Women Shining Magazine Women Shining Fall 2017 | Page 27

I had just read a Dragon ’ s Den book from one of the other stars and didn ’ t have much interest in reading another , but I still flipped it open and scanned a page . These were the words I first saw and read ,
“ Fear of not being good enough and not measuring up to other people is one of the best excuses there is to not even bother trying ”.
Well , I suppose as the Jeff Foxworthy Show would say “ there ’ s a sign ”.
I was being my own worse critic , but I have felt that way before . I felt unprepared and out of my realm of expertise when I took on the handle Monique The Mountain Biker , I felt the same when I started a production company and had never been to film school , both of those ventures have been successful , so why worry ?
I am thinking it is my own insecurity coming through , fear of failing is a hang up I am not a fan of , I mean , really I am little miss positive , lol . I followed the crumbs and I bought the book .
A few months later I auditioned to go on the show Dragons Den - that was spring of 2015 . We were not chosen , too new of a company , come back next year , blah blah blah . I was disappointed , but did not waiver . I kept growing the business , I recalled Arlene ’ s advice from the book I had read . Fear would not rule me , by now I stopped guiding and filming for others , only choosing to do it for me , for fun , whenever I wanted .
A year had gone by , but time did not permit me to audition again for Dragons Den . The business grew and grew , selling across Canada and the United States .
It was in early 2017 that we noticed a shift in who was buying our apparel , we had been coined the Air Conditioned Shirt by then and seemingly over night we had women buying our shirts for relief of hot flashes and night sweats ! Really ? How did that happen ? We still sold predominantly to equestrians , but I liked this new market , for one , it was still a rather taboo subject and I love busting stereotypes . I also knew that the Dragons Den auditions would be coming up again soon . Arlene was no longer on the show , but that was okay ... Cont ’ d
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