Eight years ago, I wrote an article for Christian Women in Media called Standout… For Such a Time as This.
In it, I challenged women to recognize the influence they already had, steward what they’d been given, stop hiding behind fear and perfectionism, and courageously “plant their flag.”
I meant every word.
What I didn’t realize at the time was how much I was writing to myself, too.
When I recently pulled that article out again, I got a little teary-eyed. Eight-years-ago Terri already sensed that she was being called out from behind the scenes. She wanted to use her gifts, experience, and ideas to help people in a deeper way. She even had language for the “unlived life” she could see ahead of her.
She just wasn’t ready to fully live it yet.
And apparently, knowing and becoming are not always on the same timetable.
In this episode, I’m sharing some of what I wrote then—and what I can finally see now about the eight years between calling and clarity.
Those years weren’t eight years of doing nothing. I tried hard to figure out what the next expression of my work should be. I invested in programs, developed a hybrid offer called Get Noticed by Design, built a framework, and even took clients through the process.
But when it came time to bring it to market in a bigger way, I kept hesitating.
Eventually I realized that hesitation wasn’t simply fear. Something still needed to become clearer.
The deeper work I wanted to do didn’t fit as neatly into the leveraged group model I had spent years trying to build. Every client brought a different combination of experience, strengths, ideas, ambitions, blind spots, and questions. The kind of clarity I wanted to help create required listening, trust, individual attention, and a willingness to go beneath the surface.
And somewhere in that wrestling, Brand With Bravery™ began to emerge.
The real turning point came when I finally did something I had spent years doing for other people:
I became my own client.
I put myself through the same kind of deep discovery process I had used with clients and started asking better questions—not “How do I market this?” but:
What am I actually really good at?
Where does my greatest value live?
What do I see that other people are often too close to see themselves?
What do I believe about this work?
And what do I actually want to be known for?
That process helped me recognize something that had been true for a long time: my deepest work happened before I ever pushed a pixel.
It was in helping people see what they were too close to see. Connecting the dots. Finding the thread. Recognizing what was valuable and distinct. Getting clear about what was truly worth building around—and then creating a brand capable of faithfully representing it.
Once I could see that clearly, I could believe it.
And that changed everything.
This episode is about calling, influence, unrealized potential, belief, clarity, courage—and the seasons when you can sense what’s ahead long before you know exactly how to step into it.
If you’re somewhere between the thing that keeps pulling at you and the clarity or courage to fully move toward it, I hope this conversation reminds you not to dismiss the years in between.
Pay attention to what you’re learning.
Pay attention to the work that gives you life.
Pay attention to the problems you feel unusually compelled to solve.
And pay attention to what may be developing in you that you couldn’t have recognized several years ago.
Sometimes the calling comes before you fully understand what it’s going to ask of you.
And perhaps this really is your time to plant your flag.
[00:09] 8 years ago, I wrote an article for Christian Women in Media called Stand Out... for Such a Time as This. I hadn't read it in years, and when I pulled it out recently, I got a little teary-eyed because apparently 8 years ago, Terri knew exactly what she needed to do. She just couldn't quite do it yet.
[00:27] And before I tell you what happened in the 8 years after I wrote it, I actually want you to hear some of what I wrote then, because rereading it reminded me why this article resonated so deeply with people at the time, including some very accomplished, influential leaders who I respected.
[00:43] It wasn't really an article about marketing. It was about calling, influence, unlived potential, and having the courage to do something with what you've been given.
[00:55] Now the phrase for such a time as this comes from the story of Esther in the Bible. She became the Queen of Persia, ruled by King Ahasuerus, through an unusual series of events. She was Jewish, but her identity had been hidden. The king didn't know she was Jewish, and about 5 years later she learned that there was a plot to exterminate all the Jews in his vast empire and that the king was convinced to issue a decree to allow it.
[01:22] Esther suddenly had to make an extraordinarily courageous decision before it was too late. Should she reveal her identity to the king in order to plead for the lives of her people? It would be a really big risk because even though she was queen, she was not allowed to enter the king's presence without his invitation.
[01:41] Isn't that weird? There was actually a law that those who did would be put to death on the spot. But you know what she did? She decided, if I perish, I perish. So she took the brave step to approach the king, and her courage ultimately helped save her people.
[01:58] Christian Women in Media uses that phrase in their branding to remind women working in media that influence matters, that perhaps where you've been placed, what you've been given, and the moment you're living in are connected to something bigger than yourself. So when I wrote this article, For Such a Time as This wasn't a clever headline.
[02:19] It carried the weight of calling. Here's some of what I wrote. Most of us have more influence than we realize. If you lead a business, build a platform, serve clients, manage a team, create something, teach something, have a microphone of some sort, or simply have people who trust your perspective, You're influencing the way someone thinks, decides, or moves through the world.
