the Earth to make a complete orbit around the sun. So, we add an extra day to the calendar every four years to ensure real life aligns as best as it can with the celestial seasons.

That extra day trues up the world. And it is an extra day. A whole extra day.

That additional day is a gift we all receive after repeated mumblings under our breath for more time. I don’t know how many times a week I hear people say:

“Oh, I really don’t have the time.”
“I wish I had more time.”
“I just totally ran out of time.”

Guess what? This year we all have been given more time! An additional 24 hours!

Not many people see it that way, though. Most people I talk to look at it as another day on the calendar. A Saturday, which is good, but just a Saturday. Even my best friend is a little angry that what she calls the worst month of the year is extended, and she will sleep her way through Leap Day.

But for me, Leap Day is a day you don’t want to spend doing ordinary, day-to-day things. It’s a special day! A whole extra day!

Four years ago on Leap Day, my husband and I took a quick, splurge trip to California wine country. I wanted to see the vibrantly yellow mustard plants blooming in the vineyards, and it was the time of year to do that. It was something neither of us had ever seen. That was a worthy way to spend our extra day.

This year we set aside Leap Day to take an epic eastern South Dakota whirlwind road trip to explore some of the iconic landmarks we have never seen. The idea is to do something we have never done before, even if it’s kind of silly or simple, to commemorate our gift of additional time.

The one way time isn’t at all equitable is that we aren’t all given the same number of years. While I have recently crossed the threshold into what I guess I now have to call middle age, the uncertainty of how many years a person gets is something I have felt for a while.

My grandfather died when I was 8 years old. He had just turned 64, and my grandmother had just retired after a lifetime of teaching. They had planned trips to take together, so much of life still yet to live together. Even at 8, I remember thinking how unfair it was that my grandmother was left alone and they didn’t get to do the things they had wanted to do in their retirement years.

I decided then and there that life wasn’t meant to be put off. It became clear to me that none of us are guaranteed a retirement, old age, or another year. None of us are guaranteed even another day. So, when you are given an extra day, another whole day, you live it.

Like it always does, the world has gone a bit off kilter again. The seasons aren’t quite lining up anymore. That extra day on Saturday, Leap Day, will do what it can to make it right again. And I will spend my additional 24 hours grateful for the time I have been given.

If having any extra time feels like a delusion to you, maybe H Squared Communications can help. It’s my goal to make sure those 100 items on your to-do list are worth doing. When you focus your efforts and target your message to the right audience, you can accomplish more with fewer resources and less time. This is communications strategy, and that’s what I do.

If you could use some guidance in this area, I would love to hear from you. Let me be the dedicated resource who can objectively evaluate and prioritize your work and help you find the joy in it again.