While all entrepreneurs are not the same, they do have one thing in common: bravery.
(Source: LinkedIn)
Student Works alumni, Victoria Landreville, took bravery to new heights with the creation of her YouTube channel project, “A Year of Fear.”
Throughout the year-long project, Victoria confronted and overcame her 52 fears – on camera! In a recent conversation with Chris Thomson on our Leaders of Tomorrow Podcast, Victoria shared the lessons she learned on her journey to becoming a Youtuber after Student Works:
Look Inward
After giving her all to Student Works for six years, Victoria was inspired to take some time to reflect on who she was as a person and where she wanted to go.
“My bubble was running the business and hitting goals, but I hadn’t yet explored the idea of looking inwards as a person and getting to know myself a little bit more. I ended up going abroad for six months. I went to Africa for four months, did some backpacking, took a group travel trip from Kenya all the way down to South Africa, overloading and camping every night on the way down. Then I went over to Asia where I got my professional diving license. That was really cool. I wanted to get out of my comfort zone, really,” she explained.
It was during her time trekking through the wilderness that she had a deeper realization, one that many entrepreneurs can relate to.
“We say at Student Works, ‘work hard, play hard.’ I think I’d worked very hard and although I played hard, I never really took that time for myself to really slow down and look inwards.” she shared with Chris.
Challenge Yourself, Even More
When Victoria began looking inward, everything changed for the better. Every entrepreneur understands that growth isn’t comfortable. But, as Victoria is keenly aware of, every once in a while we might need a kick in the pants to remind us to keep our eyes on the prize.
“I wanted a challenge so I decided to get this Business Coach. I was putting it out there that I wanted to start something on the creative side, and YouTube came to mind. I’m an extrovert and I have a lot of energy. I wanted to showcase what I was doing and I ultimately decided to focus on YouTube,” she said.
So Victoria got to work.
“It started off, believe it or not, as a business YouTube channel. I decided there was way too much competition, [and it would be better if I did] something unique. Then this idea of exploring my fears came to me. I decided to launch this YouTube Channel. I ended up calling it “A Year of Fear” and decided to commit to a year of making a YouTube video every single week. Every week, I would go out in public and do something that scared me. I would record the whole thing and I’d share what I learned from going out and doing something that scared me. The first video was about quitting my job. It was just getting out of my comfort zone on a whole other level,” she shared.
Now that’s what we call fearlessness!
Are you a student looking to further your development as a leader and enter the exciting world of entrepreneurship? Check out more stories from Student Works participants and alumni on our Leaders of Tomorrow Podcast!
