Clarity

Visibility – Make This Your Year to Be Visible

By Laura Berman Fortgang on February 22, 2026

Visibility creates opportunity. It’s that simple.

When you show up consistently – whether in meetings, on social media, or at networking events – you put yourself in the right place at the right time. Those “lucky breaks” people talk about? They happen because someone chose to be visible.

Why Visibility Matters

Visibility builds trust and credibility over time. When people see you regularly, they begin to recognize your expertise and value. And here’s the thing: visibility compounds. The more you show up, the more opportunities find their way to you. Careers are built on this foundation.

How to Build Visibility as an Employee

If you work in a company, visibility starts with speaking up. Make sure you get credit for your great work. Contribute thoughtfully in meetings – not just to be heard, but to add real value.

Volunteer for high-visibility projects. Not the ones nobody else wants, but the strategic initiatives that will showcase your skills and get you noticed by decision-makers. Build relationships across departments and levels. Your network inside your organization is just as important as the one outside it.

How to Build Visibility as an Entrepreneur

Show up on platforms where your ideal clients are, but don’t stop there.
Get involved in your community.
Volunteer for opportunities that put you in front of the right people.

Make it easy for people to understand exactly what you do. I recently worked with a new coach who attended one networking meeting, made themselves visible to the group’s leader, and landed a speaking engagement that will put them in front of hundreds of potential clients. That’s the power of visibility.

Remember:
There’s visibility on a small scale (one-on-one relationships) and visibility on a larger scale (platforms and speaking).
Both matter.

For Those Who Hate Being Visible

Let me be honest: Being self-conscious is a little egotistical.
You’re assuming everyone is judging you probably because you’re judging yourself and others.
Get straight with yourself.
Stop judging yourself.
Stop judging other people.

You need to adopt a healthy “I don’t care” attitude. Not that you don’t care enough to do good work, but you can’t care so much about what others think that you hide your light.

Here’s the key: You need a mission bigger than you.
When you focus on the impact you want to make and the people you want to serve, visibility becomes about that mission, not about you.

And introverts, I don’t want to hear that you can’t be visible.
You just need to know yourself, do things your way, and stay connected to your bigger purpose.

Common Visibility Mistakes

Assuming good work speaks for itself.
It doesn’t. You need to share your wins, whether you’re presenting results to your boss or sharing client success stories on LinkedIn.

Confusing visibility with bragging.
They’re not the same thing. Sharing your accomplishments and expertise is not bragging; it’s informing people about what you can do and who you can help.

Being inconsistent.
Disappearing for long periods and then showing up only when you need something (a sale, a favor, a promotion) doesn’t work. Consistency builds trust.

Your Action Step

We’re still in the energy of a new year. Make this your year to be visible.
Be consistent.
Put yourself forward.
Don’t be afraid to be vocal about your accomplishments.

Visibility creates opportunity, and opportunity is what you’re after.

Express Yourself: Turn What You Love Into Your Business Edge

By Laura Berman Fortgang on February 15, 2026

Did you watch the Super Bowl halftime show? Bad Bunny brought his full Puerto Rican identity to that stage – the music, the culture, the language, the pride. He didn’t water himself down for the biggest audience in television. He expressed himself completely, and the world leaned in.

That’s what happens when you stop compartmentalizing who you are and what you do.

Can you relate to this? You’re a talented service provider or coach with so much to offer, but the business side of your business feels heavy. Not fun. Hard to get motivated for. (Who likes to do sales calls?!)

I just had this exact conversation with a coach in my A-List Coach Program. She’s in that wonderful position of being a retiree where money isn’t the main driver, but she still wasn’t showing up for her coaching practice the way she wanted to. The entrepreneurial side felt like a grind.

Then she mentioned something in passing: How much she loved teaching her memoir writing class. It was just a side gig, not even a hustle really. But when she talked about it, her whole energy shifted.

And that’s when I saw it.

Those two things didn’t have to be separate.

“You have people writing about the past,” I told her. “Why don’t you also have them write their future? Then coach them to that future.”

A light bulb went off. Suddenly, she wasn’t choosing between what she loved and what she “should” be doing. She was bringing what she loved directly into her business. She found a way to express herself through her work, and that changes everything.

Your Edge Is Already Inside You

Here’s what I’ve learned after years of coaching entrepreneurs: The things you love doing aren’t distractions from your business; they can BE your business. Or at least, they can become your edge – the thing that makes you different, that no one else does quite like you.