[02:47] And if people are going to follow your influence, you need to be worth following. So how are you showing up to the people you want to impact? Do you have clarity and a strategic direction, or are you doing what so many capable people do— stringing together a bunch of random marketing tactics and hoping somehow they'll lead to the right people?
[03:07] I've seen that pattern for years. A new social strategy, a new offer, a new website, another course, another template, another round of maybe this will finally work. And there certainly isn't a shortage of information telling us what to do. There are courses and frameworks and templates and strategies everywhere.
[03:28] Some of them are excellent, but the real question is how How do you figure out what's actually right for you? What I wrote 8 years ago was this: the number one thing you need is clarity. Clarity about who you're really here to serve, what particular problems you can genuinely help solve, what makes the way you do that valuable or distinct, and what do you want to be known for?
[03:53] What kind of impact do you feel responsible for making with what you've been given? Because tactics can only take you so far when those deeper things still aren't clear.
[04:05] When they are clear, it becomes much easier to discern which strategies actually deserve your time and attention. That's it. That's the recipe, which I'm sure is no real surprise to you. So what's stopping you? What's getting in your way?
[04:22] And apparently at that point, I decided I should answer my own question. Here's what I wrote. I've been asking myself these same questions lately as I sense God calling me out from behind the scenes to build my own platform. I certainly know what to do, but I'm my own worst client. Limiting beliefs, self-doubt, fear, perfectionism, procrastination, an unhealthy relationship with money, not wanting to put myself out there.
[04:53] For fear of rejection, fear of not being enough, afraid to plant my flag, do less, get really focused, and go all in and serve at a higher level. It's disabling, and it's kept me stuck, continuing to do what I've always done, just staying in my comfort zone with my comfortable and fairly predictable business, just getting by.
[05:15] Can we just pause there? Apparently, I had documented the entire situation. I knew exactly what was happening. Knowing was not the problem. And that's become one of the most interesting parts of this story for me. You can know something is true long before you are ready to live in a way that reflects it. I'll continue reading.
[05:36] Here's what I've learned. Aside from circumstances outside of our control, the life we have today is the result of our cumulative decisions, actions, and habits. The fear, uncertainty, and discomfort of growth and change isn't going to go away. We have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. If we want things to be different, we have to become different.
[06:00] In order for things to change, we have to change. Steven Pressfield, in his book The War of Art, says most of us have 2 lives: the life we live and the unlived life within us.
[06:15] The unlived life is driven by the optimal you, the best you, the confident you, the healthy you, the you who shows up with your best stuff, making things happen, making a difference, and living a life of significance.
[06:30] I think this may be the section that hit me hardest when I reread the article, because 8 years later I understand the unlived life differently. It wasn't that there was some better, shinier Terry I needed to manufacture. There was potential already inside my life and my work that I hadn't fully expressed yet.
[06:50] There were ideas I wasn't sharing, expertise I wasn't fully claiming, work I knew I wanted to do at a deeper level, a voice I mostly kept behind other people's brands. It was there, it was just unlived.
[07:06] I went on to write, I want that life. I want to be the optimal me. I want to be and live as the amazing woman God made me to be. I want to get out of my own way and use my gifts, talents, experiences, and life lessons to make a difference and help people in a deeper way.
[07:24] But as Andy Stanley says in his great book Visioneering, everybody has a mental picture of what could and should be for his life, but not everybody will pay the price to But not everybody will pay the price to turn that mental image into reality. Will you? Will I?
[07:41] What mission or dream has God put in your heart? Do you have a compelling vision that creates passion and pulls you to something bigger, one that just won't go away and almost feels like you have a moral obligation to take action on it?
[07:55] Is there something that makes you frustrated? Brokenhearted or angry that you believe you should do something about. That's no accident. Lean into it. God has placed you and me in this time of history for a unique purpose, for such a time as this.
[08:13] Whether our work takes place in explicitly Christian spaces or the broader marketplace, we have opportunities to influence the people around us. You see, it's not about us. It's about the people we're supposed to help. It's about what God wants to do in and through us.
[08:30] But if you've ever felt that kind of pull towards something bigger, you probably know what tends to show up right alongside it— all the reasons not to act on it. Like, but I'm not ready. There are other people who can do it better than me. I'm not enough. I don't know what steps to take. I don't have enough money.
[08:49] What if it doesn't work? What will people think of me? Who do I think I am? Those thoughts can feel incredibly convincing, and they can keep us stuck. But at some point, we have to stop letting fear tell us what's true, because what we believe changes what we're willing to do.
[09:10] I continued the article reminding the reader that our thinking creates our experiences in life. Proverbs 23:7 is true: As a man thinks, so is he. Our thinking drives our beliefs, actions, and results. If you're not getting the results you desire, look at your beliefs. Examine your vision. Uncover your true gifts.
