Success, Reimagined: Honouring the Becoming By Erin Davis

There’s a quiet space between beginnings and outcomes. It’s where the real work happens. Where the dreaming, the doubting, the building, the becoming—all live.

We don’t often talk about this space. It doesn’t photograph well. It can’t be neatly summarized in a bio or measured in quarterly growth.

But for many entrepreneurs—especially women—it’s where success is actually made.

Not in the moment of being chosen, but in the moments we keep choosing ourselves. Not in the title or the trophy, but in the decision to keep going when no one’s watching.

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to feel successful, especially in a world that often tells us we’re not quite there yet.

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Entrepreneurship Without a Template

When I became an entrepreneur in September 2021, I didn’t come with a playbook. I wasn’t handed a roadmap. There was no blueprint for what my growth was supposed to look like—just a vision, a calling, and a willingness to begin.

And while that has brought incredible freedom, it has also brought me face-to-face with the deeply ingrained habit of comparison.

In the absence of a clear template, I started looking around. I saw others with bigger platforms, faster growth, shinier wins. And without even realizing it, I began measuring myself against stories that weren’t mine—against curated versions of success that told only part of the truth.

The result? A subtle, persistent wondering: Am I doing enough? Growing fast enough? Being seen enough?

According to the Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub, only 17.5% of Canadian SMEs are majority women-owned. Many of these businesses are bootstrapped, community-rooted, and built alongside caregiving, systemic inequities, and invisible labour. These aren’t side stories—they’re central. And yet, the systems we celebrate success within rarely make space for them.

Recognized, But Not Defined

Recently, I was nominated for the 33rd annual RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Awards, presented by Women of Influence+—a recognition I accept with deep gratitude. Over the years, I’ve been nominated for other awards, too—Top 40 Under 40 (2018, 2021), the Alberta Women Entrepreneurs Award (2024), the Edifyer Community Builder Award (2024), the YWCA Women of Distinction (2025). Each nomination has been a gift. A reflection of being seen.

And yet—I’ve never “won.”

For a long time, I felt the ache of those almosts. I wondered if I didn’t quite fit the mold. If the way I work—the kind of impact I care most about—was somehow unmeasurable.

But then I began to ask a more liberating question: What if I’m not failing to arrive—what if I’m simply refusing to rush a journey that’s meant to unfold slowly, with meaning?

Letting Go of the Myth of Arrival

There’s a myth we’ve been sold—that if we work hard enough, achieve enough, perform enough, we’ll eventually arrive. That success is a peak we reach, a moment we can point to that says, I did it.

But the truth I’ve come to know is this: there is no arrival—only deepening.

Success is not static. It’s not something you capture in a photo or summarize on a slide deck. It is a living relationship with yourself, your values, and the impact you’re creating.

Success lives in the ongoing-ness of our stories. It’s found in the quiet mornings we keep going. In the relationships we build and the integrity we hold. In the clients who feel seen, the teams who feel safe, the culture that shifts—slowly, steadily—because we dared to show up differently.

Success, in this light, is not loud. It’s not always visible. But it is deeply felt.

What Success Looks Like (To Me)

  • Building a business rooted in purpose, not just profit

  • Leading with humanity and humility

  • Choosing alignment over applause

  • Creating spaces where people feel seen, safe, and whole

  • Supporting clients in remembering their own power

  • Saying no to what glitters but doesn’t nourish

  • Trusting the timing of my own becoming

  • Raising a family where presence is a currency of love

  • Letting my work evolve as I evolve

It’s not perfection. It’s not popularity. It’s not being picked. It’s alignment. Impact. Integrity. Wholeness.

And that kind of success? It’s not something you win. It’s something you live.

To the Women Still Becoming

If you’ve ever looked around and wondered whether you’re doing it “right”… If you’ve ever felt unseen in a sea of spotlight moments… If you’ve ever measured yourself against someone else’s projection of success…

This is for you.

You are not behind. You are not off course. You are in the sacred, powerful space of becoming.

Let us release the myth of arrival. Let us reimagine success not as a singular moment to be reached, but as a living relationship with our work, our values, and ourselves.

Let us stop waiting for validation and instead remember: The quiet courage to keep going is success. The decision to keep dreaming is success. The trust we place in ourselves is success.

You are already living it. And it is already enough.

About the Author Erin Davis (she/her) is an inclusion strategist, speaker, and founder of Erin Davis Co. Since launching her business in 2021, she has supported organizations and leaders in building inclusive, human-centered workplaces. Her work explores the intersections of identity, leadership, and belonging. She believes success is not a point of arrival—but a way of being.

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