Growing a business isn’t easy. You have to dream big. You have to put ideas out there that people will scoff at. You have to get over your own imposter syndrome. You have to stand up for what you know in your gut is right even when the people around you are telling you it won’t work. It can be lonely. It can be exhausting. And sometimes you just need a hug.

It was some time in the early 2000s. My then boyfriend and I drove over an hour from our home in Boston to see my blues idol. B.B. King. In a small venue. In a small town in Massachusetts. The blues is my favourite music, and B.B. is the King of the Blues. And there we were. Up close.

If you’ve never seen B.B. King, he was also a big, cuddly, guitar-wielding teddy bear of-a-man with an equally big radiant smile. And I’d always wanted to give him a hug. It was one of those crazy dreams I’d always had, like dancing on stage with Bruce Springsteen á la Courtney Cox.

After the show, my boyfriend was ready to hop in the car and get back on the road. But I noticed a line of people snaking around the back of the venue. I went to check it out. Rumour had it that B.B. was hanging out back stage signing autographs. I got in line. My boyfriend got annoyed.

We waited in line for over an hour. It was well past midnight, and I spent the entire time listening to reasons why we should just get in the car. I ignored every one of them. I practiced what I would say in my head over and over so I wouldn’t sound like an idiot. I wasn’t even sure we would make it to the front of the line before B.B. decided to pack it in.

But we did. And there he was in front of me. I was so starstruck that yep, I sounded like an idiot. But I didn’t care. I tried to make a bit of conversation. There were people behind me waiting and I was about to get ushered on. I knew I had to do it right then or lose my chance forever. I mustered up all my courage and blurted out, “You know what I’ve always wanted to do? I’ve always wanted to give you a hug!”

He gave me that slow, radiant smile, opened his arms wide, and said five words I will never forget. “Lay it on me baby!” And I wrapped my arms around him like he was Santa Claus and I was a blues loving six-year-old with the magic of Christmas in my eyes.

I giggled the whole way home in the car. I didn’t care that my boyfriend was going to be tired at work the next day. (I would be too, but I had my autographed picture to show off and a great story to go with it). It seemed like a ridiculous dream, but I put myself in the place I needed to be to create the opportunity, shut out the naysayer, got over my insecurity, and then stated clearly what I wanted. And it worked. Best. Hug. Ever.

Same goes for your business. Don’t listen to the naysayers. Put yourself in the place you need to be. Be clear about what you want, stand confidently, and say it out loud. That’s how you make things happen. That’s how the opportunities land in front of you and the doors (or arms) open wide. And a strong brand? That’s what gets you through the doors once you’ve opened them.

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