[09:32] Pray and ask God to reveal his calling and the path he intends for you. Then trust him and step into it. He will equip you. All throughout the Bible, God used imperfect people to accomplish his purposes, not based on their titles, but based on their hearts. I have a client who helps people figure out their purpose in just 2 words through his unique Jailbreak Leadership Framework.
[09:57] I discovered that my purpose is empowering potential, and I do it every day, whether it's creating the marketing and design for a national franchise convention or helping an entrepreneur with a big heart and a big vision show up to the right people with the right message at the right time. The latter is my passion.
[10:16] So here we are 8 years later, and empowering potential is still the best language I know for what lies at the heart of my work. Helping someone recognize what's already there, what they're capable of, what's valuable, and to see what could be possible, and then helping them take steps toward it and bring it to life.
[10:36] Ironically, I realized that I hadn't taken the time to really turn this work toward myself to empower my own potential, and I knew it was time to change that.
[10:45] I concluded the article with this: so I'm stepping out of my comfort zone. I'm planting my flag. My social media platforms aren't up to date. I don't have professional photos yet. I don't have a blog yet. I'm not doing all the things I have my clients do yet, but I'm taking imperfect action today. Very difficult for a perfectionist like me who strives for excellence.
[11:06] And here's where I need to clarify something about my story, because it would be very easy to conclude that I wrote those words, declared that I was planting my flag, and then just went back behind the scenes for 8 more years. But that's not what happened. I tried really hard, actually. I invested in programs to help me figure out how to turn what I knew into something I could offer in a different, more leveraged way.
[11:30] And that led me to develop a hybrid program called Get Noticed by Design. It included some, some done-with-you work, some significant done-for-you pieces, and I created a framework around it. I even took a couple of clients through it. But when it came time to make the final push and really bring it to market, something in me kept hesitating.
[11:51] It wasn't just fear. The biggest issue was this. Get Noticed by Design was a soup-to-nuts program. It included the deep discovery work, the strategy, the messaging, plus the website, the collateral, the funnel, the whole thing. And I wasn't completely convinced that I could deliver that entire experience in a small group format with the same depth and excellence I was accustomed to giving my one-on-one clients.
[12:20] And that was the part I kept getting stuck on. The program itself was good. The clients I had taken through it loved it and had gotten tremendous value, but I couldn't shake the question, can I really deliver all of this to multiple people at once in a way I can stand behind? And if I wasn't completely convinced in the offer, I didn't stand much of a chance of confidently selling it.
[12:42] After all, the first sale you have to make is to yourself. So I kept working. I kept learning. I kept trying to understand what this deeper expression of my work was actually supposed to become. And all the while, I was still running the business I'd already built, working with clients behind the scenes and continuing to wrestle with what this next chapter was supposed to look like.
[13:05] So when I look back at those 8 years now, I don't see a woman who wrote an article about planting her flag and then simply ignoring it. I meant every word I wrote. The calling was real. The desire was real. I was still just trying to understand what shape it was supposed to take. Apparently knowing and becoming are not always on the same timetable.
[13:28] And while it was an incredibly frustrating journey while I was living it, I can see now how much those years were preparing me for what eventually became Brand With Bravery. And maybe that matters for somebody listening today because you may be frustrated with yourself like I was. You may have this thing that keeps resurfacing and think, why haven't I done this yet?
[13:48] Why do I keep circling it? What's wrong with me? Maybe nothing's wrong with you. Maybe there are things you still need to learn. Maybe your experience is still becoming useful in ways that you can't quite see yet. Maybe you recognize the direction you're heading before you fully understand what you're supposed to build there.
[14:09] That doesn't mean you should use I'm not ready as an excuse forever, though. Believe me, I became very talented at that. But I also don't think every season that looks like delay is necessarily wasted time. So you might be wondering what finally changed for me. Well, I finally did something I should have done a long time ago.
[14:28] I became my own client. I put myself through the kind of deep discovery process I'd been taking clients through for years. And instead of only asking myself, how do I finally get, get Noticed by Design out into the world? I started asking deeper questions. What was the most valuable part of what I actually did for my clients?
[14:48] What did I see that my clients were often too close to see themselves? What did I believe about this work? Why do people need it? What does it make possible for them? And what did I actually wanna be known for?
[15:02] I'd always known the strategy mattered. What I could finally see was just how much of my value lived there, and it didn't need all the execution afterward to make it valuable.
[15:14] I wasn't just good at building websites and creating marketing materials and making brands look better. My deepest work happened before I ever pushed a pixel, because before you jump into design and messaging, you have to get really clear about what's actually worth building around. And once I saw that, I could finally understand why Get Noticed by Design had never felt completely settled for me.