I had another client years ago who loved knitting. She created a knitting circle where she coached people about their lives while they knitted together. The knitting wasn’t a gimmick; it created the container for deeper conversations and transformation.

I did this myself. I took my love of performing and theater and created a character – a life coach – and did a one-woman show for four years. It was my original expression of me in my work, and it still had good coaching at its core.

I’ve met a guy who did pit crew for NASCAR and turned that into a team building exercise. He now sells to corporations everywhere. Nobody else does that.

What about you? What do you love that you’ve been keeping separate from your “real” business?

Three Questions to Find Your Expression

If you want to explore how to bring what you love into your coaching or service-based business, start here:

1. What makes you lose track of time?

Cooking? Hiking? Writing? Painting? Reading poetry? Dancing? Gardening?
Whatever it is, name it. Don’t judge it. Just notice what activities genuinely light you up.

2. What does this activity unlock?

Think about the transformation it creates. Does cooking create connection? Does running create clarity? Does writing create self-discovery? Does knitting create calm and community? Name what this thing does not just for you, but potentially for others.

3. How could your clients experience that transformation?

This is where it gets practical. Could you coach while walking or hiking? Host a business planning dinner party? Lead a journaling workshop before your group program? Create adventure-based leadership retreats because you love motorcross?

The memoir writing teacher brought writing into coaching.
The knitter brought knitting into coaching.
The performer brought theater into coaching.
The NASCAR crew member brought pit crew dynamics into team building.

This Could Be Your Curriculum Or Your Container

Here’s what’s beautiful about this approach: What you love can become either the content you teach or the environment where you coach. It can be your curriculum or your container. It can work for individual coaches or corporate trainers. It can be intimate one-on-one work or big off-site adventures.

The key is that it’s authentically YOU. It’s not something you’re doing because a marketing guru told you to. It’s not a strategy you copied from someone else’s playbook. It’s your original expression coming through your work.

Bad Bunny didn’t try to be anyone else on that stage; he brought all of himself and trusted that would be enough.
And it was more than enough – it was magnetic.

Why This Matters

When you express yourself through your business, three things happen:

First, marketing becomes natural.
You’re not forcing yourself to show up and talk about something that feels boring or heavy.
You’re sharing what you genuinely love.

Second, clients feel your energy.
They can tell the difference between someone going through the motions and someone who’s fully alive in their work.

Third, you actually enjoy it.
All that drudgery we have to do as entrepreneurs (the sales, the content creation, the showing up consistently) becomes so much easier and more enjoyable when it’s connected to something you love.

Your Challenge

Here’s my thought for you as we wrap up the weekend:
Take those three questions seriously.
Sit down with your coffee or tea, and actually answer them.
What makes you lose track of time?
What does it unlock?
How could your clients experience that?

Your business doesn’t have to feel like a grind.
What you love isn’t separate from your work; it might be the very key to it.

Express yourself.
Let that be your edge.
Let that be the thing that makes your business unmistakably, authentically yours.

When the Storm Hits: Your Guide to Weathering What Comes and Emerging Stronger

By Laura Berman Fortgang on February 1, 2026

The meteorologists saw it coming days in advance. The grocery stores emptied of bread and milk. Batteries flew off the shelves. Everyone knew the storm was approaching, yet when it finally arrived, many still found themselves unprepared for its full force.

Life’s storms work the same way. Sometimes we see them gathering on the horizon – a organizational restructuring, a relationship reaching its breaking point, a business model that’s clearly running out of road. Other times, they hit without warning, leaving us scrambling to find our footing while everything we counted on gets rearranged.

The question isn’t whether storms will come. They will.
The question is: How will you prepare, how will you weather them, and how will you use what they teach you?

Before the Storm: The Art of Strategic Preparation

Here’s what most people get wrong about preparation:
They stockpile supplies, but they forget to strengthen their foundation.

When I work with leaders and entrepreneurs facing major transitions, I ask them a simple question: “What are you anchoring to?” When everything else is moving, you need something solid to hold onto. For some, it’s their core values. For others, it’s their sense of purpose or their commitment to the people they serve.

The coaches I work with who navigate industry changes most successfully aren’t the ones with the biggest emergency funds (though those help). They’re the ones who’ve built what I call “foundational flexibility,” which is a clear sense of who they are and what they stand for, combined with the agility to adapt their methods without compromising their mission.

