Challenging the status quo

Chris buys a magazine!

I buy a magazine maybe once every few years. Other than that, well, it's an occasional quick read in waiting rooms and 'The Renegade Collective' magazine hasn't been one I'd heard of or noticed lying around. 

Then last week I met the magazine's Editor-in-Chief, Lisa Messenger, and heard her keynote presentation at a Brisbane event , "Feeling Fearless: How to Be Brave in Business". The day was created for women entrepreneurs by Queensland group, The Swagger Project. 

At the end of the day I made a beeline for the nearest newsagent and stood in line to purchase my first glossy in a long time! 

Lisa Messenger speaking at the Feeling Fearless Swagger Project event in Brisbane last week.

Lisa & the Messenger Group

Lisa shared about her own story, the phenomenal growth of The Collective and her suite of businesses known as the Messenger Group... and her messages for other women entrepreneurs.

In this post I'm going to focus primarily on Lisa's messages, epitomised by those on the right.  

If you'd to learn more about her own story, her path and her businesses (and I encourage you to do so)...

1. First, stop and look directly above you. I'm serious. Turn your eyes and your head skywards, and look upwards at a very steep angle. THAT is the trajectory we're talking about!! 

2. To read the why, how, what of her journey, visit:

• LinkedIn 
• an interview with Lisa on a NSW Government DPI website
• Australian Business Women's Network for a collection of Lisa's posts
• The Messenger Group and The Collective magazine websites
• and consult Google - there's a lot on the web.

Face your FEARS. BE the BEST version of you. Source: Lisa Messenger, powerpoint presentation, Brisbane, 22 August 2014.

Fail fast. Take risks. Push the boundaries. Start before you're ready. Just go. Source: Lisa Messenger, powerpoint presentation, Brisbane, 22 August 2014.

Walking her talk

I loved Lisa's combination of realism and indomitable enthusiasm, her extreme courage, her unflinching honesty and willingness to put herself under the spotlight and to be the change. And  her straight-down-the-line call to others to: 

• do the work we need to on ourselves
• be ourselves - completely, including being vulnerable
• get into action fast and fail lots fast (right) 
• learn to get yourself (and your idolising of others) out of the way - and then do it!

It can be SO easy to hear these words and think yes, I've ticked that box...yet not actually LISTEN to them, believe them, or take on what they would mean if we really - REALLY - took them seriously. I mean REALLY.

I practise and teach courage and unstoppability. I know what it takes.  

I was awed by the level of courage and self determination that Lisa operates at. 

The way she challenges her to new levels on a daily and by-the-minute basis. And she is clear that noone is better than anyone else. It's simply up to each of us to create our life.

This tweet from Lisa seems to sum i t up perfectly. She quotes Robin Sharma:

"Don't live the same year
75 times 
and call it 
a life. 

Lisa's own commentary on this: 

"Personally I'm going for at least 90 and every single one of them I'm shaking to a new level. Loving the journey!!"

...and you'd better believe it!

The renegade Collective magazine

I mentioned on my Facebook page my pleasure and my uneasiness at posting the front cover image of The Renegade Collective's current Issue 13 (and below).

While the cover fits well enough among the world's top glossy fashion mags, the magazine itself challenges the status quo, creating the magazine as an outside-the-box publication that brings together edgy and creative thinkers and entrepreneurs making a difference in the world. Since launch in 2013 it's distributed in over 30 countries. This is evidence of a game changer at work. I suggest it's certainly worth a look. 

It's also worth taking Lisa's advice and her demonstrated practice seriously - for yourself. Ideas for getting started are included below.

The Renegade Collective magazine, number 15. Cover: Russian tennis professional Maria Sharapova. The sense of a real and strong woman, resonating well with the texts.

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Taking on the challenge yourself...

If you'd like to see what more might open for you in your life...

1. Explore some of the links above to about Lisa's journey and the extent of her businesses. 

2. Jot down your thoughts:

• What would you be doing differently if you brought that level of strength to YOUR life? 
• What would it look like? What would be the impact? How would life be different now?
• What new opportunities would open up for the future, if you took on a little/ or a lot of that idea?
  
• Who would you know yourself as?

3. Step into that space you've just created, fire up your bold woman-power and be fully you! Powerful, courageous, self-expressed, unstoppable! 

4. It's incredibly enabling-creating to step up and be your greatest self when you know someone has your back. When you have a wing woman, a mentor, a tribe THERE FOR YOU and cheering you to be fully you. BUT it has to be a person/tribe who will be A 100% STAND FOR YOUR GREATNESS, and nothing less.  You'll know in your heart if you have that there for you. 

If you don't, CALL IT TO YOU. CREATE IT. You'll probably know the way that works best for you.
Among the options: hang out on my Facebook page for daily booster shots. And you're welcome to contact me for a short complimentary focused laser chat or to see what Unstoppability sessions or are available.

I look forward to your shares and feedback - on this blog and on the Facebook page.

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Keywords: Lisa Messenger, The Collective, The Swagger Project, courage, inspiration, fear, entrepreneur.
Hashtags: #collectivehub, #swaggerproject, #unstoppablewomen, #couragecatalyst

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