The Nitty-Gritty:

* How Co-Creating Inclusion founder Alethea Fitzpatrick took a long & winding road to creating her new company* Why embracing uncertainty has helped her stay flexible while building her business* The many pivots she’s made from architecture to photography to operations management to diversity consulting* Why respecting her Zone Of Genius has kept her from getting caught up in expectations

Starting a business is a risk.

Running a business is a risk.

Growing a business is a risk.

Ostensibly, we’ve all signed on for this risky life as an entrepreneur. But, we often find ourselves searching for certainty and hunting for the “sure thing.”

We do it every time we think another $2000 course is going to answer all our questions about building a successful business. We do it every time we wait a few more months to launch a new offer into the world. We do it every time we avoid reinforcing a boundary because it might upset a client.

In our last episode, Episode 241 with Charlie Gilkey, we talked about how striving for certainty keeps us stuck.

When we aim to choose the “sure thing,” we hesitate, procrastinate, and avoid.

Charlie advocated for building our courage by finding all the moments in the day when we can choose the option that has room for growth, for vulnerability, for risk… and yes, for uncertainty.

I was reminded of that idea during my conversation with today’s guest, Alethea Fitzpatrick.

Alethea is the founder of Co-Creating Inclusion, a diversity, equity, and inclusion consulting firm with a mission to shift culture and drive equity through workshop facilitation, leadership development, and business integration.

But Alethea has also been the founder of a host of other ventures!

To continue our focus on resilience and entrepreneurship, I wanted to talk with Alethea about the long and winding journey she’s taken to get to where she is now. Because where she is now is authentic, organic growth and a whole new level of success doing work that is incredibly important to her (and to the world).

We’ll get to how she’s achieved that in a minute—but first…

…let’s take another look at how having the courage to tolerate uncertainty, to even embrace uncertainty, can work in a business.

Later in the conversation, Alethea shares that she’s chosen clarity of her Why and her What but she’s remaining open to how it’ll all come together. She’s choosing to be strategic about designing a container that’s flexible enough to hold different outcomes.

I think this is a beautiful example of what Charlie was talking about in our last episode—but it also seems to be the secret sauce for how Alethea has gotten where she is right now. She has always followed clarity while allowing for openness and uncertainty so that she could grow into the direction of her goals.

Keep that in mind as Alethea and I talk about the journey she’s taken to get to where she is now.

Alethea and I also talk about the businesses and jobs that predate Co-Creating Inclusion, the moment she realized there was a new opportunity presenting itself, how the transition into consulting felt, and how her Zone of Genius keeps her from getting caught up in expectations.