Welcome to Wednesday. Safe moves are officially off the table.
I recently had a conversation with the CEO of a company whose product I've been using heavily.
She reached out because I was one of their most active users and wanted feedback on how I was using the platform.
I was excited for the conversation.
But I also knew something else.
This was not a normal conversation.
When you have the undivided attention of someone building something ambitious, there is opportunity in the room.
I didn't want to waste it.
So before the call, I started thinking:
What should I ask for?
The more I thought about it, the more I realized I didn't actually know what the biggest opportunity was.
I could only see the opportunities I already knew existed.
And that's when something clicked.
Why this matters right now
A lot of ambitious women approach opportunities with a hidden limitation.
They only ask for what they can already see.
The introduction.
The client.
The promotion.
The speaking engagement.
The partnership.
The thing sitting directly in front of them.
But some of the biggest opportunities don't become visible until after the conversation starts.
Until after the ask is made.
Until after someone understands who you are, what you're building, and how you think.
That's why the ask itself is often not the opportunity.
It's the door.
Today’s Move
Think about a conversation you've been putting off.
Someone you'd like to meet.
A potential collaborator.
A connector.
A mentor.
A decision-maker.
A client.
Then ask yourself:
What opportunity am I assuming is the only opportunity available here?
Because it probably isn't.
Make the ask.
Start the conversation.
Open the door.
Then stay curious about what becomes visible once you're inside.
Proof it works
The most valuable outcome from a conversation is often the one you never could have predicted beforehand.
A relationship.
An introduction.
An invitation.
A collaboration.
Access to a room you didn't know existed.
A new level of visibility.
That's why ambitious women cannot afford to evaluate opportunities only by what is immediately obvious.
Some opportunities compound because of what they unlock next.
Not because of what they deliver today.
Brazen Boost
Many women approach opportunity with a transaction mindset.
What can I get?
Powerful women often approach opportunity with a leverage mindset.
What might this unlock?
Brazen Law reinforced: The ask is rarely the opportunity. It's the doorway to it.
A question to sit with today:
What conversation might unlock more than you can currently see?
That's today's move. Stop focusing only on the opportunity in front of you.
—Martise
Founder, BrazenEra
Building Project Brazen 2026
P.S. - P.S. One of the things we practice inside the BrazenEra Business Club is making bigger asks.
Many women spend years optimizing for opportunities they can already see.
We focus on creating access to opportunities they can't.
That's what collective leverage does.
It helps ambitious women move faster, ask bigger, and unlock doors they would never reach alone.
One more thing:
I’ve been hearing from readers who are:
raising prices
making cleaner asks
thinking bigger
moving faster
That’s the point.
If one of these Power Letters has changed the way you move, I’d genuinely love to hear about it.