The idea that you can only pursue your career or business success in one way is blatantly false. In today's episode, branding expert and career coach Susan Hamilton Meier explores why we feel guilty about wanting to zigzag as women.

The path to the top isn't always a straight line, and we don't need to feel nervous about changing or exploring new things, or sharing artistic or creative sides of ourselves with the world.

Susan helps women find the through-line of their work history; write a focused, memorable elevator pitch; and design a vision and action plan for the next phase of their journey. As more and more people reassess their work and how they work, it's time to challenge some of the stories we tell ourselves about how our career is meant to grow.

Susan highlights this idea that your career is supposed to be a straight line, like a ladder you're meant to climb. She says people — herself included — get insecure because they didn't go immediately from point A to point B — they zigzagged.

She challenges people who wonder if they "got far enough fast enough" to really reflect on their choices, because she guarantees there are good reasons to back them up. She says when people understand that choices were intentional and that they were being true to who they are in exploring their interests and passions, a sense of integrity results.

Susan shared what she thinks are the top three benefits of zigzagging: More skills, a larger network and more ideas. She says the more innovative organizations are ones who have people who are generalists, not specialists, because innovation comes not only from mistakes, but also from this kind of cross-pollination of one sphere and another.

And that realization brought us to an amazing topic: the kill the competition aspect. While there is some value in considering what the competition is going to do and where your position in the marketplace is, to be effective, you must focus on who you are, who your customer is, what they need.

When you're watching somebody else succeed, you might think "I want to succeed too, so I'm going to be like them" as opposed to "I can be successful showing up as me."

How willing are you to show up and be there when people call and say, "This is how I help"?

Susan agrees. It's not your logo, your tagline, or your business. She says your brand is a relationship. Your brand is the friendship that you're building with the people who you know, who are kind of in your client base, and the people you haven't met yet who are in your client base. There's trust, there's authenticity, and there's consistency.

===== Mentioned ===== 5 things you can start doing tomorrow: https://www.susanmeierstudio.com/workbook

===== Next Steps ===== Finding "Happiness" (What the Heck Does That Even Mean?) : https://youtu.be/yechAGQQ8jw

What's Causing the Results You Have Right Now? : https://sarahwalton.com/causing-results/

Best ways to THINK About Your Small Business: https://youtu.be/XHetnBTyw1U

===== Connect with Susan Hamilton Meier ===== Website: https://www.susanmeierstudio.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susanhamiltonmeier Twitter: https://twitter.com/susanhmeier Instagram https://www.instagram.com/susanmeierart

===== Connect with Sarah ===== Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sarahwaltonpage Instagram: https://instagram.com/thesarahwalton Game on Girlfriend: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_Jen-dhtrcPvkgdjasgiyAk1NgPbZYRS Most business owners don't know how much money they actually need to make to feel free. It's time to break that trend. Download my free Freedom Calculator and figure out the perfect number for you: https://sarahwalton.com/freedom