Practical preparation looks like this:

Know your non-negotiables.
What absolutely must be protected?
What defines you at your core?
When you’re clear on this, you can let go of everything else with much less anxiety.

Build your support system before you need it.
The middle of a crisis is not the time to start looking for allies.
Invest in relationships during the calm, so you have people to call when the winds pick up.

Create options, not just plans.
Plans assume a predictable future.
Options give you choices when the unexpected arrives.
What are three different ways you could respond if X happens?
What resources could you access if Y occurs?

When You’re In It: Weathering the Storm

There’s a moment in every storm when you realize – this is happening.
The preparation phase is over.
Now you’re just trying to stay upright.

This is when your previous work pays off, or when you discover what you missed.

The most important skill for weathering a storm isn’t strength; it’s presence.
The ability to stay aware, stay responsive, and resist the temptation to panic-react your way into worse problems.

I’ve watched brilliant people make terrible decisions in the middle of storms because they were so desperate to make the discomfort stop that they grabbed at the first solution that presented itself.
They pivoted their entire business model after one bad quarter.
They blew up a relationship because they couldn’t tolerate the tension of uncertainty.
They abandoned their vision because it got hard.

Weathering a storm means accepting that some things are out of your control while staying active in the things that aren’t.

You can’t stop the storm, but you can:

Protect your energy.
This is not the time to take on new commitments or push yourself to maintain “business as usual.”
Give yourself permission to focus on essentials.

Stay connected.
Isolation is the enemy of resilience. Reach out. Ask for help. Let people know you’re struggling.
The vulnerability you show now will deepen your relationships later.

Look for the small wins.
You don’t need to solve everything today.
You need to take one right action, then another, then another.
Progress compounds.

After the Storm: Mining the Meaning

Every storm deposits something. Sometimes it’s wreckage that needs clearing. Sometimes it’s nutrients that will feed next season’s growth. Your job is to examine what’s been left behind.

The entrepreneurs I know who’ve built the strongest businesses didn’t do it by avoiding failure. They did it by getting exceptionally good at learning from it. Each setback became data. Each crisis revealed something they didn’t know about themselves, their market, or their model.

The question isn’t “Why did this happen to me?”
The question is “What does this make possible that wasn’t possible before?”

Maybe the storm cleared out deadwood – projects that were draining energy without producing results, relationships that had run their course, assumptions that were holding you back. Maybe it revealed strengths you didn’t know you had. Maybe it showed you who really has your back.

Coming out positive doesn’t mean pretending the storm didn’t hurt.
It means refusing to let the hurt be the only thing that defines what happened.

The storms will come. They always do.

The only real question is: When the next one arrives, who will you be?
Someone who merely survives it, or someone who uses it to become more of who you’re meant to be?

Start preparing now. Not because you’re pessimistic, but because you’re committed to staying in the game no matter what the weather brings.

Before You Do, Remember Who You’re Becoming

By Laura Berman Fortgang on January 25, 2026

Every January, millions of people launch into action. They join gyms, open blank documents for that novel they’ve been meaning to write, or register their LLC for the side hustle that’s going to change everything.

By February, most have stopped.

The problem isn’t lack of willpower or poor planning. It’s that they’re trying to change their actions without first transforming their identity.

The Identity-Action Gap

Here’s what typically happens: You decide you want to lose 30 pounds, so you buy meal prep containers and download a fitness app. You want to write a novel, so you block out time on your calendar and create the perfect workspace. You’re ready to launch that consulting business, so you design business cards and build a website.

These are all smart actions.
But they’re built on a foundation of sand.

When you take action without first shifting who you believe yourself to be, every choice becomes an internal negotiation. The alarm goes off at 5:30 AM for your workout, and you have to convince yourself – again – that you’re the kind of person who does this. You sit down to write, but that blank page mocks you because you don’t yet believe you’re actually a writer. You need to make sales calls for your new business, but impostor syndrome screams that you’re just pretending to be an entrepreneur.

This exhausting internal debate is why most ambitious goals fail. You’re constantly fighting against your own self-concept.

The Power of Identity-First Change

Consider weight loss. Most people approach it as a behavior problem: “I need to eat less and move more.” But sustainable transformation happens when you shift from “I’m trying to lose weight” to “I’m someone who takes care of my body.”

