For a long time I thought the only way to be in this business was to be in competition. I'm so glad that in the last year I've met some amazing people who helped me realize that I was so, so wrong. Not only is being in competition with one another exhausting and dividing, it's also just not helpful. My business doesn't thrive because someone else's business fails. I, therefore, don't benefit any by hoping for someone else to fail. The opposite is also true. Just because another is succeeding does not mean that I cannot also succeed. That's not how it works. We can both have thriving businesses. Heck - we can even be friends while doing it!

This has been my important lesson for this year.

Her success is NOT my failure.