[15:40] The program itself wasn't bad. It was, it was good, actually, a great value for people. The problem was that I had been trying to fit a very deep, highly personalized soup-to-nuts experience into a leveraged group model. But the kind of clarity I'm after doesn't usually come from handing everyone the same worksheet and moving them through the same sequence, because every client brings a completely different mix of things to the table.
[16:08] They have different strengths and ideas, experience and ambitions, as well as blind spots. My work requires going beneath the surface and digging deeper, kind of like going on a treasure hunt, and that requires listening. It requires trust.
[16:26] Sometimes it requires noticing the thing a client hasn't even recognized as being important yet, and I've experienced group programs where I could see the limitation of that firsthand. It can be easy to get lost, to hold back, or even hide a little when you're not getting the personal attention you need to work through what's really keeping you stuck specifically.
[16:48] And not all people are comfortable sharing in a group or being vulnerable with strangers in a Zoom room. You need personal access sometimes to get the help that you need. That doesn't mean that group programs can't be incredibly valuable. They absolutely can. It just helped me recognize that this particular work is most powerful in a one-on-one container, and that realization changed the offer.
[17:12] Somewhere in that season of wrestling with all of this, while my accountability partner was asking me every single week what I was going to do about it, Brand with Bravery began to emerge. It wasn't just a program about branding. It's a deeper process of helping someone uncover what's already there, get clear about what deserves to be known, believe the value of what they bring, and then build a brand capable of faithfully representing it.
[17:40] Taking myself through my own process gave me that clarity. And And it also expanded the process itself. Once I understood how important that strategic foundation really was, I started thinking differently about what clients would need after our work together, how they could carry that clarity forward into everything that they created and communicated.
[18:04] And that eventually led me to develop tools like the AI Brand Brain, which is designed to help keep everything downstream aligned with what we clarified together. Because when you have this kind of clarity that's so foundational, everything downstream gets easier. Your offers, your messaging, your website, your content, even how you use AI.
[18:29] I could finally see what had been there all along, and once I saw it, I believed it. That's when I finally understood what it meant to plant my flag. Today, for the first time in 19 years, of running my branding and design business, I have an online home under my own name that feels like me.
[18:47] I'm writing, I'm speaking, I'm recording a podcast, I'm sharing ideas that have lived quietly in me for years. And I created Brand with Bravery to help other people do the deep work I finally had to do for myself, because now I understand its power personally. It was the key that changed everything for me.
[19:09] 8 years ago, I wrote Stand Out... for Such a Time as This to call the women of Christian Women in Media higher, to recognize the influence they had, to steward what they'd been given, and to courageously step into what God might be asking of them.
[19:25] And I knew even then that I was calling myself higher too. In fact, I remember weighing that before I published it. I knew I was making a public statement about what I believed and in some ways creating a level of expectation and accountability for myself to live it.
[19:43] I believed that there was something I was being called to do with what I'd been given. I just hadn't fully stepped into it yet. What I understand differently now is that recognizing a calling and being ready to carry it are not always the same thing or on the same timetable. Sometimes the calling comes before you fully understand what it's going to ask of you.
[20:03] 8-years-ago-Terri had the stirring. She had the desire. She even had some of the language. What she didn't have yet was the clarity to fully understand the value of what all those years of work were producing, or what this next season was really supposed to become.
[20:20] And I think that's why rereading the article made me a little teary-eyed, because she wasn't wrong and she wasn't foolish. She wasn't imagining it. She just wasn't ready yet. And there's something very tender for me about realizing that.
[20:35] So here's the thought I want to leave with you today. Maybe you're living somewhere between the thing you know you're called toward and the clarity or courage to fully step into it. If you are, don't assume the years in between are wasted. Pay attention to what keeps pulling at you. Pay attention to what you're learning.
[20:54] Pay attention to the work that gives you life and the problems you feel unusually compelled to solve. Pay attention to the gifts, the experiences, and even the hard parts of your story that may be preparing you for something you can't fully see yet. Sometimes you can see the unlived life before you know how to step into it.
[21:17] Sometimes the stirring comes before the clarity. And sometimes what feels like delay is actually a season of becoming. But eventually there comes a moment when what you've been learning, what you've been becoming, and what has kept pulling at you all begin to converge. And then the question changes. It's no longer, do I feel ready?
[21:40] It becomes, what am I going to do with what I've been given? 8 years ago, I ended that article by telling the women who read it to plant your flag, stand for something, lead in a way that's worth following, be strategic, wise, and bold, and see what God does.
[22:00] I would think I was talking to myself too. It took me 8 years to understand what planting my flag was really going to look like. And maybe there's something that has kept pulling at you too, something you're finally beginning to see more clearly. And perhaps This really is your time to plant your flag.
[22:17] Thanks so much for spending this time with me. I'm Terry Podlenski, and this is Brand Potential Unlocked, where who you've become meets how the world sees you. Until next time, believe what's true and be brave enough to let it be seen.
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