That subtle shift changes everything. When you’re someone who takes care of your body, choosing the salad isn’t deprivation; it’s consistency with who you are. Missing a workout creates genuine discomfort because it conflicts with your identity, not because you’re failing at a resolution.

The same principle applies to writing your novel. You don’t need to wait until you’re published to be a writer. You become a writer the moment you decide that’s who you are. Real writers write on days they don’t feel inspired. They protect their writing time. They study this craft. Once you embody that identity, sitting down to write becomes natural rather than forced.

And for your side hustle? Stop “trying to start a business” and start being an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs solve problems. They learn from failure. They show up consistently even when results are slow. When that’s who you are – not what you’re attempting – the difficult actions become expressions of identity rather than items on a to-do list.

How to Shift Your Beingness

This isn’t about positive thinking or affirmations. It’s about genuine identity transformation.

1. Define the identity clearly.
Don’t just say “I want to be healthy.” Get specific: “I’m someone who honors my body’s needs, makes conscious food choices, and moves daily because it feels good.”

2. Find your evidence.
Your brain needs proof. Identify any moment (no matter how small) when you’ve already been this person. That time you took the stairs? That counts. The paragraph you wrote last Tuesday? Evidence. The helpful advice you gave a friend? Entrepreneurial.

3. Make identity-consistent choices.
Ask yourself throughout the day: “What would the person I’m becoming do right now?” Then do that thing, even when it’s small, especially when it’s small.

4. Speak it into existence.
Change your language. Not “I’m trying to lose weight,” but “I take care of my body.” Not “I want to write a book,” but “I’m writing a book.” Not “I’m thinking about starting a business,” but “I’m an entrepreneur building my business.”

The Truth About Tough Actions

Yes, losing weight requires tough choices. Writing a novel demands discipline and vulnerability. Building a business means facing rejection and uncertainty.

Here’s what makes those tough actions infinitely easier: Alignment.

When your actions flow from a clear sense of who you are, they stop feeling like obligations and start feeling like integrity. You’re not forcing yourself to do hard things; you’re simply being consistent with who you’ve become.

The action is still challenging, but it’s no longer a battle with yourself.

Before you revise your goals or create your action plan, pause.
Get clear on who you’re becoming.
Let that identity settle into your bones.

Then watch how naturally the right actions follow.

The Flying Coach Class Survival Guide: Hard-Won Wisdom from 30,000 Feet

By Laura Berman Fortgang on January 18, 2026

TRIGGER WARNING:
This is for entertainment purposes only.
Don’t come after me for not being coach-like and PC.

The Survival Guide for Flying Coach

Look, I get it. We’re all trying to save the company some money. “Book coach for your flight; it’s only a few hours,” they said. Nobody mentioned I’d be entering what I can only describe as a full-contact sport involving personal space violations, questionable hygiene, and the kind of audacity that should require a permit.

Let me paint you a picture: You’ve finally achieved that elusive airplane sleep – the one that requires the perfect storm of exhaustion, white noise, and convincing yourself that neck angle won’t cause permanent damage. Then you feel it. A weight. A presence. You open one eye to discover your seatmate, a twenty-something gentleman who apparently believes deodorant is a suggestion, has transformed your shoulder into his personal pillow. He’s not just asleep, but in REM. There might be drooling.

And this, dear reader, happened to me TWICE – once each way on my flights!

Here’s where it gets truly magnificent: After using me as a human body pillow for an hour, this same individual has the sheer nerve to wake ME up because HE needs to use the bathroom. The math isn’t mathing. The audacity is audacious.

What can we learn from this airborne nightmare?
Plenty.

Action Item #1: Master the Defensive Seating Position

Forget what your mother taught you about sitting up straight. In coach, you need to adopt what I call the “Do Not Disturb Porcupine Stance.” Elbows out. Knees angled. Reading light on at full blast pointing vaguely in their direction. You’re creating a physical and psychological barrier that says, “I am not a pillow, I am not your friend, and I certainly don’t want to smell whatever that is.”

Action Item #2: Invest in the Aisle Seat Like Your Dignity Depends On It …

… because it does. Yes, you’ll get bumped by every cart and human traffic jam that passes. Yes, everyone will use your headrest to steady themselves. But you know what you won’t be? Trapped. When your seatmate starts listing like the Titanic, you can simply stand up and let gravity do what their mother apparently couldn’t – teach them boundaries.

