The Bravery No One Talks About in Business

Being an entrepreneur takes bravery in an unsuspecting way. It’s something I’ve felt again and again over the past six years of running Amandine Sol Botanicals, my skincare line. For a long time, I blamed it on laziness, fear, or avoidance but I’ve realized it has far more to do with bravery.

And not the big, cinematic bravery. Not the dramatic leap of quitting law school, betting it all on yourself, or launching the business in the first place. I’m talking about the mini braveries.

Like sending someone a DM to offer them your product, and then watching that notification pop up. You know it’s their first impression of you and the thing you’ve poured your heart into, yet still, you have to open it. That split second before you click feels like standing on the edge of something.

As a small business founder, I have days where I question everything: What am I doing? Is it even any good? Will I ever “make it”? I remember one afternoon in particular I was on the phone with my mom, venting all of it, that pit in my stomach growing heavier. She gave me hope, the kind only she can, and I clung to it as I hung up.

That’s when I saw it: a reply from a huge celebrity makeup artist I’d DM’d to follow up on what they thought about our products. My heart stopped. She could easily have hated them, said they were meh, or confirmed every fear I’d just unloaded to my mom. After a full day of avoiding the notification, I suddenly felt it: that rush of bravery, like creatine in my veins.

I opened it. And there it was: a rave review. She said it was an incredible product she’d been using on her A-list clients, and that Anne Hathaway in particular loved the scent. I was floating. In that moment, the courage, confidence, and strength I needed were all right there, packed into a few sentences.

These are the mini braveries. They don’t look like bravery from the outside, but they are; the quiet, everyday moments where you choose to face the thing you could so easily avoid. The tiny acts of courage that keep the business (and you) moving forward.

Bravery isn’t always loud, and it isn’t only for entrepreneurs. It’s answering the call you’ve been avoiding, sending the text you’ve rewritten ten times, applying for the job you’re scared you won’t get. It’s opening the metaphorical envelope, knowing you can’t control what’s inside but trusting you’ll handle it. Mini braveries might not look heroic, but they quietly shape who we become. And if you keep choosing them, over and over, you’ll look back one day and realize they were the big moments all along.

I don’t need to jump off a plane to feel alive. I just need to keep betting on myself.