Why I Turned Down This Golden Opportunity

OK, so this week started the same as any

other week. I had lists everywhere of all that 

needed to be accomplished.

And then the phone rang.

It was the BBC.

What!!! Were they going to close my road 

again because they were filming some period drama

or something (which is quite typical). It couldn't

be to film scenes for Downton as that was all 

done an dusted.

However, it wasn't that.

No, they were inviting me to 

appear on Dragons Den

(the equivalent of Shark Tank in the US).

WHHAAAAATTTT!!!

My heart sank but not for the reasons

you think.

I just knew this would never be my

kind of gig-ever.

So after chatting some time to the researcher

I politely declined.

I later spoke to friends and mentioned it

in some of the business groups I belong to, and

99% thought I was mad. 

Crazy. 

A coward. 

A chicken.

That I would regret this for the rest of my life.

That NO publicity is bad publicity so I should

just pull my big girl pants on and get the hell 

out there……….it went on (all with
good intentions you understand).

But here's the thing. I knew immediately

this was not for me (and thankfully my

Husband verbalised everything I was feeling).

Here's why it was not for me:

* I don't fit the criteria for Dragons Den at all;

I've never applied  for outside funding or to Angel investors.

*I've not invented anything. I have a fabulous

boutique, but there is nothing innovative about

what I do; I am under no illusions

*I watch the programme every week and say to my

Husband every single time, "they could never pay me enough 

to get me on that programme!"

* the "Dragons" can be brutal and I

know it would take my confidence a long

time to recover from their public mauling

*I know these programmes need "fodder" to pad out each

programme; they need some definite "no's" to make

the programme more entertaining and the  "yes's "

more exciting. I was not prepared to be that fodder.

*I don't believe that no publicity is bad publicity.

I believe the "wrong" publicity could be bad

publicity and could seriously damage your brand;

I was not going to go down that road for 15 minutes 

of fame

More importantly I just felt it in my gut.

I've been trying to learn to be more intuitive to my

feelings and what they are actually telling me. And the

minute I knew what the phone call was about I knew

it was not for me. Let me just say I am the MOST 

indecisive person you can meet. It can take me a 

whole day to decide what book to read next. It can

take me hours to decide whether to exercise or not (by

which time I am too exhausted too anyway!)

So for me to feel so strongly that this was the wrong

publicity for me was a coup in itself.

But here's the thing. Despite all the fab arguments

my friends and acquaintances put forward (and they all
had my best interests at heart-every single
one of them) it just felt wrong for 
ME.

It's a lesson I am going to take forward this year,

the skills of which I am still trying to develop.

Despite what the pragmatic, logical self may be saying,

if the "feeling" doesn't resonate (or does resonate), then

I should only act then, and not act out of fear i.e this 

opportunity may never happen again.

I would love to know your thoughts and when you went

against your gut feelings only to be disappointed.

Do you believe that sometimes our feelings tell 

us more than the left side of our brain?

As always would love to hear your thoughts

xxxx