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I don’t spill my heart out to open myself up to criticism. I don’t show my vulnerabilities to give the
impression that I don’t know what I am doing. I am a wide open book offering a platform for others to pore out their guts. We can hopefully all accept the obstacles our human frailties build around our work selves. Running a small business can force us to hide behind our business. We offer our business persona to our customers, to our associates and network contacts. Then we close up shop and let our hair down.
The charm of small business is the person behind the business. For me, sterile environments
are not at all enticing. Stores that show how shiny and feng shui they are bore me. I love going into small businesses on my street and meet the owners. They have hopes and dreams and problems and fears just like I do. Sometimes we commiserate about how bad our sales were or questioning why the street is shut down again. We share. We are intimate.
Today, I screwed up on facebook. Someone typed to me “christine rather than correcting yourself you can just delete your erroneous comment.”
Firstly, I thought it rather kind of him to mention this to me in light of some smart alac statement I sent his way. Secondly, I didn’t understand why I would do this. I made a mistake. I am not ashamed. Why delete  it? I learned from it and maybe others can learn from it as well.
This is my point. Honesty is strength. Honesty is knowledge. Honesty can get you into trouble but I don’t care.