While she doesn’t have many doubts now, the publisher and editor-in-chief of the Collective magazine, Lisa Messenger says she’s managed to rise above any moments of doubt in the past thanks to her strong belief in what she is striving for.
“I believe, with every single cell of my body, in what I am doing now,” said Messenger, who was the guest speaker at the League of Extraordinary Women’s November breakfast at the Morrison Bar & Oyster Room in Sydney. “My question to myself was: What was I prepared to lose? My answer was everything.”
The publisher and editor of the Collective has authored and co-authored 17 books and is also the owner and creative director of The Messenger Group, which has published more than 400 books for companies and individuals.
Sharing her advice with a room full of young, female entrepreneurs and business owners, the self-confessed “complete failure” at school said she is a testament that anything is possible, mentioning one of her biggest lessons so far which has been to “fail fast” by putting her hundreds of business ideas out there until someone says ‘yes’.
Having launched the Collective in March this year – which now distributes around 100,000 copies across the country – Messenger says while she is now seeing great success, she makes sure she balances that with a calm life outside work.
“As [the business] grows and grows, I’ve become calmer, funnily enough. You have to. I have the most extraordinary team, which is key for entrepreneurs,” she said, adding that she also has a very stable home life, surrounding herself with people who ground her. “It’s important to honour yourself commercially, you can’t get carried away. And take time out for yourself.”
The importance of taking time out was recently made very apparent to Messenger after she suffered from adrenal fatigue, teaching her that she doesn’t have to do or attend absolutely everything to be successful.
“I had adrenal burnout. It was a wake-up call to slow down a little bit. You have to be careful,” she said. “And don’t be afraid to [remove] friends or colleagues who aren’t helping you be the best version of yourself … Get that balance and find people who really ground you.”