by Tania Reid, Chief Experience Officer of Ithemba Office Solutions

As I sit and reflect, I look back on both the challenges and the blessings of 2018 and realize that the challenges are a given, but choosing to celebrate the blessings is a choice. I encourage everyone to reflect on and celebrate both your big and small victories.

I decided to have a theme word for each year of my life, and my word for 2018 was ‘Fearless.’ And as I declared that word over my year, the challenges started pouring down. And in those moments where all it feels like you are doing is picking yourself up, fear and doubt starts chipping away at your confidence, and it feels like a part of your fearlessness remains behind after every challenge.

I started doubting myself, so much so that the things that had always come naturally to me, like sales, pitching and networking, crippled me with fear. Then I received a call from my daughter, a budding entrepreneur herself, saying, ‘Mom, I don’t know how you managed on your own for so long because entrepreneurship is hard. How did you remain sane and motivated all the time?’ And in that moment I was once again reminded of who I am and why I do what I do.

My fearlessness returned, one success at a time, and we’ve secured two new corporate clients who have both offered us funding opportunities. In two days, we generated over a R100 000.00 on Facebook to pay for a large order, and received two more. Compliments for our excellent service delivery and passion for being a solution to our clients have been received from multiple clients.

So take a moment when challenges knock you down, but don’t pitch a tent and remain longer than is necessary. As Marianne Williamson so eloquently put it, ‘Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure! As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

Tania Reid is the founder and chief experience officer of ithemba office solutions based in South Africa, and has over 17 years of sales experience in office automation, stationery and consumables. She is known for her honesty, excellent customer care skills and that she runs her life and business with integrity. Tania is a big believer in “When you are Blessed, you Bless others”. She won the opportunity to go to Australia to represent the Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship by joining serial entrepreneur, Creel Price on the Ultimate Growth Adventure Bootcamp and pitched her business to James Caan of Dragons Den fame. So every second month, she facilitates “Knowing Your Worth” classes with young girls between the ages of 14-18 at the Khaya Centre Mount Olive, Lehae south of Johannesburg, where the unemployment rate is 80%; and also contributes monthly to events held for the aged at the Kensington Old Age Home, Cape Town which is also her hometown. Read Tania's startup story here.