Action Item #3: Pack Your Olfactory Defense Kit

I’m talking essential oils, scented lotion, maybe even a small container of coffee beans like you’re at a perfume counter. When the aromatic assault begins – and it will begin – you need options. Hold that lavender oil right under your nose. Tell people you have allergies. You’re not being dramatic; you’re being a survivor.

Action Item #4: Perfect the Wake-Up Face

When they inevitably need to disturb YOUR sleep after they’ve been using you as furniture, you need a facial expression that communicates the following: “I am awake. I am not happy about it. I will remember this.” Practice in the mirror. Make it memorable. They should feel (at least) 40% ashamed.

Action Item #5: Embrace the Passive-Aggressive Cough

The moment you feel that first lean, deploy a series of concerned, contagious-sounding coughs. Maybe add a sniffle. Mention something about “probably just allergies … or that thing that’s been going around.” Watch how quickly personal space becomes sacred again.

Action Item #6: Bring Photographic Evidence

Next time – and there will be a next time – take a selfie with your sleeping seatmate using you as a headrest. Not to shame them publicly (though tempting), but to show your boss when you submit that expense report requesting business class for your next trip. Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand upgrade approvals.

The Final Lesson

Here’s what traveling coach for business really teaches us: Dignity is expensive, personal space is a luxury, and sometimes the real cost savings aren’t worth the full-body experience of someone else’s poor in-flight choices.

The next time your company asks you to fly coach “just this once,” remember: You’re not just saving them money. You’re providing free sleeping accommodations, tolerating amateur-hour hygiene, and somehow becoming the villain when you’d like to occasionally use the restroom during your OWN flight.

Book business class. Your shoulders will thank you.

Safe travels, and may the odds be ever in your favor.

How to Stop Imposter Syndrome in Its Tracks

By Laura Berman Fortgang on October 1, 2023

Do you ever feel like an imposter?

Are you sometimes afraid that someone’s going to discover you have no idea what you’re doing — that you’re not the expert you proclaim to be, you’re not as skilled as you’ve made yourself out to be, and you’re not quite qualified to be in the position you’ve found yourself in?

Maybe you’re worried that you don’t measure up somehow, so it makes you feel like you’re pretending to be someone you’re not.

Here’s what this looks like.

Them: We’d like to interview you [for a dream job]!
You: Maybe they didn’t notice I don’t have enough experience.

Them: Congratulations! We’d like to offer you the [dream] job.
You: I’ll surely be fired by Tuesday, once they figure out I’m a fraud.

Them: We’ve selected your proposal to speak at the next conference.
You: Oh no! I’m probably going to make a fool out of myself.

Them: I’m looking for a coach, and I’d love to work with you.
You: But what if I can’t help you get results, and you tell everyone I’m a con?

I’m not a doctor, but as a Master Certified Credentialed Coach with 30 years of experience, I can confidently assess what’s happening here.

Imposter Syndrome

Don’t worry; it’s not fatal to your career or success.

Most people struggle with it from time to time, and it’s entirely “treatable.”

If you feel like your Imposter Syndrome is flaring up, here’s what I suggest you do —

Pause and accept what’s happening. No sense in ignoring the symptoms. Denying it only makes things worse by trying to overcompensate.
Learn to recognize your triggers (comparisons, someone else’s recent success) and how you respond, so you can head it off at the pass. Before you go into a full-on panic, tell yourself, “This is just imposter syndrome flaring up again. Nothing alarming. You can do this.”
Notice your self-talk. As soon as you start beating yourself up, STOP. It may sound easier said than done, but you can tell yourself “no.” No more negative self-talk; you’re not listening.
Ask yourself what success looks like. Are you trying to measure up to a perfect ideal? Scratch that and aim for progress instead.
Keep learning. The best way to keep Imposter Syndrome at bay is to continue seeking out new knowledge and ways of doing things, evolving, and growing your skill set.
Celebrate wins! I can’t say enough about this. Remind your brain that you’re doing good things.

Do this again and again, every time Imposter Syndrome starts to creep up, and you’ll start experiencing it less and less.

Don’t get caught up in calling yourself an expert. Instead of thinking of yourself as someone who’s supposed to know everything, think of yourself as someone who makes it your business to learn everything you can about your particular topic of choice.

You’re not an imposter, so keep showing up as the best of who you are. You’ve got this!