Over the weekend, for what felt like the hundredth time we watched the Disney movie – Moana. My son, Max loves it and I’ve seen bits and pieces of it.

But it wasn’t until I actually took the time to sit down and really watch the whole thing that I really started to see what a strong and powerful woman Moana is. Which of course isn’t the norm in a lot of traditional Disney movies where they favour the whole damsel in distress princess.

As I was watching I was beginning to see some key lessons that we as women in business can take on.

This was originally recorded as a Facebook live which you can watch below if you prefer

Lesson One: Natural Leader

Moana is a natural leader. To a lot of women, being a leader doesn’t come naturally within a business environment. However, more often that not, we are leaders within our own household. You probably organise the budget, organise the kids, manage the household – you get the idea.

But when it comes to owning your power, being a leader in business, making decisions about what’s best for your business – many women struggle. They struggle to step up into that role.

Consider your business was your household and how easily you make decisions within that environment. Why can’t those skills be transferred?

When you are a leader within your household you have feelings of helping everyone to succeed – it’s about the community and achieving success together.

Applying this same mindset to your business moves you from;

• “I can’t do this”
• “I don’t want to put this out there”
• “I don’t want to live on Facebook”
• “My website is terrible”

And all the other stuff that your monkey brain comes up with – to I can do this – when I step into my leadership role everyone will benefit and everyone will be successful.

Lesson Two: Trust Yourself

Moana doesn’t listen to others. She really trusts herself. If you haven’t seen the movie, Moana is a princess.

Her father is head of their village and she has to return the heart of te fiti. You can watch the movie for the reason why, but she is going on a journey.

To return the heart, she must journey across the ocean. Everyone is telling her not to do it. Within their village they “don’t go outside of the reef”. It’s not safe outside of the reef, it’s safe in the reef. That is their comfort zone – inside the reef.

But for Moana – she knows that she was born to do this. She says multiple times that the ocean chose her – that she was the chosen one.

Instead of the ocean choosing you, or anything else, we can choose ourselves. We can choose ourselves and trust in our own decisions. Even if everyone else says it’s the wrong time or the wrong thing – you know what you should be doing. You can trust that you are on the right path for you. You can trust that your timing is just as it should be.

If you want to quit your job, start a business, scale your business. There will always be people who tell you to wait, that you should do this instead – but only you have the right answer for you.

It’s time for you to dig deep and trust yourself.

You will make mistakes, take on the wrong client, buy the wrong course, work with the wrong coach but with each decision you are getting closer and closer to knowing what’s right for you. It’s part of the journey – they always say that business is the best personal development you can ever do.

Lesson Three – Never Quits

Moana never quits. She throws everything at her success. She is resilient and resourceful.

In traditional story archetypes there are always obstacles on the journey. Just like in life. Which I know is hard as we are bombarded with ‘overnight success’ stories. But rest assured they had their obstacles as well.

There is lots of behind the scenes that we never see or hear about. But if you are super clear about what you want to achieve then you are prepared to ride the waves and fight the obstacles.

You can do whatever you need to do to be successful – you can overcome each and every obstacle on your journey to success. At the end what’s important is your vision and that you trust in yourself that you are going to achieve it.

Lesson Four: Female Bonds

Having a strong community and support of women around you can make all the difference. I come from a strong generation of women. One of my mum’s aunt’s was the first women in Australia to go to the bank to get a loan. She had to fight for it. She wanted to build a school to look after disabled children.

My mum has always worked. My grandma has always worked. I couldn’t imagine not working and/or relying on my husband’s income only.  We have strong bonds and strong women who were leaders within their homes and community.

My mum always said that a man is not a financial plan – go out and make your own money. Go out and forge your own way – do what you want to do. You can be successful yourself.

Moana had a very strong bond with her grandma and her mother. It’s these bonds that helped her achieve her vision of returning the heart of te fiti.

For many women – running a business can be lonely. Your partner might not be supportive, you are working alone at home and your friends don’t get what you do.

It’s important to find these strong female bonds – women who are on the same journey as you. Women who are up to things. You might want to join masterminds, group programs or attend local meetups – do what is going to work for you, because it’s really important.

For many women, they don’t have the support of their partner – particularly in the early stages of running their business – and this can be hard.

Lesson Five: Feel the Fear

Moana takes a stand and is the one who does what needs to be done. She is going on a journey to return the heart of te fiti – as this is what needs to be done to save her village, to save her people.

Her father and the village elders know that this must be done – but they are too scared. They are too filled with fear – so they would prefer to keep ‘everyone safe’ in the village. But not Moana – she does things that the men in her life are too fearful to do.

She was prepared to stand up for what she believed in, take a stance and do what needed to be done. She wanted to change the future for herself and her people. Right now in your life I’m sure there are many things you know you should be doing. The same can be true for your business – but we let fear stop us

For me, I need to chill out, rest and take a break, but I’m scared I’ll lose my business momentum. I’m letting fear push me to burnout – which I know logically doesn’t serve me, my clients or my business.

Success is yours at the end of your fear.

Today you might be fearful of going live on Facebook, pressing send on that email, writing the post that speaks your heart.  Fear will always be there – we need to not let it rule us.

When I was training people on email marketing I used to say – send one more email than you feel comfortable with. Everyone thinks they are sending too many emails but they aren’t. Sending just one more. It’s totally worth it and no one is going to die. Promise.

Be like Moana and face your fears. It’s totally worth it.